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

Massive Melancholy Cows & Champion Duck (New York State Fair 2018)

Posted on September 1, 2018 by zjb
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Hunger Art (Chaim Soutine)

Posted on August 22, 2018 by zjb

“Still Life with Herring” sounds like a Jewish spoof on the French fine art tradition. From the same milieu of Russian Jews in Paris, Chaim Soutine is the anti-Chagall. There is nothing dreamy about his work. There is no lift … Continue reading →

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The New New Jewish Left

Posted on August 17, 2018 by zjb

You can read here an interesting article on the New New Jewish Left that will be familiar to those of us who grew up in or close to the New Jewish Left in the late 1960s. The author of the … Continue reading →

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Isaac Nahman Steinberg’s My Socialist Ani Maamin “Mayne Socialistisher Ani Ma’amin.”

Posted on August 16, 2018 by zjb
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(Job) Assistant Professor Contemporary Judaism (Syracuse)

Posted on August 15, 2018 by zjb

Assistant Professor- Contemporary Judaism Institution: Syracuse University Location: Syracuse, NY Category: Faculty – Liberal Arts – Religious Studies and Theology Posted: 08/14/2018 Application Due: Open Until Filled Type: Full Time Job #: 074022 Location: Syracuse, NY Pay Range: Commensurate with experience FLSA Status: Exempt … Continue reading →

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American Jewish Social-Racial Contract (Letter From The Jews of Rhode Island to George Washington) Not About Religious Tolerance

Posted on August 15, 2018 by zjb

What kind of people were the Sephardic Jews of colonial Rhode Island and the first decades of the American Republic? And what kind of social contract was it that they enacted in the famous exchange of letters with George Washington … Continue reading →

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Colonial & Antebellum Architecture and Historical Memory (Slavery in Newport, Rhode Island)

Posted on August 13, 2018 by zjb

At its height, some 60% of the American slave trade went out of Newport, Rhode Island, underscoring the argument that American freedom and American slavery are deeply imbricated.  In New York City, it is easy to forget and not to … Continue reading →

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Wild Precarious Life (Cecilia Vicuña)

Posted on August 1, 2018 by zjb

This recent show of paintings, sculptural works, and installation by Cecilia Vicuña conjures together feminist cosmologies of raw and dyed wooliness, wild animal figures, and the drift of precarious forms. The painted figures are seers. Protective, they represent resistant political forces of … Continue reading →

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Incoherent Rabbinic Political Theory (Jacob Neusner)

Posted on July 31, 2018 by zjb

A brilliant hot mess of illuminating brilliance, Jacob Neusner’s Rabbinic Political Theory: Religion and Politics in the Mishnah is a must read for readers of Jewish philosophy interested in politics, even as it will inevitably disappoint anyone actually interested in … Continue reading →

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Toilet Flapper

Posted on July 30, 2018 by zjb

This is a “toilet flapper.” It is the name for a real thing. Like any name, it can be used in sentences.  “I had to purchase a new toilet flapper.” I went to the hardware store to purchase a universal … Continue reading →

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