David Baum

Congregational rabbi in Boca Raton for 15 yrs & counting, tweet about Judaism, sports, politics, and more. Retweets ≠ endorsements. Also, rabbis are people too!

[Brianna Wu @BriannaWu]

I’ve been to Church countless times. There’s never been armed security.

I’ve never gone to any Jewish event, temple or school without armed guards there.

Can you imagine what it’s like to live like that? Can you imagine how exhausted it makes you?

[eJewishPhilanthropy @eJPhil]

OPINION | "If our seminaries truly want to 'up their game,' then the game they must learn to play is not the one they inherited, but the one rabbis are actually being asked to play today."

By Rabbi David Baum

https://t.co/0AiA0IhkCw

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

"Hopefully a Jewish kid is watching this and they feel seen and they feel proud."

What a beautiful segment on the show Dancing With the Stars last night.

An early Happy Hanukkah to all ✡

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

Israelis just survived a near-death experience, and now—we’re embracing life with even more passion.

@TelAviv is launching a new tourism campaign under the slogan “Tel Aviv: Life Worth Living”

🏖️ Come visit!

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

Today, I spoke to the Israeli Knesset’s (@KnessetIL) Caucus for the Advancement of Regional Security and addressed the issues related to Gaza and its near-term future. Specifically, I focused on the concrete steps that the International Stabilization Force (ISF) needs to take to be effective and gradually displace Hamas rather than end up being a do-nothing, expensive force. I described the realities on the ground in the coastal enclave, particularly the prevalent humanitarian suffering there. I emphasized the need for clear steps to improve the humanitarian situation, as well as the role of regional players in Gaza’s future.

Most importantly, I encouraged attendees to think about Gaza’s recovery and rejuvenation as an opportunity to bolster regional integration and cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and how Gaza could end up becoming the portal for Saudi-Israeli normalization and the gateway for regional stability and peace.

[Rabbi Avi Weiss @RabbiAviWeiss]

News of continued attacks by settlers - if true - is heartbreaking. As a lifetime firm believer in our right to live in any of our land in Samaria and Judea, I reach out with love to my brothers and sisters and say lo zu haderech, this is not our way. I would welcome the opportunity to reason with you. Don’t take the law into your own hands - rely on the @IDF. Please, in the name of tzion - stop.

[David Wolpe @RabbiWolpe]

The Talmud says explicitly “The righteous of all nations have a place in the world to come.” (San 105a with parallels in Tosefta, Sifre etc.) Jews never believed righteousness or salvation was an exclusively Jewish attribute. I hope your tradition can say the same.

[Senator Ted Cruz @SenTedCruz]

In the last six months, I have seen more antisemitism on the right than at any time in my life.

If we refuse to denounce it, it could destroy the Republican Party just as it has destroyed the Democrat Party.

[Dave Portnoy @stoolpresidente]

Barstool Pizza Review - Boardtown Pizza & Pints (Starkville, MS)

[Paul Brown @paulbrowntx]

My mom was recently on a cross-country flight, and ended up sitting next to a young man. She said they had a nice conversation, and she ended up telling him about my watch company, and how it was Christian, conservative, etc.

She said he was really receptive, and even excited to hear about it.

But when she mentioned that I also speak out against antisemitism, it's like he flipped a switch. Next thing she knew he was talking about the Bolsheviks, and how Mossad killed Charlie Kirk, etc. etc. - you guys know all the ridiculous tropes.

This previously nice, young man (a father even), who professed to be a Christian was absolutely, morally bankrupt on the issue of Israel and the Jews. Totally deluded. Totally wrong.

This continues to be a growing problem. It won't go away because we hope it goes away. It's going to take work, and even then, it may continue to grow.

Let's continue to pray, and continue to stand up boldly to this insidious evil!

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

It is with a heavy heart that I share a grim and dark assessment, which I have been hinting at for a significant amount of time, but have struggled to articulate, and even hesitated to talk about publicly: a terrifyingly large constituency within the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian-American communities have become far too extreme and radical regarding the issues of Palestine, Gaza, and hatred of the United States and all things Western. Worse, support for and endorsement of Hamas have become mainstream views and can no longer be considered “fringe,” especially within the “pro-Palestine” movement.

