Monday 30 April 2012
NY Times 1953: Rabbi Zev Zahavy Calls for National Civil Rights and Ten Commandments
Posted on 20:32 by Unknown
200 of My Dad's Sermons Reported in the New York Times
Posted on 20:29 by Unknown
Collected news reports of some 200+ of the sermons of Rabbi Dr. Zev Zahavy from the Times.
Posted in einstein, israel, New York Jews, orthodox, politics, rabbis, science, synagogues, zev zahavy, zichron ephraim, zionism
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Saturday 28 April 2012
Times: Religion, Religion, Religion
Posted on 21:41 by Unknown
Religion items of note in the Times this weekend:
"EARLIER this month state senators in Tennessee approved an update to our sex-education law that would ban teachers from discussing hand-holding, which it categorizes as “gateway sexual activity.” The bill came fast on the heels of a new state law that effectively allows creationism to be taught in our classrooms. Though he voiced misgivings, our governor, Bill Haslam, refused to veto it..."
IT IS FICTION -- In the Magazine, "My Son Went to Heaven, and All I Got Was a No. 1 Best Seller" by MAUD NEWTON puts 'nonfiction' in quotes - finally somebody is pointing out that the book is on the wrong list - and she opines towards the end about a book by Todd Burpo that has been a 'nonfiction' bestseller: "...In the Middle Ages, Christians’ near-death narratives explicitly involved harsh judgment and infernal torment. All of that awaits the ungodly in Colton’s 'nonfiction' story too. You just don’t notice it at first, what with Jesus, his rainbow steed and the seraphim..."
The Book Review section has Barnard professor RANDALL BALMER at first dissecting Ross Douthat's book and then turning his review into a syllabus. The review part informs us that 'Ross Douthat’s contribution to this genre, “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics,” laments the departure from what he calls “a Christian center,” which “has helped bind together a teeming, diverse and fissiparous nation.” Absent a national church, he argues, Christianity “has frequently provided an invisible mortar for our culture and a common vocabulary for our great debates.”'
Update on the awful review of Peter Beinart by Jonathan Rosen, the author's reply:
To the Editor:
Jonathan Rosen didn’t review my book “The Crisis of Zionism” (April 15); he evaded it. At my book’s heart is this claim: While the Palestinians absolutely bear part of the blame for the lack of a two-state solution (I call Yasir Arafat’s role in the second intifada a “crime” and Palestinian terrorism “grotesque”), settlement building imperils Israel’s future as a democratic Jewish state. Does Rosen agree? He doesn’t say. Does he agree that American Jewish organizations should be more willing to publicly challenge Israeli policy when it violates the promise of “complete equality of social and political rights . . . irrespective of race, religion and sex” in Israel’s declaration of independence? He doesn’t say. Does he agree that some of the most committed younger American Jews are alienated by the organized Jewish community’s unwillingness to permit a truly open debate about Israeli policy? He doesn’t say.
Instead, he calls my book simplistic. In fact, it contains a detailed, multicausal account of the failure of the peace process between 1993 and 2009, and the most in-depth account yet written, based on dozens of interviews, of its failure in the Obama and Netanyahu years.
Rosen’s review deals with none of this complexity. But there are simple truths as well as complex ones. One of those simple truths is that holding territory in which one ethnic group enjoys citizenship, the right to vote, free movement and due process while another ethnic group is denied those rights is unjust and corrosive of a country’s democratic fiber. Evading that basic truth does not constitute intellectual sophistication. It constitutes moral abdication.
PETER BEINART
Manhattan
Is Jimmy Kimmel Jewish?
Posted on 20:55 by Unknown
No, comedian Jimmy Kimmel is not a Jew. He is a Catholic. Wikipedia explains, "He is Roman Catholic and, as a child, served as an altar boy. Kimmel is of German and Irish descent on his father’s side and Italian descent on his mother’s side."
Kimmel performed 4-28-2012 at the White House Correspondents' dinner where he poked fun at Washington politicians.
Kimmel has had a relationship with the Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman that began in 2002. Wikipedia reports:
Kimmel performed 4-28-2012 at the White House Correspondents' dinner where he poked fun at Washington politicians.
Kimmel has had a relationship with the Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman that began in 2002. Wikipedia reports:
She referred to the relationship in some of her comedy, "I'm Jewish, but I wear this Saint Christopher medal sometimes; my boyfriend is Catholic — but you know... it was cute the way he gave it to me. He said if it doesn't burn a hole through my skin, it will protect me." In July 2008, Vanity Fair reported that the couple had split, ending their relationship of five years. However, in October 2008 it was revealed by Fox News and People magazine that they were on "the road back to being together." The couple attended the wedding of Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky together, but split again in March 2009.
Slate Magazine: How ex-Orthodox men Learn About Relating to Women (and it's not via Talmud)
Posted on 20:31 by Unknown
The Talmud has seven whole Tractates in the division called "Women" and one of them is over 1000 pages in the English Translation. For starters check out tractates Yebamoth and Kethuboth (Soncino Babylonian Talmud Yebamoth, 1072 pages and Soncino Babylonian Talmud Kethuboth, 877 pages in the Kindle editions).
And remember that about the contents of the Talmud, the saying goes, "Turn and turn it for you will find everything in it" -- presumably including some really good advice about relating to women.
That's why we cannot understand how come ex-Orthodox men need any dating advice at all.
(Hat tip to Rebecca...) On Facebook we found a link to this article in Slate, "Hey Baby, What’s Your Sinai? - Teaching ex-Orthodox Jews how to date in New York" by Diana Spechler.
As you can see from this quote below, in a heartwarming story, Diana thinks that some formerly Orthodox men are clueless about women and need coaching. All we can say is perhaps these guys skipped their Talmud classes at the Yeshiva.
And remember that about the contents of the Talmud, the saying goes, "Turn and turn it for you will find everything in it" -- presumably including some really good advice about relating to women.
That's why we cannot understand how come ex-Orthodox men need any dating advice at all.
(Hat tip to Rebecca...) On Facebook we found a link to this article in Slate, "Hey Baby, What’s Your Sinai? - Teaching ex-Orthodox Jews how to date in New York" by Diana Spechler.
As you can see from this quote below, in a heartwarming story, Diana thinks that some formerly Orthodox men are clueless about women and need coaching. All we can say is perhaps these guys skipped their Talmud classes at the Yeshiva.
...According to Irenstein, lack of self-confidence pervades the recently ex-Orthodox, who refer to themselves as OTD, or “Off the Derech” (derech is Hebrew for path). Once they’ve gone off the path, for a variety of reasons including loss of faith, distaste for the lifestyle, and longing to educate themselves beyond the Jewish texts, OTD’ers are like immigrants in the secular world, unsure of the language and customs of dating, battling the voices of their parents and rabbis, who warned them that touching the opposite sex before marriage would incur God’s wrath.
“There are three problems specific to the ex-religious when they first try to date,” Irenstein says. “Inexperience, having no identity, and having no understanding of the opposite sex.” That makes sense when you consider how insular the Orthodox communities are. Premarital sex, even premarital touching, is prohibited. And there is a rule for everything, including which shoelace to tie first and what to do with one’s facial hair. OTD’ers who come to Irenstein never had the awkward, albeit formative, experiences the rest of us had—slow-dancing with some height-inappropriate partner in seventh grade, locking braces with someone in the back of a movie theater, getting to “second base.” Their questions for Irenstein range from the peculiar such as, “Is it OK to pay a girl $80 to go out with me?” to the commonplace concerns of men on the New York dating scene: “How many dates before I should allow her to split the check?”
Irenstein doesn’t just answer their questions about the game; he shoves the men out onto the field. By the end of his session with Sam, he’ll have Sam approaching girls, trying to score a phone number, or at least to touch an elbow during some flirtatious banter.
At 29, Irenstein was married with two daughters, living in the Hasidic community he’d grown up in. He remembers his 6-year-old coming home from school and telling him that non-Jews existed solely to witness the good deeds of the Jews. He’d wanted out of Hasidism for a while, but that was the day he pulled his kids out of school and laid plans to move. “I would have done anything,” says Irenstein, “even given up my own life, to make sure my kids weren’t forced into cult living.”
Having grown up in Israel and Brooklyn, Irenstein landed in secular New York with a third-grade-level education and a mediocre grasp of English. When he and his wife divorced, he found himself on foreign ground. “I had no idea how to talk to women,” he says. “I’d never even looked one in the eye.” Irenstein’s former Hasidic community, Gur, is one of the strictest sects, as well as one of the most sexually squeamish. Even married couples aren’t supposed to kiss, and they’re allowed sex only for purposes of procreation....
Posted in amazon, books, hasidism, humor, kindle, New York Jews, talmud, women, yeshiva
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Friday 27 April 2012
Is Madonna Jewish?
Posted on 14:34 by Unknown
No, superstar singer and dancer Madonna is not a Jew. She was born and brought up Catholic. However in recent years she has been linked to the Jewish mystical practice called Kabbalah.
On Madonna's 2005 album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor" the tenth track is controversial because it is called Isaac and contains allusions to the Kabbalah. Rabbis in Israel (mistakenly) thought Madonna was trying to cash in on the good name of Isaac Luria, the Ari, the great founder of Lurianic Kabbalah. So those good men condemned the singer and the album.
