Monthly Archives: September 2017

September 29, 2017, Erev Yom Kippur Al-Auja – David Shulman

“when jews were jews” or “if not higher” –a Yom Kippur-Under-Occupation essay by David Shulman, photos by Margaret Olin, and a cameo appearance by Arik Ascherman

Posted in uncategorized | Leave a comment

על חטא שחטאנוּ (Donald Trump’s Mouth)

Reposting this one ahead of the fast: Trump’s mouth, same sin, new year, the only difference being that, now, this year Trump is president. An easy fast to all who are fasting.

Posted in uncategorized | Leave a comment

Judaism & The Fetish: A Quick Note on Marx and the (Religious) Imagination

Marx was a bitter cuss, the odd positioning of whom in relation to religion from a Religious Studies perspective relates to the binary disambiguation in his thinking between what’s genuinely real and what’s not, namely mental projections and ideological phrasings. … Continue reading

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Blue Sky and Clouds Between Trees

It was like the trees on either side of the walk cracked open to reveal bright some blue sky and sharp white cloud in some inverted tzimtzum.

Posted in uncategorized | 1 Comment

Not So Awesome Days of Awe This Year

Rituals, we know from the study of religion, are supposed to encapsulate a perfect order completely unlike the messiness of lived, daily life. In the ritual space, everything is supposed to go right. This is what marks the disjunctive quality, … Continue reading

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

גמר חתימה טובה

Posted in uncategorized | 1 Comment

After This Year & Its Curses (Shanah Tovah)

Posted in uncategorized | Leave a comment

(Decision Plan) Tikvah Fund & Ethnic Cleansing in Israel

Jewish Studies colleagues along with readers of Tablet Magazine online and the Jewish Review of Books should find of interest this piece by here by JJ Goldberg. The article is about a recent rightwing plan, promoted by one Bezalel Smotrich, … Continue reading

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Kitsch and the American Jewish Novel

Last spring after a reading I had the opportunity to ask an important American Jewish writer about kitsch and the American Jewish writer, to which I received an inadequate response complemented later by an icy look-through-you as we passed each … Continue reading

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Conservative Christian Feminist & the KKK (Mollie Alma White)

Touching on American religious history and sociology of Christianity, feminism and racism, worth a look is this article by Sharon Otterman in the NYT Metropolitan section (Sunday). It’s about Zaraphath Christian Church, described as the flagship congregation of the Pillar … Continue reading

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments