We Mortals Must Combat Hate Speech
Starboard buys Parler, and it looks like strange fire
Tonight, we’re closing out the Shabbat where Jews read the portion Shemini. It’s the part of the Torah in which Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Abihu, offer “strange fire” to God, deviating from the sacrificial protocol. God responds by immediately smiting them with fire. They die. They can’t even be buried properly. Yes, this story is a mystery. No one is happy about it. No one knows what it’s supposed to mean. The sons were punished swiftly and severely for a ritual infraction, and we aren’t even told what the ritual infraction was; if the story is a warning to all of us, it’s impossible to know what we’re not supposed to do.
This was the portion for which I had to give a small sermon at my Bat Mitzvah 30 years ago. As I neared middle-age, I wrote a memoir, Bad Fire, drawing from the function of this story in my life. I expanded the memoir once and may update it again.
Starboard Buys Parler
A week ago, on April 7, observed as Good Friday by many Christians, the digital media hedge fund conglomerate Starboard, which owns American Wire and BizPac Review, bought the social media platform Parler. Parler is a right-wing app that was temporarily removed from major app stores after the attack on the Capitol. Two-thirds…
