2025 was a Whack-a-Mole kind of year. Just when we think Trump can not go any lower, another spite-filled atrocity pushes up from the ground somewhere nearby and we have to address yet another moral emergency.
But this game goes both ways. Just as Trump thinks he’s applied a coup de grĂ¢ce to democracy in one place, sanity reasserts itself in some new and unexpected way.
Texas gerrymanders? I’ll raise you California and Virginia.
Subversion of the media? Well, in the nick of time, a vast network of independent journalism emerges, fueled by Substack and social media, producing the largest protests in American history.
Alienating allies? Help is on the way, in the form of the first American pope, chosen expressly to counter the worst American president.
Demoralized, exhausted opposition? How about an off-year electoral resurgence of sanity?
CBS and Congress succumb to the soulless Trumpian body snatchers? Well, somehow a killed “60 Minutes” story pops up in more places than a Whack-a-Mole, and a few female Republican reps grow a pair, forcing a massive Epstein files release.
We are witnessing a resurgence of true patriotism, just in time for the most important year since 1776, the 250th of America’s existence. And yes, I’ve noticed that the football Patriots are resurgent too, just as they were in 2001, in the aftermath of another 21st century catastrophe.
The atrocities mount by the day, but so does the evidence of guilt. And as the bespotted presidency becomes increasingly corrupted by the day, the trail of stains becomes more indelible. And as this week the drip-drip-drip of Epstein revelations turned into a torrent, it seems inevitable that what Trump did to the East Wing is going to be a metaphor for his entire presidency, as this despicable House of Cards collapses completely, its foundation undermined by a plethora of holes and unwhacked moles.
Here are my top 25 postings for the year, including some of the most popular, along with some of my personal faves, in no particular order. I follow that with a selection of quotes from my work that have had particular resonance to me, and I hope to you.
And if you are in the mood to listen or watch something, rather than just read, here are some podcast suggestions from this past year:
I want to thank all of you for coming on this journey with me. I really sense that we are in this together, and I think you for your readership and support. Over the course of 2025, this Substack’s base of subscribers has gone from 3,400 to 8,500, with 44,000 followers. Over the coming year I plan to do more live events, conversations, lectures and classes - and just some old-fashioned “meets.”
And now, the Top 25….. but first, a pledge for 2026
Last January, days before the inauguration, I wrote an essay on this Substack entitled, A Kinder and Gentler Religion, where I discussed our struggles to find a God of love and compassion in light of what we see before us, using the book and film Life of Pi as my jumping off point.
We continue to struggle with that God, the one who allowed Jonah to be thrown to the waves, who allowed 6 million to die in the Holocaust, who allowed 20 children to die in Newtown, 1127 people to die in a decrepit Bangladesh clothing factory, who allowed Moore, Oklahoma to be flattened by a twister. We accept the reality of all that.
And we look for signs of the better story of how God’s kindness emerges in these storms, through acts of human courage and dignity. We saw it in those exhausted runners on Patriots Day in Boston in 2013, who ran toward the explosion, and in those Israelis who, upon seeing that their government was stuck in a state of paralysis, ran toward the Gaza Envelope to save lives on October 7. We saw it in hordes of volunteers who poured into Long Island and New Jersey after the flood waters of Sandy receded. We see it every day in our own communities. We see it at every shiva. We see it while we wipe every tear. That is OUR better story. It is the story we tell – and the story we write – even when God seems so far away.
Kindness and innocence have never seemed further from our grasp. Trump has indeed deranged us, perverted our media, corrupted our very language, f’d up democracy itself (did I just say that?) with r-word laced vitriol. He may not cause every campus murder, every act of hate, every shooting of an innocent girl named Matilda in Sydney - but he has contributed to a world where innocence is expendable and all that matters is blame, self-aggrandizement and the appearance of winning. Where, yes, cruelty is the point.
For 2026 I pledge to try to restore a degree of gentility and kindness to our world - never letting a favor slip past without expressing gratitude and never ignoring the suffering of the many at the hands of the few. Still, gentility has its limits. With the democracy in the balance as elections approach, while practicing menschlichkeit, I also pledge to, journalistically-speaking, continue to kick-butt!1
For the coming year, I reiterate a pledge I made in a prior posting, The Peacemaker’s Task:
I am not going to try to defend the indefensible, nor will I abandon the unabandonable - the countries, peoples and faiths traditions that I will always love unconditionally, though not without moments of questioning and candor.
I am not going to forgive my enemies or leave innocents defenseless, concoct excuses, disseminate fake “gotcha” videos amidst real talking points and manufactured whataboutisms.
