I find my obsessions here

The original concept that humans complete the act of creation by making bread from wheat is from the Talmud! And the specific "wheat but not bread, grapes but not wine" phrasing is from Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel but it is missing "clay but not bricks".

And among trans Jews the sentiment was already popular before I ever started seeing this specific phrasing so I knew, knew, knew a Jew and likely a trans Jew was involved.

As it happens, Ortberg's friend Julian is Jewish and they have strongly negative feelings about the way the quote has been removed from the context of their life as someone trans and Jewish. They used to have a thread up on xwitter about it but have since made their account private and only have a very terse FAQ online from which you can glean the treatment they likely received when being more open about their Jewishness, relationship to transness, and the interaction of both.

1. Julian isn't Jewish.

2. The quote actually is influenced by Jewish theology, specifically Rabbi Akiva.

Since nobody gave the full latin name 🙄 here it is : she is called Pernis apivorus or Falco apivorus.

The European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus) is a species of diurnal bird of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae. This protected, insectivorous, and migratory species is present only during the summer in Europe, constituting more than 75% of its total nesting area. The European Honey Buzzard is a long-distance diurnal migrant. This is partly due to her diet: she goes where her prey is. She lives in Europe during the summer and in Africa during the winter, south of the Sahara.

The species Pernis apivorus has been divided into two distinct species:

Pernis apivorus (European Honey Buzzard)

Pernis ptilorhynchus (Eastern Honey Buzzard, or Helmeted Honey Buzzard, or Crested Honey Buzzard)

2) If you are going to be an ass you could at least try being correct.

-I didn't include the "full latin name" because this is about the genus Pernis. There are multiple species in the image.

-Falco apivorus is long depreciated. Like, genus Pernis was described in 1816 depreciated. Falco is in order Falconiformes, which Accipitriformes(which includes Pernis) was seperated from. They are now in a completely different order than Falco

I can study tomes of ancient knowledge even if the books are larger than my body

I can transform into a bigger size if I wanted to; I am proud of my natural size

My staff is the perfect size for me to wield powerful forces.

Being small makes it harder for my enemies to aim their attacks

My magic protects me from larger beasts and other threats.

Small wizards can make big fireballs

Wind magic cannot yeet me

harder for my enemies

to aim their attacks