It turns out that the singer named this song in homage to her quite living London spiritual guide, a Mr. Yitzhak Sinwani - Isaac is his English name. So what do we think? Is Madonna misappropriating the Kabbalah in this song, distorting it in her now-expected sacrilegious manner? (See below for the lyrics.)
There are elements of Jewish chant in this song with strings and guitars and guts and emotion - yes, a spiritual vibe. Yitzhak Sinwani of the London Kabbalah Centre, does sing several stanzas on the song in Aramaic and provides the soft-spoken English coda at its end.
Madonna has said to the press that the Aramaic chant by Yitzhak in the song made her cry. "I had tears in my eyes and did not even know what he was singing about," she told AOL. "Then he told me and I cried even more."
Is this Kabbalah? It's Madonna stringing together poetically some lines about heaven and angels and light and doors that are locked. Everyone that sings of light in heaven is not a Kabbalist. Locked doors of the heart are a classic Madonna theme. In fact, Open Your Heart is a Madonna standard from her True Blue album of 1986 (yes, twenty + years ago).
I'm more intrigued by the songs both before and after this cut on the album. In the one before she asks superstar mid-life crisis questions.
"How high are the stakes? How much fortune can you make? Should I carry on? Will it matter when I'm gone?" To me this sounds more like Kohelet (the philosophical biblical book of Ecclesiastes) than Kabbalah. How much is enough? How many Rolls Royces, villas, private jets?
"Was it all worth it? How did I earn it?" And Ms. Madonna forces herself to admit, "Nobody's perfect/I guess I deserve it." Now this is hardly a spiritual reflection. It sounds like the material girl is poking her head through here.
Okay, perhaps, I ruminated, the song Push that follows Isaac on the album moves in a mystical direction. But first you have to make one big rabbinic assumption that most critics and fans have not made. They all assume that this song is an homage to Madonna's (former) husband and lover, Guy Ritchie. "You push me to go the extra mile. You push me when it's difficult to smile. You push me, a better version of myself. You push me, only you and no one else. You push me, see the other point of view. You push me when there's nothing else to do. You push me when I think I know it all. You push me when I stumble and I fall."
However, one might presume - a la the midrash - that this song is a metaphor for the singer's reliance on a higher spiritual being, much as the rabbis interpret that the beloved in the Song of Songs is a metaphor for God.
Only then does Madonna tilt toward the spiritual and maybe - it is still a stretch - in the direction of the authentically kabbalistic content of Judaism. Here are the lyrics:
On Madonna's 2005 album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor" the tenth track is controversial because it is called Isaac and contains allusions to the Kabbalah. Rabbis in Israel (mistakenly) thought Madonna was trying to cash in on the good name of Isaac Luria, the Ari, the great founder of Lurianic Kabbalah. So those good men condemned the singer and the album.
It turns out that the singer named this song in homage to her quite living London spiritual guide, a Mr. Yitzhak Sinwani - Isaac is his English name. So what do we think? Is Madonna misappropriating the Kabbalah in this song, distorting it in her now-expected sacrilegious manner? (See below for the lyrics.)
There are elements of Jewish chant in this song with strings and guitars and guts and emotion - yes, a spiritual vibe. Yitzhak Sinwani of the London Kabbalah Centre, does sing several stanzas on the song in Aramaic and provides the soft-spoken English coda at its end.
Madonna has said to the press that the Aramaic chant by Yitzhak in the song made her cry. "I had tears in my eyes and did not even know what he was singing about," she told AOL. "Then he told me and I cried even more."
Is this Kabbalah? It's Madonna stringing together poetically some lines about heaven and angels and light and doors that are locked. Everyone that sings of light in heaven is not a Kabbalist. Locked doors of the heart are a classic Madonna theme. In fact, Open Your Heart is a Madonna standard from her True Blue album of 1986 (yes, twenty + years ago).
I'm more intrigued by the songs both before and after this cut on the album. In the one before she asks superstar mid-life crisis questions.
"How high are the stakes? How much fortune can you make? Should I carry on? Will it matter when I'm gone?" To me this sounds more like Kohelet (the philosophical biblical book of Ecclesiastes) than Kabbalah. How much is enough? How many Rolls Royces, villas, private jets?
"Was it all worth it? How did I earn it?" And Ms. Madonna forces herself to admit, "Nobody's perfect/I guess I deserve it." Now this is hardly a spiritual reflection. It sounds like the material girl is poking her head through here.
Okay, perhaps, I ruminated, the song Push that follows Isaac on the album moves in a mystical direction. But first you have to make one big rabbinic assumption that most critics and fans have not made. They all assume that this song is an homage to Madonna's (former) husband and lover, Guy Ritchie. "You push me to go the extra mile. You push me when it's difficult to smile. You push me, a better version of myself. You push me, only you and no one else. You push me, see the other point of view. You push me when there's nothing else to do. You push me when I think I know it all. You push me when I stumble and I fall."
However, one might presume - a la the midrash - that this song is a metaphor for the singer's reliance on a higher spiritual being, much as the rabbis interpret that the beloved in the Song of Songs is a metaphor for God.
Only then does Madonna tilt toward the spiritual and maybe - it is still a stretch - in the direction of the authentically kabbalistic content of Judaism. Here are the lyrics:
Im-ninalu (if they are locked)- repost from 2006
Daltey Nedivim (the doors of the generous)
Daltey Nedivim
Daltey Marom (the doors of heaven)
Im-ninalu x8
Staring up into the heavens
In this hell that binds your hands
Will you sacrifice your comfort?
Make your way in a foreign land?
Wrestle with your darkness
Angels call your name
Can you hear what they are saying?
Will you ever be the same?
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Remember, remember and never forget
All of your life has all been a test
You will find the gate that's open
Even though your spirit's broken
Open up my heart
And cause my lips to speak
Bring the heaven and the stars
Down to earth for me
Im-ninalu
Daltey Nedivim
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
El-Hay (Living God)
El-Hay Merumam Al Keruvim (Living God, aloft above the Cherubs)
Kulam Be-Ruho Ya'alu (All of them will rise up through his spirit)
Wrestle with your darkness
Angels call your name
Can you hear what they are saying?
Will you ever be the same?
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
Mmmmmm
Im-ninalu Im-ninalu
El-Hay
El-Hay Merumam Al Keruvim
[Spoken by Yitzhak Sinwani]
The generous truly know
What will be given
If they don't stop, you know
The gates of heaven are always open
And there's this God in the sky and the angels
How they sit, you know, in front of the light
And that's what it's about
Thursday 26 April 2012
This Week - Six New Kindle Talmud Tractates in English - Buy Now!
Posted on 18:52 by Unknown
All of them are on sale now. Don't wait another minute. The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English
Get our entire list: Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer
Srugim Blog: Rav Amar to Rav Sharki at the Kotel, "My Talmudic is Bigger Than Yours"
Posted on 08:59 by Unknown
Reported from the Srugim blog via a nice summary-translation by Life in Israel "Rav Amar And Rav Sharki get Into It At Kotel About Hallel."
שניות ספורות לפני שהחזן החל בברכת ההלל, פנה הרב עמאר לרב שרקי ואמר לו כי הוא אוסר לברך על ההלל
So to sum it up, first he publicly humiliated Rav Sharki at a most dramatic moment and then before leaving the Wall the Chief Rabbi apologized and assured those assembled that he has nothing personal against Rav Sharki, just that Rav Amar needed to "clarify the halakhah."
That raw rabbinic powerplay in front of thousands at the Kotel inspired our blunt headline for this post.
There have been lots of interesting events, incidents and news stories regarding Yom HaAtzmaut, but the one I find most interesting is the one regarding the tefilla led by Rav Sharki at the Kotel last night.As Srugim put it pointedly:
Rav Uri Sharki , head of the beis medrash of Machon Meir, started, a few years ago, leading a festive holiday tefilla at the kotel. It started off small, and has grown every year, with now thousands of people participating. Rav Sharki is of the opinion that halachically it is necessary to say hallel, with a bracha, on the night of Yom HaAtzmaut as well, as an expression of faith in the redemption.
At the tefilla last night led by Rav Sharki, according to this report on Srugim, the chief rabbi, Rav Shlomo Amar, decided to participate. Just before the chazzan was about to begin the hallel, Rav Amar told rav Sharki that he is prohibiting him from making a bracha on the hallel.
Rav Amar explained that Ravv Sharki's opinion, that had been published and publicized in a journal and detailed as well in a pamphlet of tefillot for Yom HaAtzmaut,, is incorrect. Rav Amar explained one cannot make a bracha on the hallel, and if he does it is a bracha l'vatala.
After some back and forth between them, Rav Sharki decided to stand down and not argue with the chief rabbi. Rav Sharki decided that hallel would be said but with no bracha.
After the tefilla, Rav Amar explained to the crowd that his decision and statements were not personally against Rav Sharki, but were to clarify the halacha. Rav amar explained that in Morocco and North Africa they used to say hallel with a bracha, but in Eretz Yisrael the psak of "Maran" (Rav Yosef Karo) is accepted to not say the bracha on hallel, and definitely once Rav Ovadiah Yosef has paskened that way.
