Efrex

@efrex.bsky.social

154 Followers 109 Following

Father of 4, Orthodox Jew, Liberal Zionist (probably doesn’t mean what you think it does), ADHD, straight musical theater queen, tired. Posting barbershop quartet content until the timeline improves…

Barbershop quartet GQ huddled together after their historic gold medal finish at the 2026 Barbershop Harmony Society International competition.
NY Times review of Tom Lehrer, featuring the line “Mr. Lehrer’s muse was not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste”
Genesis 4:18. The Hebrew word “yalad” clearly gets used to mean “farthered”.
Small wooden storage unit containing both Jewish and Muslim prayer accoutrements: tallit, attar spray, and prayer rugs.
Berachot 1:2 - “From when does one recite the morning shema prayer? From when (it is light enough) to distinguish blue and white (threads) from each other. Rabbi Eliezer says, (from when it is light enough to distinguish) between blue and leek-green…
A copy of “True Color” by Kory Stamper, as held by yours truly, two steps outside of the Clason’s Point branch of the New York Public Library.
Kory Stamper’s “True Color” in my hot little hand…
Email from the New York Public Library notifying me that Kory Stamper’s new book, “True Color,” is available for pickup. I’m very excited about this, and if you have a local public library, you should use & support it!
Brisket searing in a pan
Today’s foreign-policy thinkers must also test their idealistic notions of American possibility on a geo­political landscape littered with the wreckage of ideals past. As Richard Fontaine explained to me: ‘‘In Iraq, we toppled the government and did an occupation and everything went to hell. In Libya, we toppled the government and didn’t do an occupation and everything went to hell. In Syria, we didn’t topple the government and didn’t do an occupation and everything went to hell. So, broadly, this is the Middle East. Things go to hell. And we’ve got to make our way through that fact to protect our national interests, on the back of a war-weary public that doesn’t want to invest our treasure in this.’’
Car snowed and plowed in
chicken soup
Two pages from Eleh Divrei Habrit
Perhaps noted feminist Naomi Wolf hit the mark with her theory that the lashing out stems from sexual frustration, that the aggression toward ICE officers is a physical release. Yes, it’s clear from their unhinged antics why most of those women wouldn’t be getting any action. Hunter Biden would turn down those women even if they were wearing parkas packed with cocaine.
The Jewish Reformation: Bible Translation and Middle Class German Judaism as Spiritual Enterprise by Micah Gottlieb
Latke topping alignment chart: Lawful good: applesauce Lawful neutral: ketchup Lawful evil: sour cream Neutral good: lox True neutral: salt & pepper Neutral evil: mayo Chaotic good: cranberry sauce Chaotic neutral: French’s fried onions Chaotic evil: Nutella
Five Chanukkah menorahs, each with one branch lit
Selection of Radak on Genesis 2:18
Illustration of the Marx Brothers as the four sons of the haggadah, from Dick Codor’s “Joyous Haggadah.”
XKCD Comic: “If you really hate someone, teach them to recognize bad kerning.”
Indigo Girls
Twitter/X post from efrex July 13, 2018: Listened to a podcast ( @fiatlexpodcast ) episode exclusively focussed on how dictionaries break up syllables in their words. For the second time. In one day. On my own volition. Methinks I might be a bit of a word nerd...
“Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness” by Peter Earley
Original Hebrew text of Ruth 4:5
Zelda Schiff from “The Magicians”
LP of the Original Broadway Cast Recording of “Company,” autographed by Pamela Myers and Donna McKechnie
aufschnitt
Samuel Vimes dreamed about Clues. He had a jaundiced view of Clues. He instinctively distrusted them. They got in the way. And he distrusted the kind of person who’d take one look at another man and say in a lordly voice to his companion, “Ah, my dear sir, I can tell you nothing except that he is a left-handed stonemason who has spent some years in the merchant navy and has recently fallen on hard times,” and then unroll a lot of supercilious commentary about calluses and stance and the state of a man’s boots, when exactly the same comments could apply to a man who was wearing his old clothes because he’d been doing a spot of home bricklaying for a new barbecue pit, and had been tattooed once when he was drunk and seventeen* and in fact got seasick on a wet pavement. What arrogance! What an insult to the rich and chaotic variety of the human experience!
