Author Archives: zjb

3:1 לַכֹּל זְמָן. אַל יִשְׂמַח הָאוֹסֵף בְּהוֹן מֵהֶבֶל, כִּי אִם עַכְשָׁיו הוּא בְיָדוֹ, עוֹד יִירָשׁוּהוּ צַדִּיקִים, אֶלָּא שֶׁעֲדַיִן לֹא הִגִּיעַ הַזְּמַן, כִּי לְכָל־דָּבָר יֵשׁ זְמַן קָבוּעַ מָתַי יִהְיֶה: For everything there is a season. Let not one who accumulates possessions … Continue reading →

IN THE IMAGE: VIRITUAL RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHICAL TALMUD Zachary Bratermanm Chapter Digest Fall 2026 promotional code  UF2630 at https://iupress.org/9780253076366/in-the-image/ For Elliot EPIGRAPH Aspaklaria (mirror, speculum)—this is the covering that is made in order to see behind it. To me, it … Continue reading →

IN THE IMAGE: VIRTUAL RELIGION AND PHILOSPHIUCAL TALMUD Zachary Braiterman Fall 2026 promotional code:  UF2630 at https://iupress.org/9780253076366/in-the-image/ Explainer: In the Image is a contemporary Jewish philosophy of cinema and bodies, place and space and god, icons and nature and social … Continue reading →

There was a huge crowd of people at Congregation Ansche Chesed for Yom Kippur in the deep well of the synagogue and its liturgical sound. Each person was an ocean, full with their own thought, singular and together. So I … Continue reading →

The world is riddled by death and destruction, the terrible divine decrees, violence and suffering, and full of lies; all of us are responsible and guilty, all of us without exception, myself especially. From the virtual place and power of … Continue reading →

Modern Almohads deface an icon with a symbol in Cordoba, Spain. You can read about this assault on Jewish cultural memory and image of human dignity here. According to Ynet, “The monument was created in 1964 by Spanish sculptor Amadeo … Continue reading →

How to Talk to a Cat: Buber, Philosophy, and Dialogue with Unspeaking Things (Prepared by and with permission of the author and Indiana University Press) PROMO code below CONTENTS Introduction: Dialogue and the Maintenance of Domestic Bubbles  1. Homes: Domesticity … Continue reading →

Walter Benjamin made the New Angel into an intellectual icon. The Angel Applicant by Paul Klee from 1939 is a different creature with nothing messianic about him. His eyes are downcast and blackened, looking at nothing past his own misery … Continue reading →

TOC + TRANSLATION Netzaḥ Yisrael (1588/1589) by the Maharal of Prague Themed for the fast day of Tisha b’Av is themed on place and time, the world of non-existence, the exile of Israel, and the coming of the Messiah, The … Continue reading →