by Ram ben Ze’ev When Grief Becomes Content The reported kidnapping and possible murder of Nancy Guthrie—an elderly woman and the mother of a well-known journalist—has once again revealed something deeply troubling about modern society. Not only the crime itself, but the reaction to it. Within hours of such events, microphones appear. Cameras are raised. Podcasters assemble. Individuals with nothing more than a smartphone and a social-media account declare themselves “press,”

by Ram ben Ze'ev Faithful Delivery, Not Improvement The Talmud teaches with remarkable restraint. It does not thunder or dramatise; it places a mirror before the reader and waits. In Menachot 30a–b, that mirror is held up through a simple parable: a messenger entrusted with a sealed letter from a king decides to improve it. His intention may even be kind. Yet the recipient returns the letter unopened, recognising immediately that this is not the king’s voice. The lesson is de

by Ram ben Ze'ev The Silent Seller: How Bitcoin ETFs Turn Fear into Forced Liquidation The greatest risk in Bitcoin today is not volatility. It is not regulation. It is not even leverage. The real danger sits quietly inside the structure of Bitcoin ETFs, largely unseen by retail investors and deliberately softened by institutional marketing. That danger is the absence of human judgment at the moment selling matters most. When Bitcoin is held directly, the decision to sell is

by Ram ben Ze'ev When Quotes Are Lies: A Modern Habit of Borrowed Authority In recent days, following the publication of my article Putting Words into G-D’s Mouth Is Not Torah , I began asking a simple question about a series of widely shared quotations attributed to long-dead thinkers, writers, and public figures. These quotes are routinely presented as “deep,” “timeless,” and “profound,” and they circulate endlessly across social media, stripped of context and wrapped in b

by Ram ben Ze'ev Putting Words into G-D’s Mouth Is Not Torah Clarity demands that we state an uncomfortable truth . Much of what is written, circulated, translated, and shared today in the name of Torah is not Torah at all. It is interpretation layered with agenda, language imported from foreign belief systems, and sentiment designed to appeal emotionally rather than submit faithfully to the word of G-D. Concern arises when prayers, commentaries, and even respected compilatio

by Ram ben Ze'ev The Addiction to Outrage and the Strengthening of Evil We are living in an age where people increasingly feel compelled to involve themselves in events that have no direct bearing on their lives, no capacity for meaningful influence, and no avenue for repair or responsibility. A tragedy occurs on the other side of the world and, within minutes, countless individuals absorb it emotionally, comment upon it, argue about it, repost it, and carry it with them as t

by Ram ben Ze’ev The Judeo-Christian Fiction: Stop Claiming What Is Not Yours In January 2020 I wrote Judeo-Christian Divide  to address a growing falsehood: the claim that Judaism and Christianity share a common religious foundation. In the years since, that falsehood has not diminished. It has intensified. Today, ever more voices from foreign belief systems insist on associating themselves with Jews, with Israel, and with Judaism itself, as though repetition might somehow t

by Ram ben Ze’ev Speculation Is Not Strategy: Ethereum, Bitcoin, and the Cost of Belief At the time of writing, Ethereum trades at approximately $2,300 and Bitcoin at approximately $77,800. Those numbers matter not because they are low or high in absolute terms, but because they sit far below the peaks that were loudly promoted as mere stepping stones to something greater. In the world of digital assets, belief has repeatedly been sold as strategy, and speculation dressed up

by Ram ben Ze'ev When Jews Are Told to Be Quiet There is a familiar tactic that surfaces whenever Jews speak plainly in the language of Torah: the warning. It is often dressed up as concern, civility, or social responsibility, but its meaning is unmistakable. If you say this out loud, people will hate you more. This is not a defence of Jews. It is an attempt to manage Jews. When a non-Jew responds to a Torah-based statement by suggesting that Jewish clarity might “lead to ant