Monthly Archives: March 2012

Politics & Imagination (Nissim Rejwan: Israel’s Place in the Middle East)

Posted on March 31, 2012 by zjb

Last week, I finished Nissim Rejwan’s Israel’s Place in the Middle East. For me, Rejwan and the other mizrachi neo-Levantines writing in the 1990s read so fresh, what with so much debate today about Israel tasting so stale and being … Continue reading →

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Posted on March 31, 2012 by zjb
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River (Zohar & Food)

Posted on March 30, 2012 by zjb

(Fairway Supermarkey & Hudson River view from inside Fairway Supermarket) I’ve got rivers in my head. According to the Zohar, it’s “[from] that flowing , gushing river, [that] all are nourished; from there souls fly to all…for there is nothing … Continue reading →

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Delaware Water Gap (Drive-Thru Landscape)

Posted on March 30, 2012 by zjb

southbound, rt. I-80 This is always the most exciting part of the drive back from Syracuse to New York City. It’s always thrilling, zipping along and behind trucks and other cars down the elevated bridge. The low mountains loom up … Continue reading →

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Downtown Syracuse (Urban Space)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by zjb

  I have developed a very soft spot for the City of Syracuse, but something terrible happened to the city, probably in the 1970s and probably having to do with rt.81 which cuts through the city on an overpass. They … Continue reading →

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Anonymous-Democratic Public Sphere (Sitting at the DMV)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by zjb

A couple of weeks back, I spent about three hours at the DMV renewing my driver’s license. I could have gone out, gotten an eye test, and renewed by mail. But why wouldn’t you want to go to the DMV? … Continue reading →

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Hebrew Arabic Islam Judaism (Almog Behar)

Posted on March 28, 2012 by zjb

  Almog Behar read poetry and spoke at Syracuse University tonight.  A third generation Israeli, his parents (or was it just his mother?) came from Iraq. In his remarks he told the old story about the mizrachi immigration to Israel … Continue reading →

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Posted on March 28, 2012 by zjb
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Posted on March 28, 2012 by zjb
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Jewish Philosophy (what is The Star of Redemption?)

Posted on March 28, 2012 by zjb

I’m running a graduate seminar in modern Jewish philosophy, and find myself in an agitated state. We’ve been slogging through The Star of Redemption. As is often the case, huge amounts of energy are put into organizing the text, sorting … Continue reading →

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