{"id":530,"date":"2008-12-23T02:21:03","date_gmt":"2008-12-23T07:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/?p=530"},"modified":"2013-12-12T17:41:34","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T01:41:34","slug":"the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year","title":{"rendered":"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the significance of \u1e24anukah is masked by both its commercialization (in competition with Christmas) and its status as a “minor” or post-biblical Jewish holiday, there are important reasons to believe that it is ancient, poorly understood, and quite deep.<\/p>\n

Before he passed away this past year, Rabbi Zelig Scharfstein of blessed memory, taught me a very special \u1e24assidic vort (bit of Torah) concerning the fifth night of \u1e24anukah. To review it, I sought the teaching online at Sichos in English<\/a>, a site providing translations of the teachings of the \u1e24abad Lubavitch \u1e25assidic tradition. The following is very similar to what I remember Rav Scharfstein teaching me.<\/p>\n

The fifth day of \u1e24anukah can never occur on a Shabbat. When \u1e24anukah occurs on days that are even only potentially Shabbat days, the light of \u1e24anukah combines with the light of Shabbat for a powerful illumination. So the fifth night, which can never be Shabbat, represents great darkness relative to the other nights.<\/p>\n

Thus, the fifth light of \u1e24anukah has the unique task and power to illuminate and instill spirituality even in such a time of darkness. [source<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To really grasp the intensity of this tradition, one has to imagine themselves in a time and a place where artificial light and electricity are not as ubiquitous and familiar as they are in our nighttime world. The \u1e25assidic teaching describes a spiritual darkness that can be imagined, but the darkness of the fifth night is one that can also be observed. This is because the Hebrew calendar<\/a> follows a lunar cycle. The first night of \u1e24anukah always begins on the 25th of the month of Kislev, the fifth night corresponds with the 29th of Kislev, the Eve of the New Moon. While the winter solstice is the longest night of the year, the nights of the waning moon are the longest darkest<\/em> nights of the year. Without the moon’s illumination, and without the joy of the Sabbath, the 29th would be profoundly dark — if not for the light of our \u1e24anukah lights. \u1e24anukah, aka \u1e24ag Urim<\/em> [Festival of Lights], ends with the light of the sun increasing as well as the waxing of the moon’s strength.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the significance of \u1e24anukah is masked by both its commercialization (in competition with Christmas) and its status as a “minor” or post-biblical Jewish holiday, there are important reasons to believe that it is ancient, poorly understood, and quite deep.<\/p>\n

