Monthly Archives: October 2020

Trump is an “Anti-Semite” (Says Jean-Paul Sartre)

Posted on October 29, 2020 by zjb

Sartre’s portrait of the anti-Semite as a reactionary type throws a lot of light on Trump, and Trumpism related to social and political contradictions inherent in the liberal-democratic state. The key distinction (problematic but not entirely so) is what you … Continue reading →

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(Force of Separation) Trump & Orthodox Judaism (Religion, Death, Chaos)

Posted on October 26, 2020 by zjb

  The conventional wisdom is that what draws religious voters to conservative politics is the appeal of order and structure. The more observant, the more devout the stronger this appeal. We know that 83% of orthodox Jews are supporting Trump, … Continue reading →

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Haredim & State

Posted on October 23, 2020 by zjb

The Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on Haredi society and the impact of Haredi society on the State in Israel are highlighting the strong core point of liberal political theory and liberal religion in relation to matters concerning the distinction … Continue reading →

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(סמא דמותא) Death-Torah (Coronavirus)

Posted on October 20, 2020 by zjb

  As a rule, religious tradents associate kedushah (holiness) with life and images of life like light, water, and fruit. But with what kind of life? Life in this world or life in the world to come? In truth, religion … Continue reading →

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(HAZMAT) Haredi Jewish Studies (Coronavirus)

Posted on October 18, 2020 by zjb

  In the opening months of the viral pandemic, there were posts at sites like the blog run by the Katz Center for Jewish History relating to setting the pandemic in historical and philosophical context. There has been lively back … Continue reading →

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Something About a Gnat (According to the Talmud)

Posted on October 9, 2020 by zjb

Gittin 56b h/t Jonathan L. M.@TheLordGave

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Liberal Hot Takes re: Haredi Response to Coronavirus

Posted on October 8, 2020 by zjb

Asked by a colleague in Religious Studies about the spike of infection rates of coronavirus among Haredi Jews in the fall and around the High Holiday season, and about Haredi response to and backlash re: attempts by government authority to … Continue reading →

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(Backlash) Haredi Street Demonstrations (Coronavirus)

Posted on October 7, 2020 by zjb

  What matters more than what and to whom, now well past the pat nod to the putative cardinal value of saving lives in Judaism, (pikuach nefesh)? Registering and trying to bracket my own personal disgust (about which I will … Continue reading →

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(Coronavirus) Trump (Dialectic of Counter-Enlightenment)

Posted on October 6, 2020 by zjb

Look at the President of the United States, obviously sick and jacked up on antibiotics and steroids. “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.” The more they tell you not to be afraid of the pandemic, the … Continue reading →

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(Haredi) Religion & State in Israel (Coronavirus)

Posted on October 1, 2020 by zjb

  What is especially fine about the analysis here are the distinctions drawn between [1] first wave (spring 2020) and second wave rates and patterns of infection, [2] Hasidic and non-Hasidic (Litvak) and Sephardic Haredi communities, [3] demographic circumstance (large … Continue reading →

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