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    WHY 18
    Forty

    The year 1840 was a turning point: the Industrial Revolution peaked, the Damascus Affair sparked Jewish unity, and modernity opened new paths for enlightenment. Mystics called it the moment that “the gates of wisdom would open.” For us, 1840 is a symbol of how global upheaval can lead to a reimagined world. Today, we face another “1840 moment”—troubled by tech disruption, mental health crises, and declining faith—that calls for bold questions, timeless sensitivity, and modern sensibilities. That’s what 18Forty is here to explore.

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David Bashevkin

David Bashevkin

  • Wealth

    What Wealth Means to Me

    Financial success has been a massive blessing for the Jewish community in America, but at what cost?
  • Is Religion Rational?

    What Rationality Means to Me

    Without rationality, we can become unhinged, without any formal metric or system to measure our convictions. But what happens after rationality?
  • Shabbos

    What Shabbos Means to Me

    Over time, one’s relationship with Shabbos can be indicative about other things and a view into one’s inner self as well.
  • Teshuva

    What Teshuva Means to Me

    I spent so much of my life building up these anxiety-inducing transitions, these Death of Superman narratives, when the real moments of personal growth and identity formation often happened in the moments in between.
  • Censorship

    What Censorship Means to Me

    The idea of “cancelling” someone is silencing them when an idea they share rubs people the wrong way, but is that censoring authenticity?
  • Agunah Crisis

    What the Agunah Crisis Means to Me

    The development of social media has become a popularized tool for agunot and others struggling with issues to share their unheard voices.
  • Intergenerational Divergence

    What Generational Differences Mean to Me

    Family is everything. But what happens when differences in values arise among those who are closest to you?
  • God

    What God Means to Me

    In order to refine our conception of God, it’s important to gaze into our pasts and examine the ground on which our current conceptions stand.
  • Social Justice

    How Do Mysticism and Social Justice Intersect?

    Many times, Orthodoxy is pitted against social reform due to an emphasis of traditional values, but that is often not the case.
  • Social Justice

    How Should We Educate About Social Justice?

    Those who persecuted Jews showed that they could not tolerate difference, and such a civilization fails a moral requirement of humanity.
  • Social Justice

    Is There a Torah Approach to our Social Responsibility?

    Orthodox Jewry has long had a complicated relationship with social justice and engagement with the world beyond Orthodoxy. Why is this so?
  • Social Justice

    What Social Justice Means to Me

    In recent decades, the Jewish communities of North America have become extremely successful, but at what cost does that come?
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