Monthly Archives: February 2013

Purim — Massacre Mayhem Forgetting (Response to Shaul Magid)

Posted on February 22, 2013 by zjb

In Open Zion, Shaul Magid addresses the morality of Purim, a drunken revel commemorating the failure of a Persian satrap in his plot to annihilate the Jews. According to the book of Esther, Haman’s scheme is underdone by the canny … Continue reading →

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“Stoned, naked, armed and dangerous more disturbing images from an Israeli soldier’s Instagram” — Take 2 (with commentary)

Posted on February 21, 2013 by zjb

My first response to these Instagram photos was the shock and disgust which was the intended effect I was supposed to feel as pre-scripted by the good people over at Electronic Intifadah. I really didn’t have much to say, so … Continue reading →

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God (A Photograph)

Posted on February 20, 2013 by zjb

Rene Magritte, God on Eighth Day (1937) I love the tongue in cheek in this mutilating photograph. Am pretty sure that Walter Benjamin’s reflections on the liquidation of aura in the age of mechanical reproduction does not, in fact cannot … Continue reading →

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Are we Posthuman yet? (Katherine Hayles) (Embodied Virtuality)

Posted on February 20, 2013 by zjb

I was not expecting to like as much as I did How We Became Posthuman Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics by Katherine Hayles. Assuming that Hayles’ book was more akin to Kurzweil’s “singularity” than it is in fact, … Continue reading →

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The Trouble with Online College (NYT)

Posted on February 19, 2013 by zjb

The New York Times editorial page weighs in on a topic of interest over here at JPP: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/opinion/the-trouble-with-online-college.html?hp It’s so good, I thought I’d post it in its entirety. Stanford University ratcheted up interest in online education when a pair of … Continue reading →

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Announcing a new Jewish Philosophy Blog: Schlemiel Theory

Posted on February 19, 2013 by zjb

JPP is now following a new Jewish philosophy blog by Matthew Menachem Feuer: The Home of Schlemiel Theory: The Place Where the Laugh Laughs at the Laugh  http://schlemielintheory.wordpress.com/ in which Matthew avers:  Aristotle starts off his most cited book, The Metaphysics, with … Continue reading →

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Erev Shabbat (New Jersey) (Over the Hudson)

Posted on February 18, 2013 by zjb

Somewhere in Halakhic Man [sic], Joseph Soloveitchik talks about the blending of visual sensation and halakhic concepts. I like how these pictures came out. Fusing natural and architectural elements, the setting sun and close horizon points signal the physical closing in of … Continue reading →

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Law and Art (Seth Schwartz, Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 CE to 640 CE)

Posted on February 18, 2013 by zjb

Imperialism and Jewish Society came out in 2001. I remember skimming it and liking the deflationary view of Jewish history in Roman Palestine, particularly in relation to the rabbis and the question of rabbinic authority. I like very much the highlighting … Continue reading →

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Disaster Aesthetics (Russian Meteor) (Apocalypse)

Posted on February 17, 2013 by zjb

(a little apocalypse and very unreasoning)

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Conservative/Liberal Keywords (U.S. Politics-Jewish Politics)

Posted on February 17, 2013 by zjb

Fascinating article in the New York Times Sunday magazine about young, tech savvy Republicans attempting to overhaul their party. Much of the story comes together in this account of a focus group of conservative would-be GOP voters, many of whom … Continue reading →

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