There is so much that is unclear right now, but what is beyond doubt is that the forces of death - of cynicism, anger and lies - are pulling at my soul while love and life tug at my heart.
I will not let the darkness win. And my job is to help you in that fight too.
Yes, it could get worse - but 2025 was pretty bad. As Eleanor Roosevelt said in an era that was even more horrible, yet one in which the White House was not violated and there was not yet a Kennedy Center to desecrate:
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”
We have lived through this horror of ‘25. As for 2026? Bring it on!
And now, 25 from ‘25…
How to be happy when things are so rotten
Visiting my happy place, strolling among the shells and boulders, and being reminded that we’re all just walking each other home. Dec. 3, 2025
Of Medicine, Miracles and Media
I hate to get political (not really!) but I wish some people who call themselves religious would appreciate that miraculous partnership of the healing process and modern medicine.
MARCH 25, 2025
After Mamdani’s victory, vigilance is called for. “Resistance” is not.
Hold his feet to the fire but understand that there can just be one pharaoh at a time.
NOV 07, 2025
Harvard’s “Shot Heard Round the World”
APR 17, 2025
“No Kings” misses the point. Trump doesn’t think he’s king - he thinks he’s God.
JUN 6, 2025
Trump’s “defense” of Jews on campus is really a protection racket, aimed at destroying the academic integrity Jews hold most sacred
APR 4, 2025
Jane Goodall’s advice on this Substack last March taught us how to fight Big Lies / Plus - Thoughts on Gaza
Goodall stated: “Don’t call them fascists, as it implies that they have power. Express disgust, but don’t engage; refer to their claims as tantrums and rages. Keep it simple, shout it loud and often.”
OCT. 9, 2025
The MAGA obsession with the R-word used to be a way to “own the libs.” Now it’s much more dangerous.
MAY 14
Can an executive order condemning antisemitism ever be a bad thing? Yes, when its purpose is not to defend, but to divide.
JAN 31
Pope Leo, the man for the moment, was chosen to inspire fellow Americans to stand up to unprecedented evil.
MAY 9
What does it mean when the man killed in one of the worst antisemitic attacks in US history…was Christian?
MAY 23
What June 14 will mean for America, as the National Mall becomes Red Square
JUN 1
Bill Moyers’ death, my recovery and why setting back a nuclear Iran must not be allowed to set back democracy here.
JUN 29, 2025
Blowin’ in the Wind
Wind, water and sun. While Trump flails at what he calls “windmills,” the natural forces that have sustained us for millennia can save us now.
Sept. 7, 2025
It’s not easy being mean. But mockery is the point. For now.
Mock, demean and “own” to your heart’s content. But it’s liberating to recall that in the end we are all the same - even those who claim to have the “best” genes.
August 11, 2025
Thank you, Donald! You’ve quelled all the animosity toward Jews at campus rallies. Because it’s now all directed against you!
APR 21, 2025
Thank you, Donald. You reminded me how my grandmother escaped TO Alcatraz - and was welcomed in America.
MAY 6, 2025
Thank you, IRS! You’ve Just Unleashed Democracy’s Secret Weapon: Activist Clergy.
JUL 15, 2025
Thank you, NYT, for calling a lie a lie.
And you’re welcome for taking my advice!
FEB 23
Trump’s worst nightmare: a transactional God who demands justice, love and humility as payment for saving his life
JAN 23, 2025
The East Wing and the Western Wall: A tale of two obsessive builders, ego-driven mad kings who smashed their nation’s most sacred sites
We’ve seen this before. An obsessive builder, paranoid, impulsive, thirsting for adoration but universally despised, wanting to make his nation great again. What can be learned from Herod’s madness?
OCT. 27, 2025
Nixon saved Israel in ‘73 and some Jews loved him for it. Until he tried to end democracy. Don’t make the same mistake now.
Trump has become Nixon 2.0. Nixon believed he was above the law and tried to upend American democracy. He was also a bully who assisted Israel in its darkest hour, when no one else could.
OCT. 10, 2025
On Borrowed Time: Me, My Dog, and America
Sermon delivered on the eve of No Kings Day - America’s Yom Kippur - and upon my return to TBE Stamford, one year since my final sermon as Senior Rabbi there.
JUNE 14, 2025
Friday, the Rabbi Resigned...and Other Profiles in Courage for an Era of Outrage.
Looking for new champions of conscience to rouse us, we find an ex-prime minister, an artist, Scott Pelley and other truth tellers raising the stakes from “Good Trouble” to “Disturbed Sabbaths.”
