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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Review: Our Capacity for Compassion for Eventual Evil
It is no small feat to tell a story with a foregone conclusion. After all, much of what makes a story engaging is the anticipation of...
rabbiaustinzoot
Dec 6, 20233 min read
6 views
0 comments


A War On Two Fronts
There is a war raging in the Middle East. But there is also one being fought on social media. And they both scare me in equal measure. We...
rabbiaustinzoot
Oct 10, 20234 min read
21 views
0 comments


The Personal Assistant: Sometimes Wanting to Know More Is Better Than Actually Knowing
If a book makes you want to keep reading to figure out what happens but massively underwhelms in the end, how do you evaluate its...
rabbiaustinzoot
Sep 13, 20232 min read
16 views
0 comments


An August Election to Decide What Kind of Country We Want to Have
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other ones.” Winston Churchill is quoted as saying this in 1947. You’d...
rabbiaustinzoot
Aug 8, 20233 min read
9 views
0 comments


"What If It Was Your Family?" The Death Penalty Through New Eyes
“But what if it had been your family?” This is the question people always seem to ask when discussing the death penalty. What if YOU were...
rabbiaustinzoot
Aug 4, 20233 min read
10 views
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Therapy is All the Rage...But Not All Mental Healthcare Is Created Equal
As our societal awareness of mental health has grown, so too has an industry focused on selling us the best ways to take care of our...
rabbiaustinzoot
Jul 31, 20233 min read
6 views
0 comments


Adding Our Own Kindling to the Fire
Sometimes a song hits you in just the right moment. The weather might have the perfect conditions, or the feelings of the day might...
rabbiaustinzoot
Jul 6, 20232 min read
18 views
0 comments


Soundtracks Review: A Self-Help Book That Actually…Helps?
There are a LOT of self-help books out there. This does beg the question: if the books are any good, why do we need so many? It seems...
rabbiaustinzoot
May 1, 20232 min read
14 views
0 comments


Luckiest Girl Alive Review: A No-Longer Novel Idea
The trailer for the new Netflix movie Luckiest Girl Alive caught my attention. Mila Kunis is a favorite of mine, and a suspenseful drama...
rabbiaustinzoot
Apr 27, 20232 min read
7 views
0 comments


All Things Aside Review: Shlesinger's unique blend of comedy and social critique
During the hardest parts of the COVID shutdown, my wife and I watched a lot of stand-up comedy. There was something refreshing about...
rabbiaustinzoot
Apr 18, 20232 min read
5 views
0 comments


Brighter By The Day Book Review
Life’s too short to read bad books. And the old adage about “don’t judge a book by its cover” is a lot of phooey. Because you can usually...
rabbiaustinzoot
Apr 3, 20232 min read
14 views
0 comments


World Baseball Classic 2023: A Reminder Why We Play
The sports industry has been surprisingly puzzling in the past decade or so. During a period of entertainment innovation, you would think...
rabbiaustinzoot
Mar 22, 20233 min read
21 views
0 comments


Love Warrior Book Review
Books on personal growth are as popular as ever, likely because it is pretty darn difficult to be a human being in the modern world....
rabbiaustinzoot
Feb 14, 20232 min read
6 views
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Parashat Bo 5783 - The Invention of Ritual
Ritual is an essential component of Judaism. Zionist essayist Ahad Ha’am famously said “more than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has...
rabbiaustinzoot
Jan 27, 20232 min read
12 views
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Why Do Jewish - Book Review
I so badly wanted to like this book. In fact, I am, in many ways, trying to WRITE this book. But Why Do Jewish: A Manifesto for 21st...
rabbiaustinzoot
Jan 10, 20232 min read
28 views
0 comments


Vayechi - Maybe No Happy Ending After All...
Jacob is the last of our major patriarchs in Judaism, and his death closes the book of Genesis. Throughout his story, we see a...
rabbiaustinzoot
Jan 6, 20233 min read
11 views
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Watson Struggles, But We All Suffer
“Watson struggles in season debut.” That was the notification I got this weekend from the NFL. I wouldn’t have known any other way. I...
rabbiaustinzoot
Dec 6, 20223 min read
34 views
0 comments


Vayeitzei - What Are We Supposed to Learn?
Different people approach the Bible with different needs. Some read the book in order to learn the history of our people (reading the...
rabbiaustinzoot
Dec 4, 20223 min read
21 views
0 comments


Toldot: A Guide to How To Do Thanksgiving The Wrong Way...
Generally, when we read the Bible, we are looking for lessons about how we can live a more fulfilling, meaningful, moral life. But the...
rabbiaustinzoot
Nov 24, 20223 min read
17 views
0 comments


Chayei Sarah: What's Money Between Friends?
We aren’t supposed to play favorites, but I think Genesis is the best book in the Bible. There is so much nuance to each of the stories,...
rabbiaustinzoot
Nov 20, 20223 min read
19 views
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