Many Muslim and Arab-Americans and their advocacy groups have chosen to become single-issue voters and activists, making Palestine the only rallying cry to mobilize their voters, when numerous other issues and challenges face these two communities. Overt support for Islamism, as CAIR and Linda Sarsour make it clear here in this video, and the aggressive Islamization of the West, is being supercharged on the back of the suffering of the people of Gaza.

I had hoped that support for Hamas among American and European-based Arabs and Muslims would begin to scale back when the war ended, creating some space and margin for introspection, self-critique, and most importantly, recognition that Hamas and violent Jihadi terrorists are not “resistance” or “martyrs” but the fuel for the annihilation of the Palestinian people.

Instead, there is a stubborn unwillingness to offer even the slightest of critique to Hamas and the whole “resistance” narrative, even as Gazans suffer horribly as the group re-establishes its grip on power and control, and the extent of Hamas’s criminality becomes apparent. Worse, many of these “pro-Palestine” personalities are moving on from Gaza entirely, drunk on the recent Mamdani victory, which they view as an extension of their activism and campaigning over the past two years.

It worries me immensely that in the near future, many of the young people involved in what has become the “pro-Palestine” cult in America and Europe will graduate to more violent stages of “activism,” all while worsening the isolation of Arab and Muslim diaspora communities from integrating into their countries of residence and new homelands. I also worry that the Democratic Party will be far too accommodating and tolerant of what are inherently intolerable beliefs, ideas, and actions, all in pursuit of voters who are mobilized by an extreme manifestation of identity politics that has been corrupted with radical academic theories, reckless rhetoric, and slogans.

There is still time to adjust course and reject these trends. However, as long as a confluence of irresponsible Muslim and Arab-American advocacy organizations remains hijacked by extremists and pursues radical audiences for fundraising purposes instead of communal growth, safety, and transformation, there is little hope of change.

Arab and Muslim-Americans are part of this great nation of ours, and many contribute immensely to our country’s success, defense, and prosperity. It is a strategic mistake to tie their fate and future to foreign conflicts, no matter how dear to them, as they adopt extremist and vile slogans and narratives, which worsen divisions and increase cross-community tension and isolation.

[Eli Lebowicz @EliLebowicz]

@blondfighter20 Surely you can’t be this much of an idiot.

[CBS News @CBSNews]

Just days ago, Barstool’s Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) was recording a pizza review in Mississippi, when a passerby shouted an antisemitic comment and the interaction was caught on camera.

In an interview with @CBSSunday airing next weekend, Portnoy tells @tonydokoupil that he’s seen a sharp rise in antisemitism lately, noting that he now gets that sort of hate every day.

[Bobby Shouse @B_Shousejr]

This angle of the Waddle Touchdown ‼️😮‍💨

[Casey Babb @DrCaseyBabb]

Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) is doing a pizza review when a man approaches and shouts “Fuck the Jews!” Dave handled it so much better than I would have, but my God I’m getting tired of these freaks. Antisemitism is a disease — enough is enough.

[Avi Yemini @OzraeliAvi]

They stormed a pro-Israel event on campus in Canada thinking it’d be easy.

Then they met an ex-IDF soldier.

Folded. One after another.

[Ammi Hirsch @AmmiHirsch]

.@ZohranKMamdani's win is remarkable since: (1) he has no managerial experience but will be running most complicated US bureaucracy; (2) he's a socialist in the most capitalist city in civilization's history; (3) he's an anti-Zionist in the planet's most Jewishly populous city.

[Eli Lebowicz @EliLebowicz]

Noah doesn’t get enough credit.

[Rabbi Poupko @RabbiPoupko]

I'm very thankful to @RabbiCosgrove for speaking out against the danger of Mamdani!

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

I just spoke to my brother, who is in southern Gaza. He was driving back to where he's staying in the evening, when he was surrounded by Hamas's masked gunmen, who raised their weapons at him, asking him for ID & if he had guns on him. He let them search his car and answered all their questions. He works 16-hour days for a major international medical NGO trying to provide services to displaced Gazans who suffer from all kinds of horrendous hardships after 2 years of war. He refused to leave Gaza a year and a half ago when I offered him a chance because he wanted to stay behind and help his people.

Hamas is terrorizing the people of Gaza and acting like a thuggish militia that can kill, maim, torture, and disappear individuals at any moment. These fascists are only there to maintain their grip on power. They will never surrender their dominion over the Strip, necessitating the formation of an international coalition to form a force that can wrest control of the coastal enclave away from Hamas's grip.

Save Gaza from Hamas!