Monthly Archives: April 2017

Drunken Messianic Burlesque (Passover)

Posted on April 14, 2017 by zjb

The Passover Haggadah and its seder proceeds along a narrative arc from slavery to the liberation of messianic redemption. Up until dinner, the traditional seder is conducted as a memorial to the Temple cult in Jerusalem, the restoration of which … Continue reading →

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A Christian-Pagan Philosophy of Life (“What Now? Remind Me”) (Joaquim Pinto) 

Posted on April 13, 2017 by zjb

Joaquim Pinto’s Portuguese language film What Now? Remind Me is too big a film to lend itself to a narrative or scene-by-scene exposition. Along with a conversation with the director, it was screened as a plenary session at “The Place … Continue reading →

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(On The Front Page) White House Holocaust Centers

Posted on April 12, 2017 by zjb

I’m posting this image, not because of what it says directly about either Spicer or Trump but because of the visual power of the layout and what it says about the Holocaust as a tabloid object, positioned here as a … Continue reading →

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Particles (חמץ)

Posted on April 9, 2017 by zjb

There used to be a lot of talk in Religion Studies about ethos and nomos, ritual and myth. There’s Durkheim, Eliade, Geertz, J.Z. Smith, and Michael Fishbane. But I think ritual may “mean” nothing “more” than forced attention to the … Continue reading →

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הפקר כעפרא דארעא (Nullification)

Posted on April 9, 2017 by zjb

כל חמירא וחמיעא דאיכא ברשותי, דלא חזיתיה ודלא בערתיה, לבטיל ולהוי הפקר כעפרא דארעא “All chametz or leaven in my possession that I have seen and that I have not seen, that I have destroyed and that I have not … Continue reading →

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Apropos to Something Bannon Called Kushner (Cuck) (?)

Posted on April 6, 2017 by zjb

You can read the whole thing here, apropos to what Bannon reportedly called Jared Kushner: “The word [“cuck”] gained political potency during the 2016 election in the portmanteau “cuckservative” (cuck + conservative) used to imply that the mainstream conservatives of … Continue reading →

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Horseradish Infused Vodka (Passover)

Posted on April 6, 2017 by zjb

For Passover, horseradish infused vodka is apparently a “thing.” Originally posted on FB by Nora Rubel, a scholar of American Judaism at work in “Religion & Foodways,” which is definitely  a “thing” for those of your who don’t know. Lesleigh Cushing Professor … Continue reading →

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The Place of Religion in Film (Islam & Judaism) (Conference Notes)

Posted on April 5, 2017 by zjb

Here are some quick notes from the recent Place of Religion in Film conference at Syracuse, organized by my friend and colleague Gail Hamner. What caught my attention was the prominence of Jews and Muslims, especially in relation to gender, in … Continue reading →

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By the Death Bed (Edvard Munch)

Posted on April 4, 2017 by zjb

[Edvard Munch, By the Death Bed (1896)] Apropos the most recent gas attack in Syria the other day

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(Spring) (Rain) Windshield

Posted on April 4, 2017 by zjb
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