After Rav Amar left, Rav Sharki said he had not responded so as not to argue with Rav Amar publicly, however he feels that the bracha must be said and Rav Yosef Karo was only referring to hallel on Rosh Chodesh and not the full hallel as it is said on Yom HaAtzmaut, as we make the bracha on Hannukah as well. Rav Sharki said that next year he will say the bracha on the hallel, and hopes by then to convince the rabbonim as well that that is what is correct....
שניות ספורות לפני שהחזן החל בברכת ההלל, פנה הרב עמאר לרב שרקי ואמר לו כי הוא אוסר לברך על ההלל
So to sum it up, first he publicly humiliated Rav Sharki at a most dramatic moment and then before leaving the Wall the Chief Rabbi apologized and assured those assembled that he has nothing personal against Rav Sharki, just that Rav Amar needed to "clarify the halakhah."
That raw rabbinic powerplay in front of thousands at the Kotel inspired our blunt headline for this post.
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Yom Haatzmaut Addition for Your Daily Prayerbook
Posted on 21:04 by Unknown
For Yom Haatzmaut, Israel Independence Day, here is how you may legitimately add to your siddur using a "liturgical loophole."
Since you may insert an additional prayer into the standard formula of the Shemoneh Esrei, make your supplication special - a prayer for livelihood and forgiveness - and especially for the welfare of the State of Israel.
Each day, three-times-a-day (according to the Artscroll editors) you can insert the "personal" prayer into your Amidah prayers. So, why not just do it? Insert the broad, meaningful, timely and powerful liturgy at the appointed location -- the Prayer for the State of Israel.
To make this easier -- print out this text below, cut it out and paste it into your Artscroll siddur on p. 108 and throughout that - or any other - siddur at the appropriate places.
The Artscroll Siddur has personal prayers for livelihood and for forgiveness that "during the silent Shemoneh Esrei one may insert" into the paragraph of shema koleinu (p. 108 in shacharit in some editions).If you use that siddur, or any prayerbook, and if you do wish to follow the advice therein, our recommendation is that you upgrade your prayerbook as follows.
Since you may insert an additional prayer into the standard formula of the Shemoneh Esrei, make your supplication special - a prayer for livelihood and forgiveness - and especially for the welfare of the State of Israel.
Each day, three-times-a-day (according to the Artscroll editors) you can insert the "personal" prayer into your Amidah prayers. So, why not just do it? Insert the broad, meaningful, timely and powerful liturgy at the appointed location -- the Prayer for the State of Israel.
To make this easier -- print out this text below, cut it out and paste it into your Artscroll siddur on p. 108 and throughout that - or any other - siddur at the appropriate places.
Our Father Who are in Heaven, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless Thou the State of Israel which marks the dawn of our deliverance. Shield it beneath the wings of Thy love; Spread over it Thy canopy of peace; send Thy light and Thy truth to its leaders, officers, and counselors, and direct them with Thy good counsel.
O G-d, strengthen the defenders of our Holy Land; grant them salvation and crown them with victory. Establish peace in the land, and everlasting joy for its inhabitants. Remember our brethren, the whole house of Israel, in all the lands of their dispersion. Speedily let them walk upright to Zion, the city, to Jerusalem Thy dwelling-place, as it is written in the Torah of Thy servant Moses: "Even if you are dispersed in the uttermost parts of the world, from there the L-rd your G-d will gather and fetch you. The L-rd your G-d will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it."
Unite our heart to love and revere Thy Name, and to observe all the precepts of Thy Torah. Shine forth in Thy glorious majesty over all the inhabitants of Thy world. Let everything that breathes proclaim: The L-rd G-d of Israel is King; His majesty rules over all. Amen.
We hope that your celebration of Yom Haatzmaut will be meaningful and that you will continue your special concern for the the welfare of the State of Israel with daily prayers throughout the year. Repost edited from 5/06
A prayer for Israel Independence Day
Posted on 21:01 by Unknown
Here is a poetic prayer for Yom Haatzmaut from Israel. (Hat tip to Menahem Mendel who has links to the other relevant and important sources for the IID liturgy as well.)
על הניסים ועל הפורקן ועל הגבורות ועל התשועות ועל המלחמות שעשית לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה
Posted in antiSemitism, hebrew, history, Holocaust, israel, orthodox, politics, prayer, rabbis, religion, synagogues
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Tuesday 24 April 2012
Is Mitt Romney Jewish?
Posted on 09:26 by Unknown
No Mitt Romney is not a Jew. He is a Mormon.
There are those who argue that Romney is not even a Christian because Mormons are not Christians. That is a question that the Mormon Church has cleverly blurred since the 1980s. (See the text that we bolded in the article below.)
Though he used the term only once in his 2007 "Faith in America" speech, an Indiana University professor argues that Romney's oration was a quintessential Mormon statement.
See the perceptive article in the CSM from 12/11/2007.
There are those who argue that Romney is not even a Christian because Mormons are not Christians. That is a question that the Mormon Church has cleverly blurred since the 1980s. (See the text that we bolded in the article below.)
Though he used the term only once in his 2007 "Faith in America" speech, an Indiana University professor argues that Romney's oration was a quintessential Mormon statement.
See the perceptive article in the CSM from 12/11/2007.
What made Romney's big speech so Mormon
His tent vision fits his church's bid to enter the religious mainstream.
By Jan Shipps
Bloomington, Ind. - When Mitt Romney gave his "Faith in America" address last Thursday, observers wondered how "Mormon" it would be. "Not very," is the understandable consensus. Mormonism 101 it was not, and he said very little about his personal religious beliefs, sticking to his announced topic.
Still, in the way he talked about religious diversity, the nation's symphony of faiths, the way religious liberty stands at the heart of the American constitutional system, and how religion belongs in the public square, this was a consummate Mormon speech. Moreover, despite its political agenda, it is possible to read what Mr. Romney said as being in harmony with a major effort his church has been making since the 1970s: to be included in the American religious mainstream.
An intriguing element running through Mormon history is its tension with American culture. The faith's founding prophet, Joseph Smith Jr., emphasized the unique character of Mormon teachings. He produced a new sacred text, the Book of Mormon, and his revelations inaugurated a new dispensation in which the ancient priesthoods and the authentic New Testament Church of Christ were restored to earth. Such claims implied that all other churches were in error.
The first reaction was ridicule and charges that Mormonism is heresy, with hostility and frightful persecution following thereafter. Smith's revelations led to the added claims that Mormonism was the restoration of Israel in the new world and that the restoration of the ancient order of things had commenced. Among much else, this meant the inauguration of plural marriage (polygamy).
After 50 years, the resulting conflict between Mormonism and the nation's churches and federal government reached such an impasse that the Mormons were compelled to suspend polygamous practice.
What happened next is a genuine paradox. Instead of reacting negatively to this government pressure, the Mormons began to venerate the nation. A half century later, they were archetypal Americans. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir became "America's choir," and during the 1960s, the contrast between straight-arrow, neatly dressed, and well-behaved Saints (Mormons) and hippie culture heightened the perception that Mormons are as American as motherhood and apple pie.
In the 1980s, however, superconservative Evangelicals turned their attention to Mormon theology. Along with some articulate ex-Mormons, they tried to convince the world that Mormonism is a cult whose members are not Christian.
In response, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) added "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" as a subtitle to the Book of Mormon. And the church changed its logo to place more emphasis on the Jesus Christ part of its name. Additionally, Christendom's founding stories became standard fare in virtually all materials published by the church.
For well over a half century, common cause in Christ has been the leitmotif in the Mormon song to Protestant and Roman Catholic America. It was heard again in Romney's speech. "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind," he declared. Going further, the candidate moved beyond his own faith tradition to envision a capacious religious tent....more
Monday 23 April 2012
Shouting in Shul About the Prayer for the State of Israel
Posted on 21:58 by Unknown
Originally posted 10/30/05...
There was a shouting match this past Shabbat morning at the 8:30 minyan at the Bnai Yeshurun synagogue in Teaneck. The Gabbai added the single word sheteheh to the Prayer for the State of Israel. That meant he said that we prayed that the Lord protect Israel and that the State will be the first flowering of our redemption -- instead of praying that the Lord protect it because it is the beginning of our redemption.
The policy at CBY officially is to add that will be qualifier. The 9:00 minyan always does. The 8:30 has not -- based on a "don't ask, don't tell" understanding. But then recently the Rabbi got wind of this unfortunate laxity. He scolded the Gabbai and insisted that the policy of qualifying the prayer be rigidly enforced. The resultant shouting match followed.
By Shabbat afternoon the rabbi felt compelled to make a speech between Minhah and Maariv about the matter. He chastised everyone ... for violating the charter of the synagogue, for being negative and just plain reminded folks that if they did not like his leadership they could choose to form another shul or release him in five years at the conclusion of his contract.
No matter. The issue here is not about a rabbi, but about why anyone cares about what words are said in this "prayer" for the State of Israel.
Common sense should tell everyone in the synagogue that this whole prayer is unimportant, peripheral, second rate, and really not a part of the davening.
First off, the "prayer" is recited by the gabbai, not the hazzan. Second, the "prayer" usually is recited in a monotone, not chanted, and from the side of the bimah, not from the front and center of the synagogue. Third, the "prayer" is recited after the Torah reading and before the Musaf service -- in between the "real" parts of the davening. It seems to me to be placed in a tertiary context that makes it even less official than the personal mesheberach blessings recited for individuals who receive aliyot to the Torah.
