Nōaḥ and Perfect victims / נח און פּערפֿעקטע קרבנות

This is a weekly series

of parsha dvarim (Tōrah commentaries) written by an orthodox atheist transsexual anarchist, with guest posts from comrades. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance, and it's crucial that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns Judaism. We aim to offer comment which is true to the pshat (i.e. engages with the plain meaning of the text, especially when it's difficult) and uses Tōrah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

Read more commentary on parshas Nōaḥ.

An appeal

Can you donate a small and regular sum to Gazan refugees? I'm looking for $5 or $10 a month from a "minyon" of people with the means to do so reliably and sustainably, so that my friends in Palestine and in exile can make financial plans instead of begging online every day. Specifically, I'm fundraising for a group of Gazan medical students in Egypt to cover their $80 rent while they study; and several internally displaced Gazan families in Palestine where costs are still exorbitant. Email me if you want to contribute!

Content note

Genocide in Palestine, fascism in America

The narrative this week covers the flood and the Towel of Bovel. Hashem decides that all the people of the earth are corrupt and He's going to start over. I resent Nōaḥ because he accepts this "solution" without argument.

Who gets saved? Who is deemed righteous, a good victim worthy of redemption? Tōrah poses this question a few times, but this week, it's only Nōaḥ and his immediate family who are spared. Everyone else, apparently, deserves to die. Nōaḥ builds the ark as he's told, and the flood destroys everything outside of it.

Earlier this year, Tarek Bazrouk was charged with federal hate crime for attacking Jews at Zionist rallies. Like Mahmoud Khalil, Bazrouk is a young Palestinian man and university student in New York City, targeted by the state to silence his righteous anger about the genocide done to his people. Both are political prisoners. But Bazrouk's case isn't receiving the same widespread attention as Khalil's.