SHABBAT READING
Invoking Creation in the Story of the Ten Plagues: Prof. Zony Zevit, The Torah.com, Mar. 25, 2015 — The account of the ten plagues as we have it, in its final, redacted form, is a crafted piece of religious historiographical literature.[1] In my essay “The Ten Plagues and Egyptian Ecology”[2] I addressed the possibility that this account is based on some sort of historical occurrence in Egypt, but the final form of the text is certainly much more than a distant recollection of Egyptian natural disasters.
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A NEW WORLD ORDER?
Tunnel Discovered Under Chabad Headquarters Sparks Antisemitic Firestorm Online: ADL, Jan. 11, 2024 — On January 8, 2024, clashes broke out at the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, known as 770, over a passageway allegedly constructed by students from adjacent properties into the synagogue.
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Fracas Over Tunnel at Chabad HQ the Result of Push to Expand Brooklyn Compound: Luke Tress, Times of Israel, Jan. 11, 2024
Secret Synagogue Tunnel Sets Off Altercation That Leads to 9 Arrests: Eliza Shapiro and Katherine Rosman, NY Times, Jan. 9, 2024
The Myth of Brooklyn’s ‘Jew Tunnels’: Brendan O’Neill, Spiked, Jan. 10, 2024
The Famous History of the Brooklyn Synagogue That Went Viral: Maya Pontone, Hyperallergic, Jan. 10, 2024
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FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:
How Twitter Activists Turned a Viral Story About Orthodox Jews into a Modern Blood Libel: Ehad Nehorai, Forward, Jan. 9, 2024 — A new Jewish story has gone viral: A tunnel has been discovered under the legendary Chabad headquarters on Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, popularly referred to as 770.
Extremist Jewish Teens Secretly ‘Hired Migrants’ To Dig Covert Brooklyn Synagogue Tunnel ‘Shawshank’-Style: Isabel Vincent, NY Post, Jan. 11, 2024 — Extremist students from an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic group secretly hired migrant laborers to help them build a controversial tunnel at the sect’s world headquarters in Crown Heights — all to fulfill what they felt was a religious obligation to expand the holy site, The Post has learned.
Who is the Messiah?: Jeffrey Spitzer, My Jewish Learning — The idea that a human being–the Messiah–will help usher in the redemption of the Jewish people has roots in the Bible.
Harvard Students Sue University over Failure to Address ‘Severe and Pervasive’ Antisemitic Harassment on Campus: Brittaney Bernstein, National Review, Jan. 11, 2024 — Harvard University students filed a lawsuit against university officials on Wednesday, claiming they have failed to protect Jewish students from “severe and pervasive” antisemitic harassment sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.