May 28, 2025
The “cancer within the presidency” - and within me
Our nation’s malignancy forces upon us existential questions: Would you lay down your life in the glorious conquest of Vancouver - to please a president who won’t even welcome your corpse home?
APRIL 8, 2025
AND ONE MORE!!!!!!
Introducing the new Mensch-Marks audiobook. A thank you gift to paid subscribers - and all readers of “In This Moment!
And a way of celebrating the growth of this Substack and thanking you, all the readers of “In This Moment: A Rabbi’s Notebook”
Now, here are 25 quotes from the past year.
Feel free to share - and let me know which ones resonate with you!
Wishing everyone safe and happy holidays!
Fun fact: There’s an actual Talmudic expression (Bava Metzia 80a) - לבעוט בתחת - to kick butt. It has to do with a cow, but the word for “kick” is literally liv’ot, and a habitual kicking cow is a butt’an.
Good morning Rabbi, I have many thoughts about your 25s; however, the one that keeps coming to the surface is about opposing antisemitism is meant to divide.
Perhaps my thinking is twisted and you can help me with this. Somehow I don't think that the protests against how the Israeli government is treating the people in Gaza is necessarily antisemitic.
Yes, the people doing it are Jewish; but, they certainly don't represent every Jewish person.
I recently got into it, so to speak, with someone on a substack about the Somalians' fraud and apparently, led by an American white woman, stealing funds. The person's remark was that they should ALL be deported. Long story short, my position was that the accused guilty should be arrested, get due process and if necessary be deported; but, it would be wrong to blame all of the Somalians for this and because of this punish them with unwarranted deportation.
The other person said if the Somalians had not come here illegally (came here illegally and asked for asylum rather than requesting asylum while they were still in Somalia) this fraud would not have happened. Right, and If Italians had not come to America we wouldn't have the Mafioso.
Anyway, this went on and on with neither of us changing our minds.
What do you think?
Also, I am not through with your post yet, Just thought I'd start with this. :-)
Not answering for Rabbi Hammerman, Susan, but for myself, as someone on the front lines in the protest arena and with friends and family on the literal front lines in Gaza:
"Somehow I don't think that the protests against how the Israeli government is treating the people in Gaza is necessarily antisemitic"
If the protests had really been about the Israeli government or military's "treatment of the people in Gaza" the chants wouldn't have included "Gas the Jews" (Sydney, Australia, Oct. 9, 2023) or "Globalize the intifada" (basically every demonstration starting on Oct. 8, 2023) or any of countless other antisemitic slogans, literal calls for the death of Jews worldwide. I assume only good will on your part (given your readership of this Substack and also because you have not otherwise demonstrated ill will), but the so-called "Pro-Palestine" protests have (mostly) been anti-Israel and antisemitic. If you want to have a discussion about the Trump administration's cynical and dangerous use of antisemitism as an excuse to undercut democratic and academic freedoms, we can focus on that.
Thank you for the information. I certainly have no "ill will" toward Jewish people nor any others. I do have "ill will" towards government leaders who are authoritarian or who are moving in that direction.
Could you help me to understand how the use of antisemitism is being used to undercut freedoms? You probably figured out from my post that I don't know a lot about this area. I don't mean to offend by my questions. I am seeking understanding and knowledge.
Thank you both for using this space for passionate conversation punctuated by listening and respect. It makes me feel both proud and hopeful, that we can create a place where that can happen - whatever your opinions happen to be.
Very good morning to you. I spoke before about my happy place. Well, this is my safe place. I feel that I can ask questions and get honest, straight forward answers. You know how I like to ask questions and I hope you know how much I appreciate your answers and those of the other posters.
Another symbol of hope:
https://www.wweek.com/news/2025/12/24/portlander-of-the-year-the-frog/?utm_source=Master+Audience&utm_campaign=af57fc4587-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_12_24_06_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-af57fc4587-88068600&mc_cid=af57fc4587&mc_eid=8f56c68d36
(Hope the link works!)
Love it! It’s fascinating how the frog, a symbol of adaptation (both in its amphibious origins and usage in the “boiling frog” analogy) has adapted from becoming an icon of American far-right extremism (Pepe the Frog) to become this symbol of playfulness, kindness and hope - which is perhaps the ultimate form of resistance to authoritarians.
I always wonder if the really long links will work. On rare occasions there is a frog "symphony" in the orchard that is across from me. I am hard of hearing and even so can hear it. Goes to show that if the chorus is loud enough even the deaf can hear it.
Great post. :-)