Tag Archives: God

Sefat Emet (A Rough Digest)

Posted on December 17, 2021 by zjb

About God, this blogpost tracking Hasidic thought in the commentary to the Torah, the Sefas Emes (Sefat Emet) (english: Language of Truth) is going to be a running project that I will update and complete, volume by volume, more or … Continue reading →

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Religion = Spiritual Beings

Posted on September 1, 2021 by zjb

Teaching Theories and Methods again, the classics.. “Belief” is not quite the right word and not what he actually meant. I’ve lost all patience with beating around the bush as to what people mean by “religion” and “religious.” In social-historical-political … Continue reading →

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Creative Evolution Supra Consciousness (Henri Bergson)

Posted on August 30, 2021 by zjb

Bergson’s philosophical method in Creative Evolution is primarily contemplative and visual: recognize reality as a flux of matter and mind, and dissolve back into it by following the course of its creative evolution (pp.191-2). The world picture is art nouveau: … Continue reading →

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Anthropomorphism (Arthur Marmorstein & The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God)

Posted on August 6, 2021 by zjb

Reading up about God and rabbinic theology, I found this reference by Yair Lorberbaum in to the Hungarian born and forgotten Arthur Marmorstein (1882–1946), author of the two volume The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God. I: The Names and Attributes … Continue reading →

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You Saw An Image (Surrealist God)

Posted on July 29, 2021 by zjb

The Bahir plays with that biblical icon of the modern iconoclastic tradition that is sometimes translated into English as “you saw no manner of image” (kal-temunah) (Deut. 4:15). The Bahir says, “You saw an image, not an entire image” (temunah … Continue reading →

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(Rashi) Anti-theodicy (Tisha B’Av)

Posted on July 19, 2021 by zjb

The through-line in Rashi’s commentary to Lamenations is that, yes, the people sin, but that God is responsible for the calamity, for what we today call anti-Semitism, for the human inclination to sin, for setting up a barrier between God … Continue reading →

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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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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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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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