Monthly Archives: December 2020

(Jewish Law) The Tikvah Fund = The Conservative U.S. Group Trying to Transform Israel’s Justice System

Posted on December 27, 2020 by zjb

  This post is something by way of an epilogue. Back in the day, the Tikvah Fund and the people running its various organs and sister institutions in the United States (academic programs at Princeton and NYU, the Jewish Review … Continue reading →

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Shekhina (2nd Temple & Rabbinic Sources)

Posted on December 23, 2020 by zjb

On God/Shekinah in Targumim, 2nd Temple Period, and rabbinic sources, see this exhaustive entry by Kaufman Kohler and Ludwig Blau in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia available online here. “The term,” they explain, “was used by the Rabbis in place of … Continue reading →

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The Ultimate “Hasmoneans & Hanukah” 2020 Twitter Thread

Posted on December 18, 2020 by zjb

  Reminding us again that the rabbis, who detested the Hasmoneans, were only one group of players in antique and late antique Judaism: the Hanukah memorialization of the Maccabean revolt is not simply a reactionary reflex of Jewish modernity and … Continue reading →

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(Jews Love Hanukah) Sensible Excess (Maimonides)

Posted on December 14, 2020 by zjb

Jews love Hanukah, but not because of the story. The story itself has 2 sides. The one relates to Jews and Syrian-Greeks (and between Jews and Jews) (or Judeans if you prefer). The other relates to God and the Hanukah … Continue reading →

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(Jewish Social Studies) Epidemics & Other Disasters: Views from Jewish Studies (Coronavirus)

Posted on December 10, 2020 by zjb

Additional Information Historiographical scholarship tracking the responses, including theological, of a small people caught up in the swell of impacted global crises, here being primarily plagues and pandemics. As editors Elissa Bemporad,  Julia Phillips Cohen, and  Ari Y. Kelman suggest, … Continue reading →

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(The IHRA Working Definition of Anti-Semitism) Does Not Suppress Free Speech or Palestine

Posted on December 5, 2020 by zjb

  As worded, the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism (which you can find here) does not do what people say it does or want it to do. It does not suppress free speech and the struggle for Palestinian rights, as … Continue reading →

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(Chabad Redesign) 770

Posted on December 4, 2020 by zjb

  “New preliminary design renderings from S. Wieder Architect reveal an expansion of the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Located at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the religious complex spans almost one acre and will include a synagogue, … Continue reading →

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(Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism) + (Zionism = Racism)

Posted on December 2, 2020 by zjb

“Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism” and “Zionism = Racism” are twins. They illuminate each other, the way figures and forms overlap into each other. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitic. They are two separate formations. Anti-Zionism might, however, be construed as “anti-Jewish,” without being … Continue reading →

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Judean Pillar Figurines (Probably not a Goddess)

Posted on December 1, 2020 by zjb

Excellent article here at Haaretz about Judean Pillar Figurines, thousands of which have been dug up in Jerusalem and its surroundings from the First Temple Period. The author makes reference to scholarship and speculation by Carol Meyers and Erin Darby … Continue reading →

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