Additional Sacrifice: The Regular Weekend Lynch

A Revelation for Secular People: Slander is a Terrible Sin. Why is the Fiction of the Weekly Torah Portion Better than the "Reality" of the Newspaper? And Why is the Fictitious User Preferable to the "Real" User?

The Facebook Space and the Inner Space: Thou Shalt Not Let Any Soul Live  (Source)

On the weekend (formerly known as the holy Sabbath), the masses turn from work - to moral labor. Those same people who will never understand the need for a temple and sacrificial service in society (did someone say Girard?) turn to their own sacred work - in a kind of collective secular need for a ritual purification ceremony, combining sacred time with sacred space (Facebook). The sacrifice? Usually an interviewee in Haaretz newspaper whose words were taken - or not taken (let's assume) - out of context (and you wonder: who's the fool still willing to be interviewed there?). Sometimes there are two competing sacrifices, as stated in the Musaf prayer (established corresponding to the additional sacrifice): "And on the Sabbath day, two male lambs in their first year (not unblemished). The Sabbath burnt offering on its Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its libation."

For those who open Facebook only on Saturday night, and get a post-mortem glimpse, the regular slaughter ritual looks as bizarre as the book of Leviticus appears to secular people. Nevertheless, the Bible opposes human sacrifices, and even Kantian morality is interested in not turning another person into a means (for likes), and certainly not to judge them, that is, their entire personality and inner self (and soul!), based on this or that slip of the tongue, or even this or that action. Unlike the meticulous and aesthetic ritual in Leviticus, the secular weekend sacrifice is more akin to pushing the scapegoat off a cliff - which gives new meaning to the degeneration of the nation. Because what can you do, when there's no Torah - there's a newspaper, and when there's no weekly Torah portion - there's the weekly affair. And you shall call the Sabbath a delight!

In any case, the collective pouncing on another person - on their innards and legs - is an incredibly ugly thing, and a thousand times uglier than any ugly act or statement that person (allegedly) made. Even someone who has truly sinned (and usually, and not by chance, it's not about someone who has truly sinned) - deserves compassion and "complexity," as even the masses would internalize if they preferred literature over the newspaper (and here's another advantage of fiction over reality!). Usually, we at "The Degeneration of the Nation" are not interested in street fights on Facebook, and prefer anonymous and fictional discussion, which by nature addresses the issue itself and not the person. The position of righteous preaching is not exactly our stormy cup of tea either. But posts have reached the soul, and since the phenomenon repeats itself and is taking on biblical dimensions (aren't you tired of it? Don't you see the pattern? Aren't you bored? And actually - it's clear that you're bored!) we hereby publicly announce that the Chief Rabbi decrees excommunication and banishment on anyone who participates in excommunication and banishment. And in the building of the Temple we shall be comforted.

In addition, we call upon every person of sound mind and heart to delete their real profile on Facebook (and if possible in reality too, meaning on every platform) - and replace it with a fictitious user, as was customary in the early days, when the internet was still a tool for liberation and not for policing. This is a vaccination against ad hominem attacks, and even more so - self-vaccination. You too will be infected with fewer "negios" [biases] and less tempted by narcissistic traps, such as publishing texts whose sole purpose is to attract likes - if you don't publish under your own name. Content is king - and the writer is the servant. Contrary to Facebook propaganda in favor of "truth," it is precisely fiction that increases humanity and honesty in the virtual space - just as it increases it in the literary space. Therefore, only if we recognize the virtual space as a literary-fictional space, can we curb the ridiculous pursuit of honor (and its opposite: humiliating others for the sake of glorifying oneself through their disgrace), on a network built entirely on the naked instinct of honor, because in it we have truly witnessed the fulfillment of the verse: "Everyone then knew very well - who has more likes." The fake always reminds you before whom you stand: before yourself. And more importantly: that you yourself are also fake, and within you too is a fictional space (what was once called: a soul). The fake is not some accident, or a postmodern invention, or an unfortunate necessity. The fake is your soul. And Facebook causes you to distance yourself from it - and from the inner space. And exposes the ugly face.