Yaakov Strasberg

I didn't get a chance to cover nearly as many things as I have in other years, but here's a compilation of some of what I covered in 2025.

As someone who was literally there and helped the family out as best as I could, ICE wasn't targeting them at all. The dumb parents decided to attend the "protest" in a residential area while leaving their kids in the car. Once irritants and flashbangs started being used to clear people out of the streets, they had more than 2:30 minutes to get in their vehicle that was nearby, and leave. Instead, they decided to stick around which ultimately led to one of the flashbangs rolling under their vehicle and going off, and everyone in the vehicle being exposed to the different irritants in the air. That's all on the parents, not ICE.

Yesterday, at the Chabad located on the University of Minnesota’s campus pro-Palestine protesters decided to harass Jews. Thanks a lot Tucker.

As in LITERALLY NO ONE.

@DanielMael @EHamiltonEsq @RabbiShmuley It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

News: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach was sanctioned by a federal judge to pay the Fontainebleau $15,000 for knowingly violating a court order. The court found Boteach’s sworn testimony to be not credible. @RabbiShmuley

@Revolver_FPS Are you geographically challenged? Or mentally challenged?

I look at this and I can’t help but be reminded of the Holocaust, and how Jews were desperately trying to smuggle themselves into Nazi territory at any cost.

I guess it's a bit like South African Conservatives then. They're a lot more traditional. I'm assuming that the conversion process isn't nearly as strict as Orthodox though, right? I do think that among Modern Orthodox (at least in the US) there is kind of a split nowadays of many who are more "modern" and many who are more Orthodox. The more "modern" type has become closer to what Conservatives in the US used to be like, Conservatives have become more like what Reform used to be like, and Reform is far worse.

@YaakovStras Actually I think one of the guys I was chatting to (it was quite a while back) was modern orthodox rather than Masorti.

I came across this video, and thankfully most comments called it out, but there were many defending and supporting it. For context, this woman viewed herself as a "patrilineal Jew" (not a thing because Judaism is only passed on matrilineally), and I guess since many don't view it as proper, she "converted." The problem is that one who converts is supposed to take on all our laws, not picking and choosing as they like. It's why the Jewish conversion process is so difficult. We want people who are serious about things, not who "convert" just because the feel like it. Aside from the fact that this woman is putting on a tallis and tefillin which are meant for men to do and not women (since they're viewed as on a higher level spiritually and don't need as many Mitzvos - and according to some would fall under the prohibition of cross dressing), if you look through her page, she doesn't even keep many basic Mitzvos such as Shabbos, proper modesty.... And the fact that her "Rabbi" is encouraging and helping out with this says a lot about him being a "Rabbi." Judaism isn't fun and games and choosing which laws to keep or not to keep. Doing Mitzvos meant to be for men while simultaneously not keeping basics such as Shabbos and proper modesty (as defined by Jewish law) is why many do not view conversions by certain factions as halachic since a convert is supposed to take on all Mitzvos, not pick and choose, and it's precisely why certain factions of Judaism are dying out. We've survived this long thanks to people keeping our laws and us being gatekeepers, not picking and choosing to our liking.

@yashar I completely agree, and think that more should be done in a lot of cases, but at the same time I kind of think that Adina goes overboard sometimes and could handle things differently.

These gett withholders make me so angry every time I get on Instagram. They torture these poor women for years and then get online and harass women who rightly criticize them. I’ve always been taught that life, family, and continuity in Judaism are centered through women…doesn’t sound like these men are respecting that with the way they treat women!

@M_B_Levin Nowadays things are a lot different than they were back then. Intermarriage was extremely scarce among even the most secular Jews (unlike nowadays), so there weren't a ton of "patrilineal Jews."

@YaakovStras True but a lot of that is self reporting data. All patrilineal Jews I know still put Jewish on a census. Patrilineal Jews would still be listed as Jewish on the records at the camps, so the various means used to get to these figures would include what others consider gentiles.

That doesn't really surprise me then because Conservative and Reform conversions are generally not too strict, don't require people to keep all the Jewish laws, and pretty much anyone could convert through them - which is why such conversion aren't recognizing as legitimate by Orthodox Jews.

@YaakovStras Not all but at least two were conservative UK

@M_B_Levin It's possible that some were counted. However, the amount of Jewish people in the world went down by about 6 million, so I'd say that figure is accurate.

@YaakovStras In reality the Nazis killed all children to Jewish fathers they could and they’re listed as Jews. The 6 million figure will include thousands and thousands of patrilineal descent children. Perhaps if folk don’t believe they’re Jewish the figure should be revised down? I don’t.

@M_B_Levin Do you by any chance know which denomination they did their conversions by (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform)?

@YaakovStras I’ve encountered personally at least half a dozen Jewish converts who have told me they don’t believe in G-d and converted for other reasons. Nobody forces them to observe the laws after conversion. Their kids are accepted as fully Jewish. The child of a cohen isn’t.

Technically yes, but the likelihood of such a thing happening is almost impossible since for the conversion process one has to be sincere about keeping all the Jewish laws, and if there's any doubt of insincerity they won't be allowed to convert. The conversion probably also wouldn't be allowed due to not keeping the laws by engaging in premarital relations (or if married, then it would be another issue since they'd probably be married to a non-Jewish person which isn't allowed once one is Jewish).

@YaakovStras So essentially a Christian can convert, give birth 3 days later, not raise the child Jewish and the child is 100% Jewish. A Cohanim survivor of Auschwitz can have a child with a non Jewish mum, raise the child 100% Jewish and the child is a gentile.

The (apparently very scary and controversial) Noahide laws: 1) Do not worship idols. 2) Do not blaspheme G-d's name. 3) Do not murder. 4) Do not eat the limbs of a live animal. 5) Do not steal. 6) Do not engage in immoral sexual acts. 7) Establish courts of law and justice.

Protesters outside a Ben Shapiro speaking event at UPenn say that "his death will be light as a feather," that it is only a matter of time before "we refuse to be still" and "wash filth like you (Republicans) away... out of this planet," and that "you will be crushed."

Protesters outside a Ben Shapiro speaking event at UPenn call the students in line for the event "privileged" for getting Ubers and Doordash, and call for them to be thrown into the Delaware river.

Counter-protesters show up outside the Ben Shapiro event at UPenn and play Cardi B's WAP.

A tiny part of the people in line to hear Ben Shapiro speak at UPenn.

@JonahPlatt Quality over quantity.

What if Judaism became the world's fastest-growing religion? We have the wisdom, the ritual, the community, the roadmap to meaning. We're just not offering it to anyone. Why?