You don't have to be an expert in Jewish liturgy to conclude that this relatively recent "prayer" is treated like an afterthought, recited quickly, that has been pasted in to our davening. In fact in some synagogues, the text is actually pasted into the back cover of the siddur.
So really, why would anyone argue, shout or pout about what word is or is not said in this "prayer".
What people should be concerned with is real prayer-book reform. We should be integrating a real prayer for the modern state of Israel into the middle of the actual prayer services of our tradition. We should have the chazzan chant it properly from the bimah. We should have the congregation join in responsively or together with the chazzan in singing the prayer with joy.
Naturally, we should not hem and haw liturgically about the importance and centrality of the State of Israel. It is real. Most of our shul members have been there. Most of our shul members have been inspired by the State and its history. The State of Israel is a factual, powerful, pervasive, long-lasting creator of religious moods and motivations.
Honestly, I have never heard a shul member discuss, express interest in, or argue about the reinstitution of the cultic sacrifice in the Temple. Yet that topic has much more of a central place in our synagogue liturgy.
Those who shout at each other about this or that word in a second or third rate "prayer" -- one that is mumbled by the gabbai from the side of the bimah in between shacharit and musaf -- ought to reconsider.
Yes it is time to shout and argue about promoting the thanksgiving, praise and petition concerning the modern State of Israel as a real and central theme of all of our synagogue prayers.
There was a shouting match this past Shabbat morning at the 8:30 minyan at the Bnai Yeshurun synagogue in Teaneck. The Gabbai added the single word sheteheh to the Prayer for the State of Israel. That meant he said that we prayed that the Lord protect Israel and that the State will be the first flowering of our redemption -- instead of praying that the Lord protect it because it is the beginning of our redemption.
The policy at CBY officially is to add that will be qualifier. The 9:00 minyan always does. The 8:30 has not -- based on a "don't ask, don't tell" understanding. But then recently the Rabbi got wind of this unfortunate laxity. He scolded the Gabbai and insisted that the policy of qualifying the prayer be rigidly enforced. The resultant shouting match followed.
By Shabbat afternoon the rabbi felt compelled to make a speech between Minhah and Maariv about the matter. He chastised everyone ... for violating the charter of the synagogue, for being negative and just plain reminded folks that if they did not like his leadership they could choose to form another shul or release him in five years at the conclusion of his contract.
No matter. The issue here is not about a rabbi, but about why anyone cares about what words are said in this "prayer" for the State of Israel.
Common sense should tell everyone in the synagogue that this whole prayer is unimportant, peripheral, second rate, and really not a part of the davening.
First off, the "prayer" is recited by the gabbai, not the hazzan. Second, the "prayer" usually is recited in a monotone, not chanted, and from the side of the bimah, not from the front and center of the synagogue. Third, the "prayer" is recited after the Torah reading and before the Musaf service -- in between the "real" parts of the davening. It seems to me to be placed in a tertiary context that makes it even less official than the personal mesheberach blessings recited for individuals who receive aliyot to the Torah.
You don't have to be an expert in Jewish liturgy to conclude that this relatively recent "prayer" is treated like an afterthought, recited quickly, that has been pasted in to our davening. In fact in some synagogues, the text is actually pasted into the back cover of the siddur.
So really, why would anyone argue, shout or pout about what word is or is not said in this "prayer".
What people should be concerned with is real prayer-book reform. We should be integrating a real prayer for the modern state of Israel into the middle of the actual prayer services of our tradition. We should have the chazzan chant it properly from the bimah. We should have the congregation join in responsively or together with the chazzan in singing the prayer with joy.
Naturally, we should not hem and haw liturgically about the importance and centrality of the State of Israel. It is real. Most of our shul members have been there. Most of our shul members have been inspired by the State and its history. The State of Israel is a factual, powerful, pervasive, long-lasting creator of religious moods and motivations.
Honestly, I have never heard a shul member discuss, express interest in, or argue about the reinstitution of the cultic sacrifice in the Temple. Yet that topic has much more of a central place in our synagogue liturgy.
Those who shout at each other about this or that word in a second or third rate "prayer" -- one that is mumbled by the gabbai from the side of the bimah in between shacharit and musaf -- ought to reconsider.
Yes it is time to shout and argue about promoting the thanksgiving, praise and petition concerning the modern State of Israel as a real and central theme of all of our synagogue prayers.
Posted in brooklyn, hebrew, history, israel, New York Jews, orthodox, prayer, rabbis, religion, synagogues, teaneck, zionism
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Who wrote the Prayer for Serenity?
Posted on 21:46 by Unknown
We wrote several books on the history and development ancient Jewish prayer. The more we worked carefully and seriously on the textual evidence, the less certain we were of the conventional history of our religious texts and rituals.
A while ago we read about a ritual and a text, not from 2000 or 3000 years ago. The so-called Serenity Prayer was first uttered less than 100 years ago.
And the short of it is, according to this story below from the Times, that the more we study the less we are sure who actually wrote this recent modern prayer. How much more difficult is it to say with certainty anything about the origins of ancient prayers! As we say in our recent book, God's Favorite Prayers, "A real crucial characteristic of any prayer is to make it appear to you to be a timeless tradition, with no beginnings."
Here is what the Times reported.
Serenity Prayer Stirs Up Doubt: Who Wrote It?
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Generations of recovering alcoholics, soldiers, weary parents, exploited workers and just about anybody feeling beaten down by life have found solace in a short prayer that begins, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.”
Now the Serenity Prayer is about to endure a controversy over its authorship that is likely to be anything but serene.
For more than 70 years, the composer of the prayer was thought to be the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, one of modern Christianity’s towering figures. Niebuhr, who died in 1971, said he was quite sure he had written it, and his wife, Ursula, also a prominent theologian, dated its composition to the early 1940s.
His daughter Elisabeth Sifton, a book editor and publisher, wrote a book about the prayer in 2003 in which she described her father first using it in 1943 in an “ordinary Sunday service” at a church in the bucolic Massachusetts town of Heath, where the Niebuhr family spent summers.
Now, a law librarian at Yale, using new databases of archival documents, has found newspaper clippings and a book from as far back as 1936 that quote close versions of the prayer. The quotations are from civic leaders all over the United States — a Y.W.C.A. leader in Syracuse, a public school counselor in Oklahoma City — and are always, interestingly, by women.
Some refer to the prayer as if it were a proverb, while others appear to claim it as their own poetry. None attribute the prayer to a particular source. And they never mention Reinhold Niebuhr.
An article about the mystery of the prayer, by Fred R. Shapiro, associate library director and lecturer at Yale Law School, will be published next week in the Yale Alumni Magazine, an independent bimonthly publication. It will be followed by a rebuttal from Ms. Sifton.
Mr. Shapiro, who edited “The Yale Book of Quotations,” said in an interview, “Reinhold Niebuhr was a very honest person who was very forthright and modest about his role in the Serenity Prayer. My interpretation would be that he probably unconsciously adapted it from something that he had heard or read.”
In his quotation avocation, Mr. Shapiro says he has debunked claims about the provenance of other famous sayings, including Murphy’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong will”) and P. T. Barnum’s (“There’s a sucker born every minute”).
Ms. Sifton faults Mr. Shapiro’s approach as computer-driven and deprived of historical and theological context. In an interview, she said her father traveled widely in the 1930s, preaching in college chapels and to church groups — especially Y.M.C.A.’s and Y.W.C.A.’s — and could have used the prayer then. She said she fixed the date of its composition to 1943 in her book, “The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War” (W. W. Norton, 2003), because she had relied on her parents’ recollections.
Ms. Sifton said the newly unearthed quotations were merely evidence that her father’s spellbinding preaching had had a broad impact. And she said she took greatest umbrage at Mr. Shapiro’s notion that the prayer was so simple that it could have been written by almost anyone in any era.
“There is a kind of austerity and humility about this prayer,” Ms. Sifton said, “that is very characteristic of him and was in striking contrast to the conventional sound of the American pastorate in the 1930s, who were by and large optimistic, affirmative, hopeful.”
The precise origins of the Serenity Prayer have always been wrapped in a fog. Even in Niebuhr’s lifetime, his authorship was challenged. His response was typically modest. He was quoted in a magazine article in 1950 as saying: “Of course, it may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don’t think so. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself.”
The version of events most often cited in biographies of the theologian is that after Niebuhr used the prayer in a sermon in rural Massachusetts, a neighbor who was an Episcopal priest asked for permission to print it in a booklet for the armed forces in 1944. The U.S.O. distributed it widely.
Alcoholics Anonymous then embraced it, simplified some of Niebuhr’s wording, changed the pronouns and circulated it widely as a motto for its 12-step program.
The prayer is now ubiquitous, on mugs and greeting cards and embroidered pillows, sometimes with Niebuhr’s name attached. But it is possible to find attributions ranging from Aristotle to St. Augustine to Francis of Assisi.
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations attributed it to Niebuhr but gave the date as 1934, perhaps citing an erroneous reference in an article in the magazine of Alcoholics Anonymous, Mr. Shapiro said. But Ursula Niebuhr, who died in 1997, wrote in a memorandum (which an assistant for Mr. Shapiro saw in the Library of Congress) that her husband “may have used it in his prayers” by 1934, but “it certainly was not then in circulation.”
