30 Comments
Nov 22, 2021Liked by Talia Lavin

Talia, please dont ever stop writing.

Expand full comment

"I’ve been trying to parse out why, precisely, this analogy is so compelling to the legions of anti-vaxxers who feel compelled to wear it proudly on their bodies"

Allow me to take a stab at this one.

BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING MORONS.

Expand full comment

😥

Expand full comment

Another example of the good you point out and the evil you expose.. Thankd. Tootles... Wade

Expand full comment
Nov 22, 2021Liked by Talia Lavin

This is an undeniably great piece of writing. There is a real rawness to it.

Speaking as someone raised in the evangelical circles in which comparisons to persecuted Jews are common, I'm so, so sorry. I'm embarrassed for the behavior of the people in my life. I'm trying to help make a cultural change. The situation is not hopeless. I do not ask for patience, I only ask for forgiveness.

Expand full comment
Nov 22, 2021Liked by Talia Lavin

This is profoundly powerful. The Evangelical Right has been planning a genocide since I was a little boy. Minimizing the suffering of the Jews in the Holocaust is a good first step.

Ann Coulter publicly talked about this back in 2007: https://jewcy.com/post/perfecting_jews_ann_coulter_way

This sort of talk happened in church after church in America in the 1980's and 90's. I suspect it is still happening now. The rise of the Evangelical Right is profoundly dangerous to anyone of Jewish ancestry.

Expand full comment

Fascinating. The way you connected the historical moments are very useful. Yesterday I saw in my mind people are "celebrating" the protests as an aspect of freedom. I wish we all could see the connections the way you wrote here.

Expand full comment

Antivaxxers wishing for oppression so they can use cowardice to fight it.

Expand full comment
Nov 22, 2021Liked by Talia Lavin

Thank you so much for this. This piece resonates with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg's piece, also published on substack this morning, about Shifra and Puah. Much to think about in terms of resisting genocide by secretly refusing to follow orders. These are powerful stories.

Expand full comment

Yasser koach, Talia Bracha. You are a treasure.

Expand full comment

thank you

Expand full comment

Yasher koach Talia. I am disgusted by the cheap and callous use of the yellow star. They use our oppression as a prop without the slightest suffering.

Expand full comment

Beautiful piece of writing thank you, and no, I did not know a lot of that

Expand full comment
Nov 23, 2021Liked by Talia Lavin

I expected to get angry along with you, and instead you have reduced me to a puddle of tears. Yours is a clarion voice of sanity, and righteousness, and courage.

Expand full comment

I did not know. But I'm so glad that I do now. Thank you.

Expand full comment

"adopt the mantle of persecution when asked to save their own lives"

What a brilliant and genius phrase. This is precisely what those idiots and ignorant f**ks are doing.

I'm stealing that and will use it forever more!

Expand full comment