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.

אַל תִּטַּמְּאוּ בְּכׇל אֵלֶּה כִּי בְכׇל אֵלֶּה נִטְמְאוּ הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ מִפְּנֵיכֶם׃ וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ וָאֶפְקֹד עֲוֺנָהּ עָלֶיהָ וַתָּקִא הָאָרֶץ אֶת יֹשְׁבֶיהָ׃ כִּי אֶת כׇּל הַתּוֹעֵבֹת הָאֵל עָשׂוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ׃ וְלֹא תָקִיא הָאָרֶץ אֶתְכֶם בְּטַמַּאֲכֶם אֹתָהּ כַּאֲשֶׁר קָאָה אֶת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם׃

Ironically, they completely ignore the fact that Judaism is against all of that, and that Orthodox Jews (the ones actually keeping Judaism) all vote Republican at a higher percentage than nearly any other religious group because it's compatible with their views. The people who they have an issue with are Leftists, not Jews, yet they do anything they can to try scapegoating "the Jews."

The woke right treats anyone who hates Jews/Israel as an ally because Jews, on their view, are responsible for every evil. They don't blame the left for abortion, censorship, gender ideology, porn, unchecked immigration, etc. They blame the Jews. So it's fundamentally a Jew problem to them, not a right/left problem. This is one of several reasons uniting with the woke right is both moral and political suicide. There are others, like their disdain for the Constitution, but you really only need one.

They didn't use lethal measures here. They used irritants which are fine when used on most people. Typically, most responsible parents don't leave their kids sitting in their vehicle for 45+ minutes around the corner from a protest that could easily get violent (which it did), and then sit around for over 2.5 minutes instead of leaving once things start to get violent. That's fully on the parents.

@YaakovStras @velvethammer Cool! We should encourage our government to use more potentially lethal measures because factoring in the potential that innocents might be harmed with no great countervailing benefit is an inconvenience we simply cannot ask them to bother with.

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.

@WSJ She is not a Rabbi, and will never be a Rabbi. Either you stick to Jewish law or you don't, but you don't get to twist it to fit your views. It's been that way for thousands of years, and is one of the major reasons for Judaism continuing to survive.

Debbie Israel thought the "train had left the station" when it came to her becoming a rabbi in her 60s. Turns out, Rabbi Israel was wrong. 🔗 on.wsj.com/4tVUBLG

She is not a Rabbi, and will never be a Rabbi. Either you stick to Jewish law or you don't, but you don't get to twist it to fit your views. It's been that way for thousands of years, and is one of the major reasons for Judaism continuing to survive.

@Israel The Torah quite clearly forbids such things. Disgusting.

Pride rises at the lowest place on earth 🌈 This June the Dead Sea becomes Pride Land, the biggest LGBTQ+ festival ever in the Middle East. Four days of nonstop celebration community and connection. Israel celebrates its LGBTQ+ community bigger than ever 💙

They hadn't initially come specifically for the protest which is why they had their kids with them. They were passing by, and the parents decided to join the protest while leaving the kids in the car for 45+ minutes, plus another 2.5+ minutes during which they could have easily left once irritants and flashbangs started being deployed. One set of their grandparents was also there, so the grandma babysitting thing wouldn't have worked.

@YaakovStras Thats the parents' fault for bringing infants with them. Ngl I'd have them stay at home with their great grandma if that were the possiblities. Or do they not have the funds? If so, dont even attend to a protest. You might get even injured for what you are doing

I made a whole thread explaining the incident, but the mainstream media and the Left decided to go with the "ICE is bad" narrative instead of reality. x.com/i/status/20156…

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.