Author Archives: zjb

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu

(Zombies) Animated Jewish Philosophers

Posted on February 28, 2021 by zjb

Animated Moses Maimonides. pic.twitter.com/78oAQcskLz — Dov (@drnelk) February 28, 2021 The Socrates of Berlin, Moses Mendelssohn pic.twitter.com/2chJwtjwfS — Dov (@drnelk) February 28, 2021   I wonder if something not similarly ghostly, ghastly, machinic is at work in the tricks played … Continue reading →

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(Israel) Purim Train (1949)

Posted on February 25, 2021 by zjb

  A train decorated with flags. A large crowd is gathered on a train station platform, including many children and youths. A sign in Hebrew reads: Purim Train. Children enter the train. The Chief Rabbi of Haifa Yehoshua Kaniel speaks. … Continue reading →

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(The Capitol Building) So Much American Civil Religion & The Problem of Evil

Posted on February 24, 2021 by zjb

There before or very eyes, for most of us on television or online, was the reappearance of American Civil Religion. It was there in the wake churned at the Trump Insurrection at the Capitol, the inauguration of President Biden, and … Continue reading →

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Video From Mars

Posted on February 19, 2021 by zjb
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Rush Limbaugh at Yeshiva Bubble

Posted on February 18, 2021 by zjb

  Explaining the confluence between Haredi Jewish society and Trumpism, this piece here in Mishpacha indicates that in the tightly enclosed bubble of the Haredi yeshivot and culture, with limited access to secular newspapers, at least for this author and … Continue reading →

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Teaching the Holocaust (Jewish Difference)

Posted on February 9, 2021 by zjb

First day teaching Shoah: Responding to the Holocaust. The last time I taught this class was in 2018. This year, a very diverse group of students., not just Jewish, not just White. The students were unclear about wanted to talk … Continue reading →

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(Un/Civil Religion) The U.S. Capitol Is An Animal Being

Posted on February 5, 2021 by zjb

I’m probably imagining it, but since the January 6 insurrection when I look at still photos of the building, the material object that is the Capitol looks to me like a living creature, like some kind of animated object, an … Continue reading →

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(Jacob Lawrence) Black Americans & the American Revolution (Struggle)

Posted on February 4, 2021 by zjb

  This richly illustrated article here by Rachel Himes at Jacobin about Struggle: From the History of the American People, the 1954-1956 series of 30 panels by Jacob Lawrence illuminating the place of Black Americans in the American Revolution. The … Continue reading →

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(Rich Crimson Purple) The Color of Power in the Bible (אַרְגָּמָן)

Posted on February 1, 2021 by zjb

The Hebrew Bible is full of vital color, no more prominently than in the description of the Mishkan, or Tabernacle dwelling, in the book of Exodus.  Some of that color might look like these textile remains described here at Haaretz. … Continue reading →

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Uncivil Religion (Haredi) (Coronavirus)

Posted on January 31, 2021 by zjb

  Saving life, or pikuach nefesh, has nothing to with it. “Uncivil Religion,” in contrast to Civil Religion, is religion set apart from and, under crisis, against civil society and the larger social good against which it seeks to protect … Continue reading →

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