Monthly Archives: July 2018

Incoherent Rabbinic Political Theory (Jacob Neusner)

Posted on July 31, 2018 by zjb

A brilliant hot mess of illuminating brilliance, Jacob Neusner’s Rabbinic Political Theory: Religion and Politics in the Mishnah is a must read for readers of Jewish philosophy interested in politics, even as it will inevitably disappoint anyone actually interested in … Continue reading →

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Toilet Flapper

Posted on July 30, 2018 by zjb

This is a “toilet flapper.” It is the name for a real thing. Like any name, it can be used in sentences.  “I had to purchase a new toilet flapper.” I went to the hardware store to purchase a universal … Continue reading →

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Placing Memory (Gal Cohen & Zac Hacmon)

Posted on July 30, 2018 by zjb

Some photos of paintings by Gal Cohen and sculpture by Zac Hacmon from their recent and thoughtful two-person show downtown on the Lower East, Placing Memory. With Hadera, Israel as their critical touchstone, the paintings explore the evisceration of the … Continue reading →

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Posthuman (Michal Rovner) Evolution

Posted on July 26, 2018 by zjb

Michal Rover’s latest show at Pace, Evolution, is hardcore posthuman. Viewed from the chilly distance of a desert, the human is seen reproduced and submerged in a collective mass of de-realized figures on the move going nowhere, submerged in technology, across … Continue reading →

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(Synthesis of Intuitions) Philosophy Art Race Religion (Adrian Piper)

Posted on July 25, 2018 by zjb

A series of black and white photographs, Food for the Spirit (1971) documents the artist and philosopher Adrian Piper, holed up and isolated at home, having thrown herself one summer into a close reading of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.  … Continue reading →

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The Jewish Republic of Israel (Ethno-Nation State Law)

Posted on July 19, 2018 by zjb

Everyone knows that Israel is the Jewish State. About that there was no serious doubt if by Jewish state one means a country with a Jewish majority culture. But is it a democracy? Is it now, formally, a racist, ethno-national … Continue reading →

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Planet Satmar (Long Walk Through Williamsburg)

Posted on July 18, 2018 by zjb

I had time to kill the other week down by E. 23rd Street on the East River and decided to check out Williamsburg. I’ve never been, except for a quick drive through once. I got back on the FDR heading … Continue reading →

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Law Not Law (The Cambridge Companion to Judaism and Law)

Posted on July 17, 2018 by zjb

For a long time I have thought that “Law” is something of a thorn in the side of Jewish thought and philosophy, associated as it is with all sorts of wild, even violent claims by those invested in its discourse … Continue reading →

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Putin & Trump (An Intimate Relationship and Gay Jokes)

Posted on July 16, 2018 by zjb

I originally reposted what I had immediately thought was a funny Jewish insider joke I saw on Twitter about Putin and Trump, a modest chuppah and yihud. I was pushed back by friend and colleague Martin Kavka about the homophobic … Continue reading →

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Virtual Judaism of the Mishnah (Jacob Neusner & Gilles Deleuze)

Posted on July 13, 2018 by zjb

Reading Neusner’s classic Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishnah at long last and past midcareer. I am unsure if earlier I would have ever appreciated the book enough or at all or I would have been able to conceive the … Continue reading →

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