Monthly Archives: March 2014

Purim (Sick in the Street)

Posted on March 16, 2014 by zjb

Yes, the synagogue is a public institution. But compared to in Israel, diaspora Judaism is not really social. It’s indoors. Except here and there, diaspora Judaism doesn’t happen on “the street.” It has no “space of appearance.” As “a Zionist,” … Continue reading →

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Public Civic Private Religion (Craig Martin)

Posted on March 13, 2014 by zjb

Gearing up for a talk on Moses Mendelssohn, Judaism, and the “rights of man,” I’m reading around in political theory and religion. Finally I got around to reading Craig Martin’s Masking Hegemony: A Genealogy of Liberalism, Religion, and the Private … Continue reading →

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Life & Death of 2 Buildings (Harlem)

Posted on March 12, 2014 by zjb

Two buildings basically blew up this morning down the street at Park Avenue and E. 116th Street. I found this article in the NYT very moving, a tribute to the different kinds of lives lived in these old tenements. For … Continue reading →

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Prada Gaze Uncanny (Upper East Side)

Posted on March 12, 2014 by zjb

After much circling and mounting frustration, I finally found this parking spot at E.70th near Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side. Completely immersed in the task, I shut off the engine, relieved, ready to step out and go about … Continue reading →

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(Whitehead) Social consciousness World Consciousnss (Judaism)

Posted on March 12, 2014 by zjb

Maybe it’s the case that Judaism is defined by what Whitehead called “social consciousness,” not “world consciousness.” (Religion in the Making, pp.37-43). Or might it be possible today to plot out a form of Jewish world consciousness? By social consciousness, Whitehead … Continue reading →

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Whitehead (anti) Semitism

Posted on March 11, 2014 by zjb

It’s not a point that I’m going to put a lot of weight on, but it’s worth a quick mention. For Whitehead, Religion in the Making is set up in opposition to “semitism.” Whitehead’s conception of deity is impersonal, cosmic, and cosmopolitan. … Continue reading →

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At The Mall (Syracuse) (No One There)

Posted on March 10, 2014 by zjb

I almost always try to avoid including people in these digital photographs I shoot here at the blog. The other night at the mall in Syracuse, the effect was particularly desiccating. With no one here, there’s just nothing there.

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Religion Is What We Do With Our Solitariness (Whitehead) (Kaplan)

Posted on March 10, 2014 by zjb

Mordecai Kaplan may have misunderstood what Whitehead meant by defining religion as that which “the individual does with his own solitariness” (Whitehead, Religion in the Making, p.16). For Kaplan, religion is primarily “social.” But I think he overlooked the phenomenon of … Continue reading →

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Now They’re Leftists (Ultra-Orthodox)

Posted on March 9, 2014 by zjb

Great visuals on Google Image for the mass demonstration by ultra-orthodox Jews in lower Manhattan today against plans to draft yeshiva boys into the army. Chemi Shalev’s piece in Haaretz was translated at the Forward. This too is American Judaism, … Continue reading →

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Gentrification (Harlem)

Posted on March 9, 2014 by zjb

A new luxe co-op going up at Manhattan Avenue and 110th St.

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