A Niebuhr biographer, Charles C. Brown, said he was surprised to hear of the early references. “It is now well established beyond the shadow of any doubt among knowledgeable and fair-minded people,” Mr. Brown said, “that Niebuhr did compose it, probably in 1941 or ’43.”
Mr. Brown said that perhaps Ms. Sifton’s theory was right, that the newspaper quotations were from people who heard Niebuhr speak the prayer years before he wrote it down.
“His name was very much before the more theologically literate public” by the early 1930s, said Mr. Brown, author of “Niebuhr and His Age: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Prophetic Role and Legacy” (Trinity Press International, 1992).
But, Mr. Shapiro argued, knowing that Niebuhr was so famous by then, why did none of the people who cited the prayer in the clippings also cite him?
The artifacts that Mr. Shapiro unearthed dismayed the Rev. Gary Dorrien, the Reinhold Niebuhr professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary, which was Niebuhr’s scholarly home for many years.
Professor Dorrien said, “What has the ring of truth to me is that some of the phrases in it, the gist of it, he heard or came into contact with in some way that he wouldn’t have remembered, since he’s not a scholarly, bookwormish person with habits of scholarly exactitude anyway.”
“He is a preacher. He is coming into contact with things and blending them,” Professor Dorrien said, adding that for preachers, “it’s an occupational hazard.”
Saturday 21 April 2012
Are iPhones, Android devices, iPads, and Blackberrys Kosher?
Posted on 18:21 by Unknown
David Assaf (in his wonderful Hebrew blog "Oneg Shabbat") writes at some length and detail about how a few 19th century rabbis apparently permitted speaking on a telephone on Shabbat.
He ends up with a "that was then, this is now" contrast citing a rabbinic wall poster that was seen in Givat Shaul in Jerusalem a few weeks ago. The poster warns Jews that "iPhones, Android devices, iPads, Blackberrys, MP4 and the like" and all video players and Internet devices, all of these "endanger the sanctity of the house of Israel" and they are bringing a "spiritual Holocaust" upon those who use them, "G-d Forbid..."
"It is surely forbidden to own or use these devices" the rabbis warn.
Just so there is no confusion, we disagree with those rabbis. We rule that these devices are kosher, permitted for use by all Jews. We are sure that is a relief for some of our readers.
The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English
Posted in google, hebrew, humor, inventions, iPad, iPhone, Is-it-kosher?, israel, rabbis
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Friday 20 April 2012
Times Mag: Does Swimming Make You Smarter?
Posted on 08:42 by Unknown
Yes, according to an article in the Times Magazine, "How Exercise Could Lead to a Better Brain" by Gretchen Reynolds, swimming does make you smarter.
The value of mental-training games may be speculative, as Dan Hurley writes in his article on the quest to make ourselves smarter, but there is another, easy-to-achieve, scientifically proven way to make yourself smarter. Go for a walk or a swim. For more than a decade, neuroscientists and physiologists have been gathering evidence of the beneficial relationship between exercise and brainpower. But the newest findings make it clear that this isn’t just a relationship; it is the relationship. Using sophisticated technologies to examine the workings of individual neurons — and the makeup of brain matter itself — scientists in just the past few months have discovered that exercise appears to build a brain that resists physical shrinkage and enhance cognitive flexibility. Exercise, the latest neuroscience suggests, does more to bolster thinking than thinking does...We swim a mile a day. That's why this blog is so darn smart.
Just how exercise remakes minds on a molecular level is not yet fully understood, but research suggests that exercise prompts increases in something called brain-derived neurotropic factor, or B.D.N.F., a substance that strengthens cells and axons, fortifies the connections among neurons and sparks neurogenesis. Scientists can’t directly study similar effects in human brains, but they have found that after workouts, most people display higher B.D.N.F. levels in their bloodstreams...
Thursday 19 April 2012
How can we better Memorialize the Shoah in our Synagogues?
Posted on 17:39 by Unknown
The Holocaust now is memorialized in synagogues mainly peripherally through added events and tacked on references or via artwork in the building vestibule. We think that the Shoah must be more tightly integrated into the ritual and symbolism of every Jewish place of worship.
We have pondered over the years how we could make this particular meaningful change in our synagogue. We want to add tasteful and appropriate symbolism for the Shoah in a more central shul location, to commemorate and offer a pause for reflection for the Holocaust, the most traumatic epoch in Jewish history.
Modifying a synagogue in any way is a difficult project for anyone. There are many pitfalls that can get in your way. You may find obstinate trustees, reluctant rabbis, timid members and the like that make accomplishing any change in a synagogue - no matter how well-justified - at least utterly aggravating and probably well nigh impossible.
As a result, as we said, most projects of this nature - adding a Holocaust memorial symbol to the synagogue - are relegated to a hallway or basement - not to the main sanctuary. But like us, many of you will prefer to have your own chosen symbol centrally located - in the main sanctuary in a more meaningful place of honor and prominence.
Accordingly we suggest it is best and most practical that you follow these five steps to complete your own synagogue-symbol-project promptly and without interference, rejection or aggravation from others.
Step #1
Enter your synagogue and visually locate the Ner Tamid, the Eternal Light, in your synagogue's sanctuary. This perpetual light is commonly installed right above the Aron Kodesh, the Ark, at the front and center of the synagogue.
If you ask, officials of the synagogue may tell you that this light currently signifies either the menorah of the ancient Temple, or God's presence in the chapel, or the spiritual light that emanated from the Temple of old. Be that as it may, you are going to make a change in that signifier.
Step #2
This is the tricky part. Do not even think about touching the light. It is tempting to try to make some physical change during a revision project. However you must resist this impulse.
As we intimated, every shul has people who make it their business to oppose any visible improvement in the structure or decor of the synagogue. You do not want to run afoul of these folks. Your project is a work that you create independently with the help of your imagination.
Step #3
Close your eyes and imagine an inverted Hebrew letter vav. Yes, the eternal candle or lamp with its flame looks to us like an upside down vav, the letter that has the numeric value of six. Recall that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.
Step #4
Say to yourself the words, Ner Tamid lezichron Hashoah - meaning, this is the eternal light in memory of the Holocaust.
Step #5
Open your eyes. You have change the signification of a symbol that stands front and center in every synagogue sanctuary and you have completed your project.
Now you can meaningfully remember each time you enter the synagogue to look first at that eternal light at the focal center of your house of worship - to take a moment to reflect on the enormity of the suffering of the Shoah - and to give thanks for the constant resilience of the Jewish people.
[Repost from 2007.]
We have pondered over the years how we could make this particular meaningful change in our synagogue. We want to add tasteful and appropriate symbolism for the Shoah in a more central shul location, to commemorate and offer a pause for reflection for the Holocaust, the most traumatic epoch in Jewish history.
Modifying a synagogue in any way is a difficult project for anyone. There are many pitfalls that can get in your way. You may find obstinate trustees, reluctant rabbis, timid members and the like that make accomplishing any change in a synagogue - no matter how well-justified - at least utterly aggravating and probably well nigh impossible.
As a result, as we said, most projects of this nature - adding a Holocaust memorial symbol to the synagogue - are relegated to a hallway or basement - not to the main sanctuary. But like us, many of you will prefer to have your own chosen symbol centrally located - in the main sanctuary in a more meaningful place of honor and prominence.
Accordingly we suggest it is best and most practical that you follow these five steps to complete your own synagogue-symbol-project promptly and without interference, rejection or aggravation from others.
Step #1
Enter your synagogue and visually locate the Ner Tamid, the Eternal Light, in your synagogue's sanctuary. This perpetual light is commonly installed right above the Aron Kodesh, the Ark, at the front and center of the synagogue.
If you ask, officials of the synagogue may tell you that this light currently signifies either the menorah of the ancient Temple, or God's presence in the chapel, or the spiritual light that emanated from the Temple of old. Be that as it may, you are going to make a change in that signifier.
Step #2
This is the tricky part. Do not even think about touching the light. It is tempting to try to make some physical change during a revision project. However you must resist this impulse.
As we intimated, every shul has people who make it their business to oppose any visible improvement in the structure or decor of the synagogue. You do not want to run afoul of these folks. Your project is a work that you create independently with the help of your imagination.
Step #3
Close your eyes and imagine an inverted Hebrew letter vav. Yes, the eternal candle or lamp with its flame looks to us like an upside down vav, the letter that has the numeric value of six. Recall that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.
Step #4
Say to yourself the words, Ner Tamid lezichron Hashoah - meaning, this is the eternal light in memory of the Holocaust.
Step #5
Open your eyes. You have change the signification of a symbol that stands front and center in every synagogue sanctuary and you have completed your project.
Now you can meaningfully remember each time you enter the synagogue to look first at that eternal light at the focal center of your house of worship - to take a moment to reflect on the enormity of the suffering of the Shoah - and to give thanks for the constant resilience of the Jewish people.
[Repost from 2007.]
