Monthly Archives: October 2019

Peoplehood & Power (Hertz Commentary to Numbers)

Posted on October 27, 2019 by zjb

Way behind blogging the 1936 iconic Hertz commentary, here is my quick distillation of key points of interest in the Hertz commentary to the book of Numbers, which is largely uninteresting. I don’t know if this distillation is unique to … Continue reading →

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Socialist Wordmills (Henri Lefebvre)

Posted on October 25, 2019 by zjb

This from French Marxist Henri Lefebvre, a philosopher and theorist of social space from the 1970s, caught my eye, thinking about Democratic Socialism in America and left-progressive politics, bunched up as they are along the coasts in special enclaves, and … Continue reading →

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(Antique Foodways) Idle Talk (Ecclesiastes Rabbah)

Posted on October 20, 2019 by zjb

“All things toil to weariness, [a person] cannot utter it” (Eccles. 1;8). Idle talk wearies [a person]: “The partridge today is pickled with garlic.” The side of the [animal] is like lead.””Cut thin slices.” “Roasted with mustard.” “Portions which deserve … Continue reading →

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Quarrel Between Ancients and Moderns (Strauss and Fellini)

Posted on October 15, 2019 by zjb

If I were writing a book about Leo Strauss, I’d use this movie still from Satyricon as a cover image to get at the quarrel or non-quarrel between the ancient and moderns. But for all intents and purposes, Fellini did … Continue reading →

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(Social Space) Sukkot (Henri Lefebvre)

Posted on October 13, 2019 by zjb

“If indeed every society produces a space, its own space, this will have other consequences…Any ‘social existence’ aspiring or claiming to be ‘real’, but failing to produce its own space, would be a strange entity, a peculiar kind of abstraction … Continue reading →

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(Lachrymose) Yom Kippur (Target)

Posted on October 10, 2019 by zjb
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(Rabbi Akiva) Gemar Tov (Clean Water)

Posted on October 8, 2019 by zjb

Rabbi Akiva said: Happy are you, Israel! Who is it before whom you become pure? And who is it that purifies you? Your Father who is in heaven, as it is said: “And I will sprinkle clean water upon you … Continue reading →

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Teshuva Love-Sick (Maimonides)

Posted on October 7, 2019 by zjb

Proving something about the sensual, even arabesque, core at the heart of Maimonidean rationalism by way of proving R. Akiva’s dictum that the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies is some over the top love-sick camp from Maimonides … Continue reading →

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