On Second Thought Ezra

Author: On Second Thought Ezra

  • Immediate Gratification vs. Sacred Struggle

    Immediate Gratification vs. Sacred Struggle

    Have We Stopped Talking With The Divine Because AI Answers Us Faster? Part of the ‘On Second Thought’ series By: Ezra Nadav This week my Rabbi’s drash got me thinking more deeply. He reminded us that Judaism is not about easy answers but about the wrestling — with the Divine, with text, with ourselves. In…

  • Born Into Journeys

    Born Into Journeys

    A Drash on My Birth Parsha: Matot–Masei Part of the ‘On Second Thought’ series By: Ezra Nadav On 26 July 1979 (2 Av 5739), I entered the world. In Jewish tradition, every life begins with a portion of Torah: a parsha and haftarah tied to the week we are born. Mine is Matot–Masei, a double…

  • Why Resilience and Mental Toughness Matter More Than Positive Thinking

    Why Resilience and Mental Toughness Matter More Than Positive Thinking

    Part of the ‘Not Quiet What You Meant’ series By: Ezra Nadav For years, “positive thinking” has been marketed as the secret to success. From self-help books to Instagram mantras, the message has been consistent: if you just focus on the good, the good will follow. But life is more complicated than a motivational poster,…

  • Pogrom by Any Definition

    Pogrom by Any Definition

    A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Only in Australia would the firebombing of a synagogue on shabbat with 20 people inside not be classified as an act of terror. But that’s Melbourne, Australia, in 2025. A place where virtue-signalling criminals are permitted to run roughshod over public order, while law-abiding…

  • The Power to Love: Courage to Know Pain

    The Power to Love: Courage to Know Pain

    A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series We often talk about love like it’s easy. Gentle. Healing. But the truth is — to love deeply is to be brave.Because real love doesn’t come without risk.It stretches us. Wounds us. Changes us. In my latest blog, I explore what it means to love not in…

  • I Am Not What I Know

    I Am Not What I Know

    A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav I’ve spent most of my life gathering knowledge, storing it, curating it, offering it to others in the hope it will matter. In classrooms and consultations, workshops and webinars, I’ve been praised for clarity, for insight, for translating the complex into the digestible. It’s…

  • The Compassion Con: Why Appeasing the Abuser Never Leads to Peace

    The Compassion Con: Why Appeasing the Abuser Never Leads to Peace

    Explore how a generation raised to equate self-defence with aggression has become vulnerable to propaganda and radicalisation. This article examines why rational debate cannot undo terror-fueled extremism—and why appeasement is not peace.

  • Weaponised Liberty

    Weaponised Liberty

    When freedom shields the radical, not the righteous. Part of the ‘Not Quite What You Meant’ series By: Ezra Nadav There is a dangerous irony unfolding in the heart of liberal democracies: the very freedoms designed to protect the vulnerable are now shielding those who terrorise them. In the name of justice, progress, and liberation,…

  • Absurdity in Morality: The 2025 Sydney Peace Prize

    Absurdity in Morality: The 2025 Sydney Peace Prize

    The 2025 Sydney Peace Prize goes to a figure long at the centre of anti-Israel bias. What does this say about justice, truth, and global human rights today?

  • Living the Story — A Life Repeated and Renewed: Part 6

    Living the Story — A Life Repeated and Renewed: Part 6

    Genesis as the Story of Every Human Life: Part 6, the Final Installment A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Previously in the Series: In Part 1: Conception and Innocence, we stood in the Garden, in that wordless, early knowing of goodness and belonging. Life began not with striving, but with…