Author Archives: zjb

From 1905, the Hero with the Wing is satire for our time. Now at the Jewish Museum in New York, he is resolute, set to fly, but unable to do so. Bad things are about to happen.

“I cannot be grasped in the here and now. For my dwelling place is as much among the dead as the yet unborn. Slightly closer to the hear of creation than usual. But not nearly close enough” –Paul Klee, catalogue … Continue reading →

[I found these words at Panarchy by David Ben-Gurion about Palestine, and wanted to share them at this particular moment in the history of Israel and Palestine. In their own way, they are today utterly strange. From a long time … Continue reading →

TORAH PHARMAKON: DRUG OF LIFE/DRUG OF DEATH YOMA 72b אִלְמָלֵא בִּגְדֵי כְהוּנָּה, לֹא נִשְׁתַּיֵּיר מִשּׂוֹנְאֵיהֶן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל שָׂרִיד וּפָלִיט. He offers a homiletic interpretation: Were it not for the priestly vestments, which provide atonement for the Jewish people, there would … Continue reading →

Nicholas Kristof’s recent, incendiary op-ed about mass rape committed against Palestinians is now a confusing case in point about the political and moral morass that is Israel under Netanyahu after October 7. There is, in fact, reliable reporting about the … Continue reading →

Religion is the beating heart of the rot in Israel today, but Netanyahu and Israeli society are ultimately responsible for activating and tolerating this dangerous mutation in Judaism

Ihab Hassan @IhabHassane: Israeli settlers exhumed the body of Hussein Mahmoud Asasa, an 80-year-old Palestinian man, and dug up his grave because it was near an illegal settlement — most likely built on land stolen from him and his family … Continue reading →