Posted in art, history, Holocaust, inventions, meditation, menorah, religion, synagogues, theodicy
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Tuesday 17 April 2012
Beinart responds to Rosen in The Daily Beast
Posted on 11:53 by Unknown
The Daily Beast has Peter Beinart's response to the recent Jonathan Rosen hatchet job on "The Crisis of Zionism" in the NYTBR. It's a level-headed reply, basically saying that Rosen did not properly review the book, with the opening salvo, "The telling thing about Jonathan Rosen’s New York Times review of my book, The Crisis of Zionism, is the lack of quotes. It’s much easier to turn a book into a cartoon when you ignore the text."
It's best to read the book and make your own judgment. To help with that, The Times of Israel has a substantial and interesting excerpt from the book.
It's best to read the book and make your own judgment. To help with that, The Times of Israel has a substantial and interesting excerpt from the book.
Monday 16 April 2012
Is Kevin Youkilis Jewish?
Posted on 17:21 by Unknown
"Kevin Youkilis, known for his fiery disposition, was selected for his first All-Star Game."
Yes, he is a "fiery" player and a "grinder" and Kevin Youkilis is a Jew.
According to JTA, he has an honor: Top Jewish player in the 2000s, awarded by Jewish Major Leaguers, a suburban Boston-based organization that each year produces a set of trading cards of Jewish baseball players.
We have few Jewish professional baseball players and we take pride in the achievements of each one. From the Times, July 2008:
Grinder Earns Place in All-Star Spotlight
By JOSHUA ROBINSON
...Youkilis, 29, has been one of the Red Sox’ unsung heroes in recent seasons, delivering a steady stream of base hits from the middle of the order and Gold Glove-caliber defense from either corner of the infield. And, one year after he was overlooked for the All-Star Game when he was posting similar statistics, Youkilis is one of seven Red Sox players who will be back at Yankee Stadium on July 15....
Talmud: The Ten Commandments are Embedded in the Shema Passages
Posted on 16:52 by Unknown
Rabbi Levi in the Talmud Yerushalmi proposes a kind of Midrash, namely that in the verses of the Shema` one can find the principles of the Ten Commandments. [Translation by Tzvee Zahavy]
[II.A] Why do they recite these two passages [Deut. 6:4-9 and Deut. 11:13-21] each day? R. Levi and R. Simon [disputed this question].
[B] R. Simon said, "Because in them we find mention of lying down and rising up [in Deut. 6:7 and Deut. 11:19. These are allusions to the beginning and end of each day when the Shema` is recited]."
[C] R. Levi said. "Because the ten commandments are embodied in the [paragraphs of the Shema` as follows:]
[D] [1] "I am the Lord your God" [Exod. 20:2], [is implied by the phrase], "Hear, O Israel the Lord our God" [Deut. 6:4].
[E] [2] "You shall have no other Gods before me" [Exod. 20:3], [is implied by the phrase], "One Lord" [Deut. 6:4].
[F] [3] "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain" [Exod. 20:7], [is implied by the phrase], "And you shall love the Lord your God" [Deut. 6:5]. [How so?] One who loves the king does not swear falsely in his name.
[G] [4] "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" [Exod. 20:8], [is implied by the phrase], "So that you shall remember [and do all my commandments]" [Num. 15:40].
[H] [Rabbi teaches that the Sabbath is equivalent in importance to all the commandments as follows:] Rabbi says, "[The phrase, `All my commandments,' refers to the commandment [to keep] the Sabbath which is equivalent in weight to all the other commandments of the Torah. As it is written, "And you did make known to them thy holy Sabbath and command them commandments and statutes and laws by Moses thy servant" [Neh. 9:14]. This informs you that it [the Sabbath] is equal in weight to all of the commandments of the Torah."
[I] [5] "Honor your father and your mother [that your days in the land may be long]" [Exod. 20:12], [is implied by the phrase], "That your days and the days of your children may be multiplied" [Deut. 11:21]. [The reference to a long life is an allusion to the reward for honoring one's parents.]
[J] [6] "You shall not murder" [Exod. 20:13], [is implied by the phrase], "And you [shall] perish quickly" [Deut. 11:17]. [This implies that] whoever murders, will be killed.
[K] [7] "You shall not commit adultery" [Exod. 20:14], [is implied by the phrase], "[And remember. . . ] not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes" [Num. 15:39].
[L] [This accords with the following teaching.] Said R. Levi. "The heart and the eyes are the two procurers of sin. As it is written, `My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways' [Prov. 23:26. In the verses which follow, Prov. 23:27-35, the harlot is a metaphor for sin.]
[M] Said the Holy One, Blessed be He, "If you give me your heart and your eyes than I shall know that you are mine."
[N] [8] "You shall not steal" [Exod. 20:15], is implied by the phrase], "That you may gather in your grain [and your wine and oil]" [Deut. 11:14]. [Your grain implies that you may gather only yours] and not the grain of your fellow.
[O] [9] "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" [Exod. 20:16], [is implied by the phrase] "I am the Lord your God" [Num. 15:41]. [This is followed in the liturgy of the blessings of the Shema` by the word "true." Just as God is true, so should a person tell the truth.]
[P] And [in further support of this teaching] it is written, "But the Lord is the true God" [Jer. 10:10].
[Q] What is [another interpretation of the word, `True']? Said R. Abun, "That means he is the living God and King of the Universe." [The word 'mt, true, is an acronym for the Hebrew 'lwhm mlk tmyd, God the everlasting king. [P.M.]]
[R] Said R. Levi, "Said the Holy One blessed be He, `If you bore false witness against your friend, I deem it as if you had borne witness against me, that I did not create the heavens and the earth.'"
[S] [10] "You shall not covet your neighbor's house" [Exod. 20:17], [is implied by the phrase], "And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house" [Deut. 6:9]. [Write them on, "Your house" and not on those of your friend's house [Do not covet your neighbor's house].
Sunday 15 April 2012
Monday Special: "God's Favorite Prayers" a Free Kindle Book Today April 16
Posted on 15:22 by Unknown
Our Best Selling Kindle book edition of "God's Favorite Prayers" by Tzvee Zahavy is free 4/16/2012 - a gift for you.
Here is why on occasion we offer our Kindle books for free.
In the Kindle Direct Publishing KDP Select program we are permitted to offer our books free for five days out of every three months. Kindle explains to us:
Here is why on occasion we offer our Kindle books for free.
In the Kindle Direct Publishing KDP Select program we are permitted to offer our books free for five days out of every three months. Kindle explains to us:
KDP Select - a new option to make money and promote your book. When you make your book exclusive to Kindle for at least 90 days, it will be part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library for the same period and you will earn your share of a monthly fund when readers borrow your books from the library. You will also be able to promote your book as free for up to 5 days during these 90 days.We believe that the theory is that when we promote our books, and hundreds of people download them, they will be better linked and marketed in the Amazon system, and as a result more people will buy them or borrow them when they are not free. Logical? You decide. Meanwhile, Enjoy your free books!
Will the War Against Religious Terrorism Ever End?
Posted on 09:45 by Unknown
Will the War Against Religious Terrorism Ever End?
Mark Juergensmeyer, in Terror in the Mind of God, lays out five ways that the reign of religious terror can come to an end. Let's consider each. First consider the end will come with the forceful eradication of the terrorists, what appears to have been the US response to the 9/11 attacks, continued with the more recent killing of OBL.
Juergensmeyer outlines,
Mark Juergensmeyer, in Terror in the Mind of God, lays out five ways that the reign of religious terror can come to an end. Let's consider each. First consider the end will come with the forceful eradication of the terrorists, what appears to have been the US response to the 9/11 attacks, continued with the more recent killing of OBL.
Juergensmeyer outlines,
The first scenario is one of a solution forged by force. It encompasses instances in which terrorists have literally been killed off or have been forcibly controlled. If Osama bin Laden had been in residence in his camp in Afghanistan on August 10, 1998, along with a large number of leaders of other militant groups when the United States launched one hundred Tomahawk cruise missiles into his quarters, for instance, this air strike might have removed some of the persons involved in planning future terrorist acts in various parts of the world.
It would not have removed all of them, however, and the attempt may well have elevated the possibility of more terrorist acts in reprisal. The war-against-terrorism strategy can be dangerous, in that it can play into the scenario that religious terrorists themselves have fostered: the image of a world at war between secular and religious forces. A belligerent secular enemy has often been just what religious activists have hoped for. In some cases it makes recruitment to their causes easier, for it demonstrates that the secular side can be as brutal as it has been portrayed by their own religious ideologues.
The 1998 U.S. attack on Osama bin Laden's camp neither destroyed the militant Muslim's operations nor deterred his aggression. Immediately after the attack several other American embassies were targeted, and several months later, in February 1999, George Tenet, head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, announced to the press that he had "no doubt" that "Osama bin Laden and his world-wide allies and sympathizers" were plotting "further attacks" against U.S. installations and symbols of American power. In Algeria, attempts to eliminate Muslim militants also had violent repercussions. When the military junta in Algeria halted the elections and began running the country with an iron hand, popular support for the Islamic party and violent resistance against the junta escalated.
It would not have removed all of them, however, and the attempt may well have elevated the possibility of more terrorist acts in reprisal. The war-against-terrorism strategy can be dangerous, in that it can play into the scenario that religious terrorists themselves have fostered: the image of a world at war between secular and religious forces. A belligerent secular enemy has often been just what religious activists have hoped for. In some cases it makes recruitment to their causes easier, for it demonstrates that the secular side can be as brutal as it has been portrayed by their own religious ideologues.
