Gideon Paull, at The Blogs

Jun 22, 2026, 7:48 PM

A clergywoman stood alone for Israel before 330 churches. Her courage left me — and should leave every Jew in the West — with one unavoidable question. This past week, the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church held...

Nov 11, 2025, 4:57 AM

Bringing Torah Reading to Life in the Digital Age

When I was younger and still figuring out what religion meant to me, I went to synagogue most Shabbats. I loved the rhythm of the service, the sense of belonging, the melodies that felt familiar and eternal. But I...

Nov 17, 2023, 8:35 PM

Explaining Israel: A Global Challenge

On the morning of October 7th, I woke up and, as usual, immediately took a look at my phone. There was a headline that popped up in the notifications area of the lock screen; it was from the BBC....

Dec 18, 2022, 11:49 PM

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (for FOMO)

Some Jews celebrate Christmas. Some Jews are absolutely obsessed with Christmas. Mostly they don’t celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, you know, the birth of the baby Jesus, the birth of the messiah the savior and all the true...

Dec 13, 2022, 6:17 PM

What the ER waiting room says about our Society

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia distributed under Creative Commons license

I’ve often thought that the measure of a society is how it takes care of the least fortunate in that society. Judging the American society by this measure would indicate that we are an unhealthy society. I feel that...

Sep 18, 2022, 6:02 AM

‘The Shiksa’ – Experiences in American Jewish life

Interfaith couple. Photo courtesy of murielredoute@hotmail.com

When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were...

Jun 20, 2022, 12:52 AM

Religious supremacy: Enabling baseless hate

Recently, I was working on a web project that was intended to bring the art of Torah chanting to everyone for free. It was a good project that democratized the learning process and enabled literally anyone to learn how...

Jun 16, 2022, 10:38 PM

Whose prayer does G-d answer, anyhow?

I recall standing in an Orthodox synagogue I regularly attended wondering what I was doing there. The synagogue wasn’t a strange place for me, I was very familiar with it, I was very familiar with the prayers and the...

May 24, 2022, 12:07 AM

Love Happens – A most unconventional match

I’m Jewish – it’s a key part of what defines me and my life. Even though my siblings and I grew up in a place relatively devoid of any other Jews, we were brought up to be Jewish. Our Judaism...

May 10, 2022, 6:18 PM

Featured Post

Hate in the heartland: Welcome to America

My Asian American wife recounted her experiences of discrimination and I wrote off what she said, in light of historic antisemitism - until I saw it for myself

About Me

Gideon Paull is an author, engineer, and web developer specializing in digital tools that support Judaism and Jewish learning. Based in Wes Hills, California, he has spent his career solving complex technical challenges. Gideon is the author of several book: The Soul Framework: A Spiritual vision for a divided world and the Held Breath a Novel. Gideon is married to Elaine, an ordained United Methodist Clergy who has her church in West Hills, California.

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