Monthly Archives: May 2017

(Levantine) Aesthetic Judaism (Lucette Lagnado)

Posted on May 30, 2017 by zjb

Memoir is an unusually interesting genre for the study of modern religion and modern Judaism. Casting about for material that would expand the contours of my mid-level class last semester (spring 2017) on American Judaism I finally got around to … Continue reading →

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Between Right and Left (Amos Oz at Israel Ha’Yom)

Posted on May 28, 2017 by zjb

An interesting interview by Dror Eydar at the rightwing Israel Ha’Yom newspaper with Amos Oz. Part one is here and part two is here.  Topics included are self-determination, national identity, Hegel and the cunning of history, zealotry. The basic line … Continue reading →

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Doonesbury Déjà vu

Posted on May 25, 2017 by zjb
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Donald (of Arabia)

Posted on May 22, 2017 by zjb

Without exception colorful, the pictures from the Trump visit to Saudi Arabia were exceptionally exotic. The image was one part arms bazaar, one part catwalk, and one part performance spectacle.

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Alan Mintz (z”l)

Posted on May 21, 2017 by zjb

I want to remember here Alan Mintz as a leading contributor to the development of radical American Jewish youth culture in the 1970s and to lower case liberal American Judaism. A major figure in the study of Hebrew literature and … Continue reading →

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Dancing Trees (Central Park)

Posted on May 18, 2017 by zjb

Viewed from a distance the trees just stand there, not doing much. But a close zoom into and between the branches  allows you to see these stately creatures in Central Park undulating. Carefully cultivated by masters of arboreal arts, these … Continue reading →

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Trump’s Islam Speech & Religious Studies

Posted on May 17, 2017 by zjb

About Trump’s big speech on Islam to be delivered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, please pass this jewel from columnist Sarah Posner to Department chairs of Religious Studies and to their deans. “[E]xperts I spoke with today warned that this speech is … Continue reading →

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(Body) Maimonides & Dance (Epistle to Yemen)

Posted on May 17, 2017 by zjb

In the 12th century, Shia forces in Yemen rebelling against Saladin conducted a persecution of the Jewish community. Originally written in Arabic, Maimonides Epistle to Yemen addressed the contemporary challenge of forced apostasy, heresy, and messianic claims. What caught my … Continue reading →

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Literary Walk (Central Park)

Posted on May 16, 2017 by zjb

Those would be Sir Walter Scot, Robert Burns, and Fitz Greene Hallek. I’ve never paid them much mind. But I got caught in the view of the trees and had some time to kill on my way towards an appointment … Continue reading →

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A Fascist Impulse in Religious Zionism (Tomer Persico)

Posted on May 16, 2017 by zjb

Has Meir Kahane captured the mainstream, the heart and soul, of Religious Zionism? Back in the day, an expression such as this would have come from the outside fringe, not from the inside represented here by a member of a … Continue reading →

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