The 1998 U.S. attack on Osama bin Laden's camp neither destroyed the militant Muslim's operations nor deterred his aggression. Immediately after the attack several other American embassies were targeted, and several months later, in February 1999, George Tenet, head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, announced to the press that he had "no doubt" that "Osama bin Laden and his world-wide allies and sympathizers" were plotting "further attacks" against U.S. installations and symbols of American power. In Algeria, attempts to eliminate Muslim militants also had violent repercussions. When the military junta in Algeria halted the elections and began running the country with an iron hand, popular support for the Islamic party and violent resistance against the junta escalated.
In order for the destructive strategy to work, a secular government must be willing to declare total war against religious terrorism and wage it over many years, as the Israeli government attempted to do against its terrorist opponents.
Second consider the approach of "cracking down" -- one step back from wiping them out. Juergensmeyer suggests this has not been and will not be a fruitful path.A second scenario is once in which the threat of violent reprisals or imprisonment so frightens religious activists that they hesitate to act. This is the strategy adopted by many law enforcement agencies to "crack down" on terrorists: even if the authorities cannot eliminate the terrorists completely, they can at least frighten them by raising the stakes associated with involvement in terrorist activity.
Though some fringe members of activist groups may have been sobered by such threats, it is doubtful that the "get tough with terrorists" strategy has had much of an effect on the more dedicated members. In the view of most of them, the world is already at war, and they have always expected the enemy to act harshly. In fact, they would be puzzled if it did not. So the threat of an additional increment of penalty to be meted out for their actions has had little if any deterrent effect.
The case that is sometimes offered as a successful instance of terrorist intimidation is the one involving Libya. In the mid-1980s Libya was thought to harbor Muslim activists responsible for a series of acts of international terrorism against the United States. In 1986 the United States undertook an air strike against the leader of the country, Muammar el-Qaddafi, in reprisal. The missiles were aimed at one of his residences, and in fact a member of his family was killed in the attack, but el-Qaddafi himself survived. Over ten years later there were very few terrorist acts aimed at the United States attributed to Libya. Were the air strikes effective?
It is doubtful. Although it is possible that Libya was eventually intimidated by the strikes, the immediate response was quite different. According to the RAND--St. Andrews Chronology of International Terrorism, the number of terrorist incidents linked to Libya and directed against the United States rose in the two years following the U.S. air strikes: fifteen in 1987 and eight in I988. The most devastating terrorist attack against the United States in which Libya has been implicated--the tragic explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 on board--occurred in December 1988.
Third consider the possibility of violence winning. This example that Juergensmeyer cites seems less compelling when you consider that Rantisi was assassinated in April 2004:Though some fringe members of activist groups may have been sobered by such threats, it is doubtful that the "get tough with terrorists" strategy has had much of an effect on the more dedicated members. In the view of most of them, the world is already at war, and they have always expected the enemy to act harshly. In fact, they would be puzzled if it did not. So the threat of an additional increment of penalty to be meted out for their actions has had little if any deterrent effect.
The case that is sometimes offered as a successful instance of terrorist intimidation is the one involving Libya. In the mid-1980s Libya was thought to harbor Muslim activists responsible for a series of acts of international terrorism against the United States. In 1986 the United States undertook an air strike against the leader of the country, Muammar el-Qaddafi, in reprisal. The missiles were aimed at one of his residences, and in fact a member of his family was killed in the attack, but el-Qaddafi himself survived. Over ten years later there were very few terrorist acts aimed at the United States attributed to Libya. Were the air strikes effective?
It is doubtful. Although it is possible that Libya was eventually intimidated by the strikes, the immediate response was quite different. According to the RAND--St. Andrews Chronology of International Terrorism, the number of terrorist incidents linked to Libya and directed against the United States rose in the two years following the U.S. air strikes: fifteen in 1987 and eight in I988. The most devastating terrorist attack against the United States in which Libya has been implicated--the tragic explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 on board--occurred in December 1988.
The third scenario is the reverse of those cases in which terrorism is defeated or diffused: it is when terrorism, in some way, wins. This is the outcome for which every religious activist, understandably, has yearned. When I asked the Hamas leader Dr. Abdul Aziz Rantisi whether Jews and Muslims could live in harmony in the area he described as Palestine, he affirmed that they could--but not under the present arrangement. He could not accept "Israel's sovereignty over Palestinian land," he said. But the two groups could live in peace if the situation were reversed and the land were controlled by Palestinian Arabs. "Jews would be welcomed in our nation," Rantisi explained, adding that he did not hate Jews as such. He pledged not to mistreat them "when we become strong." He hoped for a South Africa-type solution, where the whole of the area would be united--Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank--and the Palestinians who had left the region would be allowed to return. With Arabs then a majority, Rantisi would accept democratic rule over the united region, which would be called something other than Israel.
It is a solution that would delight Palestinians both inside and outside the Hamas movement. Needless to say, it has not been a solution enthusiastically embraced by Israel. Given that fact, and considering that Israel holds a preponderance of military power in the region, could any part of the radical Islamic Palestinian objective be achieved? As I suggested earlier, acts of terrorism tend to be strategically unproductive and do not usually lead to transformations of power. If one is not willing to wait, as Dr. Rantisi claimed he was willing to do, beyond his own generation and perhaps the next, symbolic action will have to be replaced by the kind of strategic planning aimed at achieving goals either totally or incrementally. Revolutionary changes can occur through a well-organized mass movement, as in Iran, or an effective military force, as in Afghanistan. They might also come about through political pressures, as in Sudan and Pakistan, where regimes have capitulated to religious nationalist ideologies in what have been incremental but virtually bloodless coups. But as noted earlier, none of these cases has involved terrorist acts as the primary means of achieving power.
A fourth path to resolution entails the separation of religion from politics. Many would like to see this happen, but the likelihood now seems more remote than ever. Juergensmeyer discusses,The fourth scenario for peace is one in which religion is taken out of politics and retired to the moral and metaphysical planes. As long as images of spiritual warfare remain strong in the minds of religious activists and are linked with struggles in the social world around them, the scenarios we have just discussed--achieving an easy victory over religious activists, intimidating them into submission, or forging a compromise with them--are problematic at best. In some cases where religious politics had previously been strong, however, the image of cosmic war itself has been transformed. A more moderate view of the image of religious warfare has been conceived, one that is deflected away from political and social confrontation.
The extreme form of this solution--one in which religion returns to what Casanova described as its privatization in the post-Enlightenment world--is unlikely, however. Few religious activists arc willing to retreat to the time when secular authorities ran the public arena and religion remained safely within the confines of churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues. Most religious activists regard the social manifestation of cosmic struggle to be at the very heart of their faith and dream of restoring religion to what they regard as its rightful position at the center of public consciousness.
Yet, in the 1990s, many Islamic countries witnessed a certain reaction against politicized religion. In 1999, Iranian students demonstrated in support of such leaders as the moderate theologian Abdol Karim Soroush, who argued that interpretations of religion are relative and change over time. He made a distinction between ideology and religion, and claimed that Muslim clergy had no business being in politics. Similar statements have been made by such moderate Islamic thinkers as Hassan Hanafi in Egypt, Rashid Ghannouchi in Tunisia, and Algeria’s Mohammed Arkoun. For them, the image of struggle consists largely of a spiritual battle or a contest between moral positions rather than between armed enemies.
The fifth path is one wherein, "secular authorities embrace moral values, including those associated with religion." Juergensmeyer gives several examples,The extreme form of this solution--one in which religion returns to what Casanova described as its privatization in the post-Enlightenment world--is unlikely, however. Few religious activists arc willing to retreat to the time when secular authorities ran the public arena and religion remained safely within the confines of churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues. Most religious activists regard the social manifestation of cosmic struggle to be at the very heart of their faith and dream of restoring religion to what they regard as its rightful position at the center of public consciousness.
Yet, in the 1990s, many Islamic countries witnessed a certain reaction against politicized religion. In 1999, Iranian students demonstrated in support of such leaders as the moderate theologian Abdol Karim Soroush, who argued that interpretations of religion are relative and change over time. He made a distinction between ideology and religion, and claimed that Muslim clergy had no business being in politics. Similar statements have been made by such moderate Islamic thinkers as Hassan Hanafi in Egypt, Rashid Ghannouchi in Tunisia, and Algeria’s Mohammed Arkoun. For them, the image of struggle consists largely of a spiritual battle or a contest between moral positions rather than between armed enemies.
These moderate solutions have required the opponents in the conflict to summon at least a minimal level of mutual trust and respect. This respect has been enhanced and the possibilities of a compromise solution strengthened when religious activists have perceived governmental authorities as having a moral integrity in keeping with, or accommodating of, religious values. This, then, is the fifth solution: when secular authorities embrace moral values, including those associated with religion.
In some cases where religious violence has been quelled, religion has literally been subsumed under the aegis of governmental authorities. In Sri Lanka, for instance, the efforts of the government to destroy the Janarha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)--the People's Liberation Front--a movement supported by many radical Buddhist monks, were double-pronged. The harsh measures involved tracking down and killing the most dedicated members of the movement. The more accommodating measures included efforts to win the support of militant religious leaders. In 1990 President Ranasinghe Premadasa provided a fund for the financial support of Buddhist schools and social services, and created a Ministry of Buddhist Affairs, naming himself the first minister. Premadasa created a council of Buddhist advisers, including Buddhist monks who had been quite critical of the secular government previously. One of these told me in 1991 that after Premadasa's pro- religious measures, the government was finally beginning to "reflect Buddhist values."
