Tag Archives: Judaism

(Judgment) Rosh Hashanah (Mercy)

Posted on September 26, 2025 by zjb

Here is one way to juxta-position what is the combination of judgment, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the canny confidence with which Jewish tradition meets the new year. The relation is not one thing next to … Continue reading →

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Facts, Law, and Judaism (World Union of Jewish Studies)

Posted on August 5, 2025 by zjb

At a special panel at the World Union of Jewish Studies Congress taking place at the Hebrew University, colleagues, mostly Israeli, came to discuss facts, law, and Judaism. At the podium and from the floor, colleagues spoke to testimony, international … Continue reading →

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(Maharal of Prague) Hanukah and Night (Ner Mitzvah)

Posted on December 30, 2024 by zjb

Night consumes the entire visual ambience of the Ner Mitzvah, a short text on the holiday of Hanukah, the festival of lights, by the Maharal of Prague. Volume I constitutes a long and vivid excursus on Daniel, visions of the … Continue reading →

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Botanical Judaism (Sukkot)

Posted on October 20, 2024 by zjb

This Sukkot may we all merit to botanical devotion. [Woodcuts from Sefer Minhagim, Amsterdam, 1708] —Yosef Rosen @Yossele

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(Torah Trumps Life) Haredi Response to Covid and Uncivil Religion

Posted on July 28, 2023 by zjb

I wrote this essay, “Torah Trumps Life,” trying to get a handle on the catastrophic Haredi response to Covid during year-one of the pandemic. It is my contrubution to this special issue on Jewish Thiought in Times of Crisis, edited … Continue reading →

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(Orthodox Religion) Bellicose and Narrow (Michael Wyschogrod)

Posted on May 21, 2023 by zjb

Modern Orthodox Judaism has wrestled with the tension between halakhic norms and human-moral conscience since the late 196os. I have posted already about Aharon Lichtenstein and Gerald Blidstein. Apropos to this year’s ugly national-religious flag march last week in the … Continue reading →

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(Bezalel Smotrich) American Jewish Mainstream Boycotts Religious Zionism

Posted on March 2, 2023 by zjb

If anyone was wondering about the power of taboo, it’s becoming clear that every society and every community is defined by red lines. Far right religious racist and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich is coming to the United States to meet … Continue reading →

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(Judaism) Religious Zionism at the Abyss (Huwara)

Posted on February 26, 2023 by zjb

After two young men were murdered by terrorists in the occupied West Bank, some 400 religious settler nationalists go on a rampage in the Palestinian town of Huwara, killing one, wounding many others, killing livestock, burning down homes. and private … Continue reading →

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(Religious Woman) Non-Normative (Western Wall Protest)

Posted on February 15, 2023 by zjb

There was a leak in the press about a proposal by members of the ultra-orthodox Shas party to fine and imprison women at the Western Wall who show up in “immodest” dress or who seek to pray in ways that … Continue reading →

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(Judaism) Religion & Violence (Israel)

Posted on February 14, 2023 by zjb

Backed up by the power of the state which it now controls, religon is a unique source of violence. Religious Zionism and Jewish Power are the ones demanding unbridled settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and unbridled destruction of … Continue reading →

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