Monthly Archives: November 2013

Leo Strauss & Moses Mendelssohn OR God & the Rights of Man (Martin Yaffe)

Posted on November 11, 2013 by zjb

I don’t think you can understand Moses Mendelssohn without Leo Strauss, just not in the way that Strauss himself intended. That’s my takeaway after having just finished the introductions by Leo Strauss to the Moses Mendelssohn Jubiläumsaugabe, expertly edited by … Continue reading →

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Cone of Silence (President Obama)

Posted on November 10, 2013 by zjb

Life imitates art. To protect state secrets, President Obama has a cone of silence, which he brings along when he travels abroad. Actually, it’s a tent, but it’s really almost just as funny. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/us/politics/obamas-portable-zone-of-secrecy-some-assembly-required.html?ref=us&_r=0

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Swastikas and Slurs (American Anti-Semitism Today)

Posted on November 10, 2013 by zjb

The recent article in the New York Times about what would seem to be the ongoing and systemic harassment of Jewish kids in Pine Bush, a small rural town in upstate New York, strikes a particularly powerful chord precisely because … Continue reading →

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Anti-Zionism, “Facts,” Details” and Diminishing Returns — Max Blumenthal & Shaul Magid

Posted on November 8, 2013 by zjb

Someone at Religion Dispatches gave Shaul Magid the thankless task to read and review Max Blumenthal’s recent book on Israel, what to all appearances looks to be a total screed. I’m not sure he should have done it. Sometimes arguing … Continue reading →

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Religion Without Idolatry (Moses Mendelssohn) (Gideon Freudenthal)

Posted on November 7, 2013 by zjb

A week or so back, I finally got to and finished reading Gideon Freudenthal’s book on Mendelssohn and the Jewish Enlightenment, No Religion without Idolatry. It’s part of the new Mendelssohn Studies approach. None of the great 20th century readers … Continue reading →

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China (Meta-Logical World) (Franz Rosenzweig)

Posted on November 6, 2013 by zjb

Driving home through Deleware Gap last week, I pulled over to take these pictures. For some reason, the photos that I shoot there always end up looking like a Chinese landscape. It’s probably the image of a craggy gorge standing … Continue reading →

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A Conservative (Judaism) Lament

Posted on November 6, 2013 by zjb

Check out Michah Gotlieb’s piece in the Forward about the state of Conservative Judaism. It’s a nicely put together mini-memoir, and it’s a great thing to see a modern Jewish thought and philosophy colleague pitch in to current public debates … Continue reading →

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Dark Star (Another Star of Redemption Pictograph)

Posted on November 5, 2013 by zjb

Here’s another Star of Redemption pictograph. I started doing these years ago in order to give my students and myself a graphic orientation to the complex constitutional make-up of Rosenzweig’s multi-part system. This one must have been an early one, … Continue reading →

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Star of Redemption (Pictograph)

Posted on November 5, 2013 by zjb
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Sacred Space Disaster Space (Temple Mount)

Posted on November 5, 2013 by zjb

This article from the Forward underscores how apocalypse overshadows Jewish cultural memory; in this case that would be the very idea of changing the status quo on the Temple Mount in order to allow Jewish prayer at the site. Out … Continue reading →

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