In other cases, such as the British response to Irish terrorism, the government's stance in following the rule of law and not overreacting to terrorist provocations demonstrated its subscription to moral values. This made it difficult for religious activists--with the exception of Rev. Ian Paisley--to portray the government as a satanic enemy. It also increased the possibility of some sort of accommodation with religious activists on both sides of the Northern Ireland dispute--leading to the signing of a peace accord in 1998.
So, will the War Against Religious Terrorism Ever End? We hope it will. [reposted]In some cases where religious violence has been quelled, religion has literally been subsumed under the aegis of governmental authorities. In Sri Lanka, for instance, the efforts of the government to destroy the Janarha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)--the People's Liberation Front--a movement supported by many radical Buddhist monks, were double-pronged. The harsh measures involved tracking down and killing the most dedicated members of the movement. The more accommodating measures included efforts to win the support of militant religious leaders. In 1990 President Ranasinghe Premadasa provided a fund for the financial support of Buddhist schools and social services, and created a Ministry of Buddhist Affairs, naming himself the first minister. Premadasa created a council of Buddhist advisers, including Buddhist monks who had been quite critical of the secular government previously. One of these told me in 1991 that after Premadasa's pro- religious measures, the government was finally beginning to "reflect Buddhist values."
In other cases, such as the British response to Irish terrorism, the government's stance in following the rule of law and not overreacting to terrorist provocations demonstrated its subscription to moral values. This made it difficult for religious activists--with the exception of Rev. Ian Paisley--to portray the government as a satanic enemy. It also increased the possibility of some sort of accommodation with religious activists on both sides of the Northern Ireland dispute--leading to the signing of a peace accord in 1998.
Saturday 14 April 2012
Times Total Hatchet Job: Jonathan Rosen v. Peter Beinart
Posted on 19:35 by Unknown
Jonathan Rosen's review in the Times, "A Missionary Impulse" of the book ‘The Crisis of Zionism,’ by Peter Beinart, is a total hatchet job.
Rosen is the editorial director of Nextbook, which seems at first to give him some credentials to review this book, but he is also the author, most recently, of “The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature” which cancels his credentials for this review. He is a published expert in birding, and a memoir writer, not a scholar nor even a pundit versed in Zionism, nor in American Judaism.
We are not a big fan of Beinart's views, often too liberal even for us. Oy but we do wince as his nemesis Rosen declares that Beinart is wrong because he is like a Mark Twain character, "Like the Widow Douglas trying to civilize Huck Finn before he lights out for the occupied territory, Beinart has a missionary impulse toward Israel. His faith resides in 'liberal ideals,' which he often makes synonymous with Judaism itself, or what Judaism ought to be."
The Rosen hatchet chips away until the final blow, where Rosen sums up modern Israel, and dismisses Beinart all in one sentence, "Sometimes it does this well and sometimes badly, but the struggle itself is the hallmark of a civilization far beyond Peter Beinart’s Manichaean simplicities."
Beinart may have written a bad book or a good book. It surely is a sophisticated work of argumentation. About that, other reviewers of all different stripes agree.
We will read the book and decide our own opinion of it. Meanwhile, Rosen has penned by far the worst "review" of the week in the Times, "Manichaean" or otherwise. In the Times Book Review we expect more substance and nuance, especially when a right winger outside of his area of expertise reviews a book by a trendy left winger who happens to be an expert in the subject matter of the book.
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Rosen is the editorial director of Nextbook, which seems at first to give him some credentials to review this book, but he is also the author, most recently, of “The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature” which cancels his credentials for this review. He is a published expert in birding, and a memoir writer, not a scholar nor even a pundit versed in Zionism, nor in American Judaism.
We are not a big fan of Beinart's views, often too liberal even for us. Oy but we do wince as his nemesis Rosen declares that Beinart is wrong because he is like a Mark Twain character, "Like the Widow Douglas trying to civilize Huck Finn before he lights out for the occupied territory, Beinart has a missionary impulse toward Israel. His faith resides in 'liberal ideals,' which he often makes synonymous with Judaism itself, or what Judaism ought to be."
The Rosen hatchet chips away until the final blow, where Rosen sums up modern Israel, and dismisses Beinart all in one sentence, "Sometimes it does this well and sometimes badly, but the struggle itself is the hallmark of a civilization far beyond Peter Beinart’s Manichaean simplicities."
Beinart may have written a bad book or a good book. It surely is a sophisticated work of argumentation. About that, other reviewers of all different stripes agree.
We will read the book and decide our own opinion of it. Meanwhile, Rosen has penned by far the worst "review" of the week in the Times, "Manichaean" or otherwise. In the Times Book Review we expect more substance and nuance, especially when a right winger outside of his area of expertise reviews a book by a trendy left winger who happens to be an expert in the subject matter of the book.
Ads:
Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer
The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English
One Day Sunday 4/15 Free Kindle Talmudic Books
Posted on 18:46 by Unknown
One Day Sunday 4/15
Get two Free Kindle Talmudic Books
Define Judaism: Ten Seminars by Tzvee Zahavy
Eleazar: Rabbi, Priest, Patriarch by Tzvee Zahavy
and one more at sale price
An Anthology from the Talmud Yerushalmi Berakhot by Tzvee Zahavy
Links to all...Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer
The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English
Get two Free Kindle Talmudic Books
Define Judaism: Ten Seminars by Tzvee Zahavy
Eleazar: Rabbi, Priest, Patriarch by Tzvee Zahavy
and one more at sale price
An Anthology from the Talmud Yerushalmi Berakhot by Tzvee Zahavy
Links to all...Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer
The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English
Thursday 12 April 2012
What is "Displaced Talmudic Energy?"
Posted on 09:19 by Unknown
Jenna Weissman Joselit asks at HuffPost, "Do These Amazing Jews Have 'Displaced Talmudic Energy?'" If we bought the analysis referred to in the article about talented contemporary Jews, we would begin to refer to this syndrome as DTE. Alas we do not buy the theory.
The Talmud is a literature with distinctive contents and ways of thinking about the world. If it was a source of "energy" we would be among the first to market Talmud-Water or Talmud-Bracelets and try to get Madonna interested in the Talmud.
Wait a second, those are not bad ideas.
We do track a high sense of drama in the world of the Talmud and a conviction that we Jews are stars at the center of the stage. That is at most an idea, a concept or a meme, and not an energy bar.
The idea of DTE is part of what Joselit cites from the book by the forward to a book by Sidney Offit, "Nine Lives: Favorite Profiles of Famous People from the Annals of Moment Magazine." [Help us please - we cannot find any record of this book.]
Here are some of her observations about the phrase.
The Talmud is a literature with distinctive contents and ways of thinking about the world. If it was a source of "energy" we would be among the first to market Talmud-Water or Talmud-Bracelets and try to get Madonna interested in the Talmud.
Wait a second, those are not bad ideas.
We do track a high sense of drama in the world of the Talmud and a conviction that we Jews are stars at the center of the stage. That is at most an idea, a concept or a meme, and not an energy bar.
The idea of DTE is part of what Joselit cites from the book by the forward to a book by Sidney Offit, "Nine Lives: Favorite Profiles of Famous People from the Annals of Moment Magazine." [Help us please - we cannot find any record of this book.]
Here are some of her observations about the phrase.
[Offit...] wonders how it is possible for so many contemporary artists, performers and cultural personalities from Tony Kushner and Jon Stewart to Bob Dylan and Brian Epstein to hail from a Jewish background. But where his predecessors looked to lineage, Offit does them one better. His canny explanation: "displaced Talmudic energy."
Is he actually suggesting that the "famous people" who figure here had at one point in their lives taken up the study of the Talmud and, having subsequently abandoned that pursuit for the stage, found that their engagement with the ancient text continued to influence their way of being? At first blush, readers might be forgiven for thinking that's what Mr. Offit means. After all, he does go so far as to call Jon Stewart a "modern Talmudist."
But I don't think that's really what he has in mind. Rather, by his lights, "Talmudic energy" -- displaced or intact -- has little to do with the actual study of the ancient text as much as it does with a particular sensibility, one sustained by the spirit of inquiry, an appetite for questioning and a penchant for detail.
I don't doubt that the innovative and influential personalities profiled in this book possess these qualities - and in spades. But why call them examples of "displaced Talmudic energy"? Why, in fact, go all the way back to the Talmud? Might not contemporary readers be better served and more effectively enlightened by explanations that highlight economic forces, say, or the historic role of the Jews as latter-day brokers of both goods and ideas? And what about the galvanizing, generative effects of marginality on creativity?
Although essentialism has fallen from grace and out of favor in most contemporary circles, it continues to hang on within Jewish ones, pace Mr. Offit's "displaced Talmudic energy." I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's one way to keep celebrated Jews close at hand and within the fold.
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Tzvee's Talmudic blog in New York Magazine
Posted on 13:05 by Unknown
Tzvee's Talmudic blog was mentioned in New York Magazine Comments this week
Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer
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Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer
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