Monthly Archives: April 2021

Haredi Response to Har Meron (Chaim Kanievsky)

Posted on April 30, 2021 by zjb

I’m posting this statement that was issued in the name of Harav Chaim Kanievsky responding to the Lag Ba’Omer disaster at Mt. Meron in Israel. Some forty-five people were killed at a stampede at a religious pilgrimage site, a mass … Continue reading →

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Creation/Contemplation of the Virtual World (Genesis Rabbah)

Posted on April 27, 2021 by zjb

Reading in seminar with Syracuse undergrad students Naama Erez, Sam Gelfand, Giulia Kean from Genesis Rabbah 1:4. According to the rabbis here, the Torah and Throne of Glory were created before the creation of the physical world, and the contemplation … Continue reading →

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Anti-Black & White in Jewish Texts (Abraham Melamed)

Posted on April 15, 2021 by zjb

Abraham Melamed’s The Image of the Black in Judaism was first published in Hebrew in 2002 and then translated into English in 2003. While the title does little to recommend itself and the theoretical apparatus is dated, the data are … Continue reading →

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His Head, His legs, Your legs, Your head (Rashi Song of Songs)

Posted on April 9, 2021 by zjb

Commenting on Song of Songs (7:2), this is a most refined physicality and supple anthropomorphism brought by Rashi to the close drawing together between God and Israel. His head, his legs, your legs, your head. Again it’s the case, with … Continue reading →

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(Rashi Song of Songs) Israel is the Mother of God and Sister of Angels

Posted on April 5, 2021 by zjb

Unlike the terse commentaries to Torah and Talmud, the commentary by Rashi to the Song of Songs is effusive and full-throated. Not a miscellany, it sustains its own independent theme running alongside the biblical love poem. A precis of  Rashi’s … Continue reading →

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Trans-Torah (Dubbs Weinblatt)

Posted on April 1, 2021 by zjb

In this short-form reflection by Dubbs Weinblatt on Torah and Trans Jewishness, an emerging sense of awareness is brought to bear vis-a-vis an ancient text-tradition, one that has done so much harm to LGBT Jews and continues to challenge. What’s … Continue reading →

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