Philosophy will remain the center of my intellectual life; Torah study the center of my religious life. But today I bought a kid who just lost his home green Skechers and he beamed at me and thanked me in broken English. I once claimed to my brother to have solved the theological problem of evil. Well, he said, now there’s just actual evil left. Reasonable people can dispute my philosophical arguments. But it’s a certainty that the world is way better off with one more boy who’s Israel-bound in a new pair of sneakers.

Cole S. Aronson, March 14, 2022 re: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine