Monthly Archives: April 2015

Martin Buber Conference (Manhattan College) (April 23, 2015)

Posted on April 17, 2015 by zjb

A new Martin Buber? The presenters of these papers at this upcoming conference have their eye on embodiment, action, film, politics, globalization. Kudos to Sarah Scott for putting this together. Proud to be a part of it.

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Talmud & Philosophy (April 14, 2015)

Posted on April 16, 2015 by zjb

(Two days ago at Buffalo, organized by the irrepressible Sergey Dolgopolski. Sorry that I had to miss it.)

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German Jewish Orientalists (Susannah Heschel at Syracuse University)

Posted on April 13, 2015 by zjb
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Delaware Gap

Posted on April 13, 2015 by zjb

Last week driving down into the Delaware Gap on rt. 80 at the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border. First you see the long ridge, and then the road drops you down through a gap in its massive wall alongside the Delaware River. It’s … Continue reading →

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Abraham Joshua Heschel Joseph Soloveitchik (Modern Crypto-Aesthetics)

Posted on April 12, 2015 by zjb

I am sure I have never seen the actual resemblance between Heschel and Soloveitchik, but there it is in The Earth is the Lord’s.  It’s the priority placed by Heschel on the form-pattern before empirical reality. In both cases, there is … Continue reading →

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Zigzag (Abraham Joshua Heschel & Visual Thinking)

Posted on April 9, 2015 by zjb

The author of Visual Thinking (1969), Rudolf Arnheim must have read The Earth is the Lord’s by Abraham Joshua Heschel. Arnheim writes about, “The gestures of ghetto Jews, whose mind are formed by the traditional sophistry of Talmudic thinking, ‘appear … Continue reading →

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(April 1993) Soloveitchik Died? What’s On Television?

Posted on April 7, 2015 by zjb

American Judaism! I found this obituary, dated April 10, 1993, folded into my copy of Halakhic Man. On the back side of the page is that evening’s television schedule. Note the combination of public interest and ephemera on the pages … Continue reading →

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Heschel Modern (Dots, Marks, & God)

Posted on April 6, 2015 by zjb

You have to read him with a selective eye. But this little bit of Heschel struck me as very “modern,” when he writes, “…the ineffable is cryptic, inarticulate: dots, marks of secret meaning, scattered hints…” (Man Is Not Alone, p.75). These … Continue reading →

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Halakhic Man Boils Halakhic Pot of Water for the Passover

Posted on April 3, 2015 by zjb

Pesach is metallic, watery, and boiling hot.

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April Snow (2015)

Posted on April 2, 2015 by zjb

Snow on the ground somewhere on rt. 81, heading south from Syracuse. In the second photograph, the built structures behind the trees came out looking unnaturally tiny. Nelson Goodman was right.

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