Indexed Reading List
I am putting up this page to have an index of all of my writings, divided by subject. For all those that are new to Vitalist Judaism and the wider, wacky world of Yosef Hirsh’s mind, this is the “Start Here'“ page.
This page will be periodically updated as I write more and transfer my writings from other sources to Substack.
Vitalist Judaism
This is the main literary project that I am working on. In a nutshell, it is my current approach to Judaism vis-a-vis some of the other main denominations of Observant Judaism. If I would go back to and give advice to my teenage self, this is what I would say
Knowledge of Judaism is needed to understand many of these essays.
The Vitalist Jew : a manifesto for the Vitalist Judaism project.
Tenet 1- Judaism is Pluralistic
Tenet 2- Integration not Supression
Torah and Science
While the intersection and contradiction of Torah and science is not my primary field of interest, this subject is hotly debated in the Jewish Substack blogosphere. I wrote a few pieces about my perspective of this issue.
Misc. Jewish Think Pieces
I, Hirshtradamus- An essay on the post Oct 7th reality for Jews and broader analysis of the cultural decline. Is America heading to the same place that Rome went and what is the fate of the Jews?
The Centigram of the Yeshiva World- A system of the various personalities of the yeshiva world. This guest post by my friend Leib Shachar, went viral on Substack and in the broader yeshiva multiverse.
Defining Daas Torah- I try to define my own definition for one of the most controversial terms in the frum world.
How to debate Jewish issues Intelligently
Musings of a Therapist