Monthly Archives: May 2020

(Anthropology of Judaism) Lag Ba’Omer

Posted on May 12, 2020 by zjb

Touching upon the history and anthropology of Jewish religion, as well as concluding methodological reflections. With many thanks to Joshua Schwartz and Shari Rabin, respectively, for the kindness of sharing their expertise and these two scholarly references re: the pilgrimage … Continue reading →

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(Dys-Functionalist Theory of Religion) Lag Ba’Omer Coronavirus (Dying for God)

Posted on May 11, 2020 by zjb

Going back to Durkheim, sociologists of religion who assume a functionalist interpretation of religion look to religion and ritual as something that brings and holds a society together, regenerates it. A dys-functionalist approach to the study of religion and ritual … Continue reading →

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(The Bund) The Ebbs and Flows of a Jewish Radical Party (Joshua Meyers)

Posted on May 11, 2020 by zjb

Here they are meeting in Warsaw in 1927. The Bund is a subject of intense nostalgia across much of the anti-Zionist Jewish left today, but who knows what about it? Among full-time Yiddishists, as much as you see their own … Continue reading →

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Care for a Corpse (Gemilut Chasadim) Flowers (Cornovirus)

Posted on May 10, 2020 by zjb

Readers of ethics and Jewish ethics, in particular, should recognize in the remarkable story about this woman and this powerful act of caring for a corpse one of the greatest acts of kindness marked in rabbinic sources that one person … Continue reading →

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Glossary of Terms Being & Time

Posted on May 6, 2020 by zjb

For later reference and for convenience, here is a glossary of key concepts with page references in Being & Time

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Planet Earth & Replicants (The View From Solaris)

Posted on May 5, 2020 by zjb

The plot of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) is basic enough. Sometime in the near future, Soviet psychologist Kris Kelvin goes to investigate goings on at the space station orbiting the planet Solaris. A massive churning sea with a mind of … Continue reading →

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Coronavirus and the Ontological Garden Path in Religious Studies (Robert Orsi & Shaul Magid)

Posted on May 4, 2020 by zjb

What do we say about empirically false claims that religious faith and practice will protect people from all kinds of ills in this world? For instance the Christian woman who will go to Church, secure in being washed in the … Continue reading →

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Crematorium in Brooklyn (Death = Social)

Posted on May 1, 2020 by zjb

About burning bodies in Brooklyn, they say here that they’re running at full capacity. On a recent week, the crematory at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn handled about 130 cases — more than double its typical load. Richard Moylan, the cemetery’s … Continue reading →

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