iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

fun times being jewish on tiktok dot com or whatever the fuck

Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

"It’s October 7th. Please Speak Responsibly." I wrote about how Judaism views all speech, writing, and language as inherently sacred, and our ethical obligations to speak responsibly in times of tragedy Full essay: cmcaplan.substack.com/p/01f2a269-7...

The earliest known mystic text, the Sefer Yetzirah, views Hebrew letters as the cosmic blueprint of reality. Each letter in the alphabet embodies various aspects of the universe and the human condition. The act of writing becomes a spiritual conduit that channels divine energy into the physical world. Everything is downstream from the celestial power of language. Every letter, every word, is part of the DNA that sequences the universe.

But as another Jewish writer once said, with great power comes great responsibility. If words have the power to reshape reality, then we’re all obliged to use our words carefully.

This value is best expressed in an anecdote about the Baal Shem Tov, in which a man in the middle of a heated exchange threatens to tear his adversary apart. Instead of stepping in, the Baal Shem Tov asks his disciples to join hands and close their eyes. Within moments, their minds are filled with a horrifying portrait of gore; a vision in which the man makes good on his threat, and physically tears and stabs the other man to pieces. They all wail in terror.

The lesson? Words are spiritual. Words are holy. When we profane this sacred gift with even the suggestion of violence, we cultivate within ourselves a spiritual cancer. No threats are empty, no words are void of meaning. We have a responsibility to avoid fueling the ugliest aspects of our souls.

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

ready for simchat torah and i’m feeling like a jewish indiana jones in this outfit

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl Thinks More Jews Should Identify as Zionists. I Disagree. Here’s Why. Full Essay: cmcaplan.substack.com/p/rabbi-ange...

On the day that I was born, on June 3rd 1996, the Boston Globe ran the headline, Netanyahu Pledges A Real Peace.

Funny how things turn out, huh?

It’s been thirty years since then, and the Jews of my generation have grown up alongside a version of Israel shaped by the far-right’s stranglehold on the reins of power. In that time many have assured me that the sum total of how Israel has chosen to govern itself throughout the entirety of my life need not define the character of the country. What, then, am I supposed to use as my metric?

I’ve lost count of the number of people who have insisted I try harder to view Israel through a more idealistic lens—as an upholder of liberal principles, temporarily embarrassed by a far-right government they’re sure to shake off any day now. They don’t seem to understand that from the point of view of many Jews in my generation, we are being asked to reject the direct evidence of how Israel has chosen to govern itself in favor of an idealistic abstraction. We are being asked to take a leap of faith, to believe in the integrity of this nation, which we are assured exists, yet we have never seen.

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

anyway guess what's going live on substack tomorrow

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

so I made a substack where i'll be posting jewish stuff from now on! we're kicking things off with the transcript of a speech I delivered on Yom Kippur a few days ago. I had some thoughts on the nuances of identity, and finding the light in a complicated legacy cmcaplan.substack.com/p/i-will-not...

My grandmother, for her part, did her best to instill in us a halfway decent Christian education. Though in my case I guess we can all see how that turned out.

Her yahrtzeit is next Friday. I’ve spent the past year grappling with her legacy. Which is, in a sense, a way of grappling with God.

There’s a part in the story of Jacob, where Jacob’s wrestling to God, his hip is injured , and he says to God, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” I’ve tried to embrace that ethos, that Chinese finger trap mentality. There’s something to be said for squeezing a hardship until it surrenders some degree of meaning. Sometimes you’ve got to sieve misfortune, to sift through the grief until you find a few iotas of upside.

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

“Rabbi texted me on Friday afternoon asking me if I could write a speech for Yom Kippur in the next four days. I told her I could get that done in the next four hours.” Got invited to come up and share some words of wisdom. Video coming soon probably.

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Labor day enthusiasts hate to see me coming. Yom Kippur enthusiasts on the other hand—

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

when you’ve got an indian buffet you gotta hit up before your fast but you’ve got a Kol Nidre service right after

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Don’t judge, I’ve only had this thing for a few hours

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I have a little notes app full of Hebrew phrases to copy/paste for various occasions and it did occur to me that I was flirting with danger by keeping these two right next to each other 🙈🙈🙈

Hebrew phrase “shanah tovah” meaning “a good year” next to “Yimakh shemo”, a Jewish curse that translates to “may his name be erased”

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

about to be the comfiest person at the erev rosh hashanah service tonight. Shanah Tovah!!

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

THEY GAVE ME THESE TO CELEBRATE THE SWEETNESS OF THE NEW YEAR 🥺

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

i really don’t think he could’ve demonstrated the issue at hand more succinctly if he tried.

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Anyway in summary, to borrow a sticker slogan @annazand.bsky.social once showed me 😅

Sticker saying “we’re here we’re queer oy vey iz mir

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

crazy that this is how i found out who won the primary in Massachusetts

congressman seth moulton window with a sign for spirit halloween taped over it

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

“i should write down my dreams and see if it gives me any ideas for future novels” me writing my dreams:

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

gotta practice putting an outfit together for high holidays

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

i got out my neshamah yeterah and everything

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

IN THE MEANTIME you should check out this series! It's chaotic! It's got royal quadruplets! And autism! It's one of the weirdest things you'll ever read! The first line is "I was six years old the first time Mom threatened to sew my mouth shut!!" BOOK ONE - geni.us/tfiati BOOK TWO - geni.us/dotk

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Connor ✡️ | C.M. Caplan @cmcaplanwrites.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

i gave the cat my kippah but i don’t think she knows what to do with it

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