Monthly Archives: February 2015

Political Murder (Iconic) (Boris Nemtsov)

On the murder of Boris Nemtsov, an important leader of the opposition to Czar Vladimir Putin. What drew my attention to this particular photograph is its picture of autocratic power, Police investigators gather around the exposed body of the corpse, all … Continue reading

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Roads to Utopia: The Walking Stories of the Zohar (David Greenstein)

I recently finished David Greenstein’s Roads to Utopia: The Walking Stories of the Zohar. It reads to me like a companion piece to Hellner-Eshed’s, A River Flows from Eden, about which I posted below. Greenstein’s book is an addition to … Continue reading

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Symposium: The Role of Scholarship in Shaping Jewish Identity (March 1)

  Event Symposium: The Role of Scholarship in Shaping Jewish Identity On March 1, 2015, from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m., the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) and the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies will hold a symposium and … Continue reading

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Netanyahu Sinister (Google Image)

On a recent FB thread, cousin Zvi wants to know if there’s some special Google site for sinister looking pictures of Prime Minister Netanyahu. But, really, friend Adam Black reminds, it’s just what pops up on any random Google image search. … Continue reading

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The Particulars Are Constantly Being Destroyed (Abraham Ibn Ezra) (Sefer Yesod Mora ve-Sod Ha-Torah)

I’m willing to speculate that Abraham ibn Ezra named this little book for the double rhyme between yesod and sod, mora and ha-Torah. It provides a little order or structure. I stumbled across a reference to the translation of this … Continue reading

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Muslim, Jews, & Liberal Order In Oslo (Photo Essay by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

Amazing photo essay from the Muslim-Jewish solidarity demonstration in Oslo. It’s by Ryan Rodrick Beiler, and it appeared in the Jewish Daily Forward. You can see/read it here. They’re much nicer than the photographs of terrifying Muslims that accompanied the … Continue reading

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ISIS Partition Map

I’m not sure about large parts of the argument that appeared in Atlantic Monthly article by Graeme Wood about Islamic State. You can read it here. The idea is basically right. How are we to understand the balance between historical-social-political … Continue reading

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Muslims & Jews Refuse to Be Enemies in Oslo

An religion is what its people do. There’s no other essence apart from that –and from the strong symbolic gesture. I’m posting here about the breaking story about today’s rally of Norwegian Muslims creating a protective shield around the main synagogue … Continue reading

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Islamic Studies & Holocaust Studies (Mehnaz M. Afridi) (Syracuse University)

Apropos to arguments made by Aaron Hughes about Jewish Studies being too Jewish, here’s a powerful profile in the NYT, which you can read here, about Mehnaz M. Afridi, assistant professor of religion at Mehnaz M. Afridi Manhattan College, where she … Continue reading

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ISIS Costume Drama

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