Before he passed away this past year, Rabbi Zelig Scharfstein of blessed memory, taught me . . . → Continue reading: The Longest Darkest Night of the Year<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[108,114,198],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mythology","category-yiddishkeit","tag-winter-solstice","tag-the-moon","tag-anukah","odd"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Longest Darkest Night of the Year • Aharon's Omphalos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year • Aharon's Omphalos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Although the significance of \u1e24anukah is masked by both its commercialization (in competition with Christmas) and its status as a “minor” or post-biblical Jewish holiday, there are important reasons to believe that it is ancient, poorly understood, and quite deep. Before he passed away this past year, Rabbi Zelig Scharfstein of blessed memory, taught me . . . → Continue reading: The Longest Darkest Night of the Year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aharon's Omphalos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/aharonium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/aharonium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-23T07:21:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-13T01:41:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/aharons-omphalos.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1257\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1487\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aharon N. Varady\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@http:\/\/twitter.com\/aharonium\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aharonium\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aharon N. Varady\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Aharon N. Varady\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5\"},\"headline\":\"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-23T07:21:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-13T01:41:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year\"},\"wordCount\":373,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5\"},\"keywords\":[\"winter solstice\",\"the moon\",\"\u1e24anukah\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Mythology\",\"Judaica\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year\",\"name\":\"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year • Aharon's Omphalos\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-23T07:21:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-13T01:41:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/contact\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/\",\"name\":\"Aharon's Omphalos\",\"description\":\"spinning navel lint into fine yarn\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5\",\"name\":\"Aharon N. Varady\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Aharon-Varady.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Aharon-Varady.jpg\",\"width\":1061,\"height\":1062,\"caption\":\"Aharon N. Varady\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Aharon's Omphalos is the hobbit hole of Aharon Varady, founding director of the Open Siddur Project. He is a community planner and environmental educator working to improve stewardship of the Public Domain, be it the physical and natural commons of urban park systems or the creative and cultural commons of libraries and museums. His advocacy for open-source strategies in the Jewish community has been written about in the Atlantic Magazine, the Yiddish Forverts, Tablet, and Haaretz. He is particularly interested in pedagogies for advancing ecological wisdom, developing creative and emotional intelligence, and realizing effective theurgical praxes. He welcomes your comments, personal messages, and kind words. If you find his work helpful to your own or you'd simply like to support him, please consider donating via his Patreon account.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\",\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/aharonium\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/http:\/\/twitter.com\/aharonium\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year • Aharon's Omphalos","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year • Aharon's Omphalos","og_description":"Although the significance of \u1e24anukah is masked by both its commercialization (in competition with Christmas) and its status as a “minor” or post-biblical Jewish holiday, there are important reasons to believe that it is ancient, poorly understood, and quite deep. Before he passed away this past year, Rabbi Zelig Scharfstein of blessed memory, taught me . . . → Continue reading: The Longest Darkest Night of the Year","og_url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year","og_site_name":"Aharon's Omphalos","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/aharonium","article_author":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/aharonium","article_published_time":"2008-12-23T07:21:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-12-13T01:41:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1257,"height":1487,"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/aharons-omphalos.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Aharon N. Varady","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@http:\/\/twitter.com\/aharonium","twitter_site":"@aharonium","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Aharon N. Varady","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year"},"author":{"name":"Aharon N. Varady","@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5"},"headline":"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year","datePublished":"2008-12-23T07:21:03+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-13T01:41:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year"},"wordCount":373,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5"},"keywords":["winter solstice","the moon","\u1e24anukah"],"articleSection":["Mythology","Judaica"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year","url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year","name":"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year • Aharon's Omphalos","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-12-23T07:21:03+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-13T01:41:34+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/the-longest-darkest-night-of-the-year#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/contact"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Longest Darkest Night of the Year"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/","name":"Aharon's Omphalos","description":"spinning navel lint into fine yarn","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/995b8f7b388fb460e5204034604079f5","name":"Aharon N. Varady","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Aharon-Varady.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Aharon-Varady.jpg","width":1061,"height":1062,"caption":"Aharon N. Varady"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Aharon's Omphalos is the hobbit hole of Aharon Varady, founding director of the Open Siddur Project. He is a community planner and environmental educator working to improve stewardship of the Public Domain, be it the physical and natural commons of urban park systems or the creative and cultural commons of libraries and museums. His advocacy for open-source strategies in the Jewish community has been written about in the Atlantic Magazine, the Yiddish Forverts, Tablet, and Haaretz. He is particularly interested in pedagogies for advancing ecological wisdom, developing creative and emotional intelligence, and realizing effective theurgical praxes. He welcomes your comments, personal messages, and kind words. If you find his work helpful to your own or you'd simply like to support him, please consider donating via his Patreon account.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aharon.varady.net","http:\/\/facebook.com\/aharonium","https:\/\/x.com\/http:\/\/twitter.com\/aharonium"],"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/author\/admin"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgdGV-8y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":796,"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2009\/12\/metaphors-liberate-us","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":0},"title":"Metaphors Liberate Us","author":"Aharon N. Varady","date":"December 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In an age when the possibility of living in the land of Israel is no longer an abstract yearning, at a time when Jerusalem is rebuilt (with a soon to be active light rail system!), and after nearly 2000 years without the physical presence of a Temple nor the daily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mythology"","block_context":{"text":"Mythology","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/category\/yiddishkeit\/mythology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/first-light-of-freedom-e1483925040265.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1021,"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2012\/01\/varadys-fabulous-flying-keyboard","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":1},"title":"Varady’s Fabulous Flying Keyboard","author":"Aharon N. Varady","date":"January 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever want a keyboard configuration you could switch to for odd characters\u203d You know, so you could add an \u1e24 in \u1e24anukah without copying and pasting from this page (or your favorite \"Character Viewer\" program).","rel":"","context":"In "Hacking"","block_context":{"text":"Hacking","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/category\/craft\/hacking"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Extended.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Extended.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Extended.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Extended.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":543,"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/12\/hanukah-sukkot-bet-and-the-brumalia","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":2},"title":"\u1e24anukkah: Sukkot Sheni and the Brumalia","author":"Aharon N. Varady","date":"December 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"With the dissemination and availability of 2 Maccabees (preserved in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian cannons), more Jews are learning that the eight day festival of lights originated as a renewal of the eight day festival of Sukkot.\u00a0 That essential Fall pilgrimage and fertility festival (which included the joyous water-drawing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mythology"","block_context":{"text":"Mythology","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/category\/yiddishkeit\/mythology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2006\/01\/jews-in-the-bayou","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":3},"title":"Jews in the Bayou","author":"Aharon N. Varady","date":"January 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Fruity Jews in the Woods, or just plains Jews in the Woods, is the name of a community which is getting larger, that meets and organizes collectively over the internet via a listserve and wiki, and gathers together once or twice a year for Shabbat at a rural retreat of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Judaica"","block_context":{"text":"Judaica","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/category\/yiddishkeit"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1328,"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2012\/10\/the-sign-of-the-twins-on-the-reconciliation-of-the-divine-and-its-likeness","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":4},"title":"The Sign of the Twins: On the Reconciliation of the Divine with its Likeness","author":"Aharon N. Varady","date":"October 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Jeff Anshalem writes, \"On Shabbat \u1e24ol Hamoed Sukkot we read of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, seemingly a strange choice for Sukkot, but the Maor VeShamesh explains what\u2019s common to both: unity. Unity between us, symbolized by the joining together of the Four Species (Vayikra Rabbah\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mythology"","block_context":{"text":"Mythology","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/category\/yiddishkeit\/mythology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Erich-Ferdinand-Gemini-CC-BY-2.0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Erich-Ferdinand-Gemini-CC-BY-2.0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Erich-Ferdinand-Gemini-CC-BY-2.0.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Erich-Ferdinand-Gemini-CC-BY-2.0.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":208,"url":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2008\/09\/on-mind-flayers-and-the-faith-of-our-fathers","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":5},"title":"On Mind Flayers and the Faith of our Fathers","author":"Aharon N. Varady","date":"September 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Isaac S. and I were talking role playing and the biological basis of behavior for Mind Flayer society again this past Shabbat when our conversation meandered into the ever fertile field of movement ideology and identity politics in American Modern Orthodox Judaism. (In hindsight it seems appropriate we were taking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Judaica"","block_context":{"text":"Judaica","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/category\/yiddishkeit"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/mind_flayer-254x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1630,"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/1630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}