Nude women are only Art if there’s an urn in it,’ said Fred Colon. This sounded a bit weak even to him, so he added, ‘or a plinth. Both is best, o’course. It’s a secret sign, see, that they put in to say that it’s Art and okay to look at.’ ‘What about a potted plant?’ ‘That’s okay if it’s in an urn.’ ‘What about if it’s not got an urn or a plinth or a potted plant?’ said Nobby. ‘Have you one in mind, Nobby?’ said Colon suspiciously. ‘Yes, The Goddess Anoia* Arising from the Cutlery,’ said Nobby. ‘They’ve got it here. It was painted by a bloke with three i’s in his name, which sounds pretty artistic to me.’ ‘The number of i’s is important, Nobby,’ said Sergeant Colon gravely, ‘but in these situations you have to ask yourself: where’s the cherub? If there’s a little fat pink kid holding a mirror or a fan or similar, then it’s still okay. Even if he’s grinning. Obviously you can’t get urns everywhere. Terry Pratchett, Thud! (Discworld, #34)
“It is worth living long enough to outlast any sense of grievance you may acquire. Another reason why you must be careful of your health.” Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
Quote from “Sacred Monsters” by Natan Slifkin
“Why Fish Don’t Exist,” by Lulu Miller
Three books, all essay collections on contemporary Hasidic theory: “A New Hasidism: Roots,” “A New Hasidism: Branches,” and “Contemporary Uses and Forms of Hasidut
People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn't measure up. What would run through the streets soon enough wouldn't be a revolution or a riot. It'd be people who were frightened and panicking. It was what happened when the machinery of city life faltered, the wheels stopped turning and all the little rules broke down. And when that happened, humans were worse than sheep. Sheep just ran; they didn't try to bite the sheep next to them.
81-year-old James Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody that was used to treat over 2 million babies, giving his last blood donation, surrounded by mothers and babies whose lives he helped
Chaim Potok’s books: “The Chosen” and “The Promise.”
As for Thomas, he is physically transformed from his infamous confirmation hearings, in 1991—a great deal grayer and heavier today, at the age of sixty-five. He also projects a different kind of silence than he did earlier in his tenure. In his first years on the Court, Thomas would rock forward, whisper comments about the lawyers to his neighbors Breyer and Kennedy, and generally look like he was acknowledging where he was. These days, Thomas only reclines; his leather chair is pitched so that he can stare at the ceiling, which he does at length. He strokes his chin. His eyelids look heavy. Every schoolteacher knows this look. It’s called “not paying attention.”
Selection from the work “Esh Kodesh,” explaining an aggadic passage that a Jew, no matter how low, has the ability to grab the divine throne and outrank the angels.
Tamud Bavli Eruvin 102a - discussion of a bolt with a “gelustera” (knob) and it’s permissibility for use on Shabbat
Completed screen for “Bells of Warmth” challenge of the Forest app
latkes frying
Lawful good: applesauce Lawful neutral: ketchup Lawful evil: sour cream Neutral good: lox True neutral: salt & peoper Neutral evil: mayo Chaotic good: cranberry sauce Chaotic neutral: fried onions Chaotic evil: nutella
Vino Sano grape brick
Quote from Richard Fontaine explaining that “broadly (in the Middle East), things go to hell,” regardless of specific interventions.
Two books: “Mehalchim B’Mikrah” by Rav Yehudah Hertzl Henkin amd “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson
Canned cranberry sauce & can opener
“At the Entrance to The Garden of Eden” by Yossi Klein Halevi
Photo of cast of Canadian children’s TV show “Today’s Special.”
“At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden” by Yossi Klein Halevi
“At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew’s Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land” by Yossi Klein Halevi