Monthly Archives: October 2020

(סמא דמותא) Death-Torah (Coronavirus)

Posted on October 20, 2020 by

  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

  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

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

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

  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

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

  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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