grown man chasing likes

Yep. Reviewers. Podcasters. Blurbists. Happy to send you an ARC.

@DepartureJay can't wait to read this one

Just read a 3-page section of this book that took my breath away. Captivating.

@AdamRFisher You can read this great novel about the JAC, though it was not reviewed by the Times. amazon.com/dp/1736344692?…

“What does Judaism look like without Zionism?” If you are Henryk Erlich, the subject of the book review, you will be betrayed. Despite being the founder of the Jewish Bund and a fervent Polish communist, he was sentenced by the Soviets to death for allegedly collaborating with the Nazis. He was then released to help create the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC), which Joseph Stalin concocted to exploit international Jewish solidarity in aid of the Soviet Union. But because Stalin believed Erlich was a little too devoted to Jewish solidarity, he was rearrested, tortured, and executed in 1942. “Judaism without Zionism” could also look like Erlich’s father-in-law, the famed Jewish historian and intellectual Simon Dubnow. Dubnow was critical of both communism and Zionism as solutions to the Jewish problem. He called Zionism “a beautiful messianic dream” that was unrealistic and predicted Israel would have no more than 500K people I the year 2000. Dubnow fled Russia after the Bolsheviks seized power, then moved on to Latvia as the Nazis rose. When the Nazis entered Riga in 1940, they sent him to the ghetto. He was scheduled to be transported to the forest and massacred along with 34,000 other Latvian Jews. Before he could board the transport, the 81-year-old Dubnow was murdered by Latvian Nazi collaborators. Dubnow’s daughter and Erlich’s wife, Sophia Dubnow Erlich, was once courted by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who would later become the leader of the Revisionist right within the Zionist movement. He survived. While most of Erlich’s family was murdered in the Holocaust, one of his brothers made it to Palestine before the war. He survived. Jewish antizionist content is a peculiar genre. It lionizes historic failures of Jewish Bundists, while ignoring the incredible success of Zionism. One movement led Jews to be enslaved by Bolshevism while the other saved and liberated them.

On Mark Z. Danielewski, @MorrisACollins, @AvnerLandes, Lauren Groff, Camille Bordas, and Brock Clarke. open.substack.com/pub/calebmsarv…

@DepartureJay Great review! Looking forward to it even more.

I wrote a review of The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, a wonderful novel of historical speculation. thevisionarycompany.net/2026/03/29/the…

@SurvivorPenner But that’s not unusual, is it? Rachel was an incredible player who was boring as hell and barely shown.

Want screen time? LOSE. This has become the Ozzy & Harriet (oops I mean Christian) show. & ALL of Charlie’s screen time was a run up to last night’s vote. Some players, currently ‘winning’ are virtually invisible. & wondering what name would Coach give me?

It was fun while it lasted.

breathing again…for now

@GuyAz מה שיותר מעניין הוא מי הדליף את הדיווח הזה לניו יורק טיימס? מישהו שידע שהמלחמה מתקרבת לסיומה עם תוצאות מאכזבות?

NYT report vs. reality: Mossad chief and Iran regime change The New York Times claims the Mossad chief promised early in the war that Iran’s regime could be toppled via a popular uprising framed as a key flaw when that didn’t happen. But that’s not accurate. According to information we have, the Mossad chief did present a serious, comprehensive plan for regime change, but never claimed it could happen at the start or during the war. The plan, shown to senior White House officials, places any potential mass protests at the end of the war, possibly months later—consistent with messages we’ve heard from Israel’s leadership in recent days. Moreover, significant parts of that plan haven’t even been implemented yet and still require approvals. Barnea spoke about feasibility not immediacy and stressed it would take time and only come after the fighting ends. It’s also worth noting: Trump himself urged the Iranian public to stay home during the operation, warning it was too dangerous to take to the streets. So reports of U.S. “disappointment” over supposed promises by Barnea are, at the very least, puzzling.

@ScholemTzadak @nkulw התשובה היחידה למישהו כזה היא: מה העבודה הזאת לכם?

@nkulw I don’t have a theory of mind for people like. At the moment of Israel’s birth, it had been three years since 1/3 of our people was industrially murdered. No country in the world was willing to admit the hundreds of thousands of Jews languishing in DP camps.

Contemporary antisemitism in the US is mostly due to the actions of the state of Israel. Hatred of Jews wouldn’t be the problem it is had we not let Israel slap the Star of David on the flag of a nation that ethnically cleansed 750K ppl at the moment of its birth

@GavinWoltjer @raviddice Yes, excellent.

@raviddice Excellent

Mortals by Norman Rush -- good?

@PeterBeinart מה העבודה הזאת לכם?

People who dislike Israel should not conflate it with American Jews -just as people should not conflate the PRC with Chinese Americans or ISIS with American Muslims. And (not but) synagogues should not say "We stand with Israel" because it encourages that conflation. It makes congregants less safe but, more importantly, given what Israel is doing, it's morally indefensible. It's like a Russian Orthodox church saying "We stand with Russia" after the invasion of Ukraine. peterbeinart.substack.com/p/lessons-from…

@Gray_Worm007 @IntelliTimes מה שאני לא מבין זה למה הוא לא יוצא רחוק יותר כדי לפגוש את הטיל, כמו מעל ירדן.

@IntelliTimes מדובר בראש קרב מתפזר בתוך האטמוספרה ובגובה נמוך בהרבה כ 10 קילומטרים מעל פני הקרקע . הן נופלות נפילה חופשית מהשמיים אחרי שראש הקרב מתפזר. לא מיירטים אותם עם חץ 3 שנועד להיות מחוץ לאטמוספרה אלא עם שכבה אחרת לגמרי.

@alvinlu @xtebordo @EmmettStinson Surely your best tweets.

@AvnerLandes @xtebordo @EmmettStinson During one stay, I did manage to complete an email Q&A promoting my book and maybe fired off a couple tweets.

Now re-reading

@xtebordo @alvinlu @EmmettStinson And what did you manage to write while you were there?

@alvinlu @EmmettStinson whoa! that's where i stayed last time i was there.

@andrewbertaina Happy Birthday! Hope it’s a great day and a great year.

46 today. Time is going fast.

@DepartureJay Grateful for this brilliant review.

My favorite novel of last year. thevisionarycompany.net/2025/06/30/ste…

@calebwritez 🙏

Finished The Delegation by @AvnerLandes last night. This lopsided triptych of a novel is a great time. It's brilliantly constructed, refreshingly funny, and emotionally resonant all at once. AND... Avner writes a wonderful sentence. To accomplish all in one book is a rare feat.

This from the guy who runs @bridgeeight

@markahenrybooks Thank you! Without you…

@AvnerLandes Happy book day!

THE DELEGATION came out a year ago today. Here are the first couple of pages. Maybe you’ll enjoy them and want to read more.