Monthly Archives: September 2015

Temple Mount Status Quo (Nahum Barnea)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by zjb

Excellent article by Nahum Barnea, which you can read here, on the current debacle unfolding at the Temple Mount and its threat to a status quo which has more or less preserved the peace between Jews and Muslims, or at least … Continue reading →

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Hello Barbie is Artificially Intelligent

Posted on September 20, 2015 by zjb

Here’s a neat article which you can read here in the NYT Sunday Magazine about the new Barbie about to roll out in November.  With the help of artificial intelligence and speech recognition, Hello Barbie can talk and interact. She … Continue reading →

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Stained Glass Skylight (Ansche Chesed)

Posted on September 19, 2015 by zjb

The supporting frames hold the entire ensemble in place while breaking it into pieces. Sunbursts and crowns and lions and wings and hexagrams and warm color and Hebrew letters (for wisdom) and gem like geometries form a halo surrounding the … Continue reading →

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From the George Washington Bridge (9/11)

Posted on September 18, 2015 by zjb

The semester’s commute begins in earnest. On the way home last week on a bright and sunny day, stuck in traffic on the George Washington Bridge. Time to shut up and take in the view.

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History & Religion and Reason & Politics in Israel & Palestine (Mahmoud al-Habash)

Posted on September 18, 2015 by zjb

As the Israel-Palestine conflict lurches insanely towards religious war, provoked in large part by politically motivated attempts to force a change in the status quo on the Temple Mount. there’s this very interesting interview by Orly Noy at +972 with Supreme … Continue reading →

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Rocks, Riots, and Teargas (High Holidays in Jerusalem)

Posted on September 16, 2015 by zjb

Something new, it wasn’t always like this. Increasingly in Israel today, the High Holidays are marked by rocks, riots, violence, teargas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets as Palestinian youth react to politically provocative visits by rightwing Jewish activists who are … Continue reading →

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Conference CFP: “Levinas, Law and Literature” (Antwerp)

Posted on September 16, 2015 by zjb

CFP: ‘Levinas, Law and Literature’, International Conference, January, 20–22, 2016, Antwerp, Belgium September 6, 2015 in Conferences Institute of Jewish Studies (University of Antwerp) Center for European Philosophy (University of Antwerp) January, 20–22, 2016, Antwerp Abstract submission deadline: 20/09/2015 One cannot … Continue reading →

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Shana Tovah (2015)

Posted on September 13, 2015 by zjb

With an anxious heart this year, echoing words by Ishay Rosen-Zvi on FB about Rosh Ha’Shanah concerning the tension that marks the day, a day in which the world stands in judgment, in which human life hangs on the edge … Continue reading →

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Jews & Money & The Not So Powerful After All Israel Lobby

Posted on September 11, 2015 by zjb

So some good news now with the passing of the Iran Deal is that maybe just maybe we can all put to bed that anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that some all-powerful Jewish cabal, the Israel Lobby, controls U.S. foreign policy and … Continue reading →

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Entrepreneurial Judaism & The Visionary Synagogue

Posted on September 10, 2015 by zjb

I did not know what to expect from Sacred Strategies: Transforming Synagogues From Functional to Visionary written by Isa Aron, Steven Cohen, Lawrence Hoffman, and Ari Kelman –except, of courses, that it was going to be about the American synagogue … Continue reading →

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