Tag Archives: Maimonides

Anti-Black & White in Jewish Texts (Abraham Melamed)

Posted on April 15, 2021 by zjb

Abraham Melamed’s The Image of the Black in Judaism was first published in Hebrew in 2002 and then translated into English in 2003. While the title does little to recommend itself and the theoretical apparatus is dated, the data are … Continue reading →

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(Jews Love Hanukah) Sensible Excess (Maimonides)

Posted on December 14, 2020 by zjb

Jews love Hanukah, but not because of the story. The story itself has 2 sides. The one relates to Jews and Syrian-Greeks (and between Jews and Jews) (or Judeans if you prefer). The other relates to God and the Hanukah … Continue reading →

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Rational Religion and Aesthetic Philosophy (Maimonides)

Posted on September 10, 2020 by zjb

Was it a gentle, gnostic melancholy? A critical theorist and colleague friend who I am positive is “definitely not religious” makes an offhand comment in the early months of the pandemic about “the cruelty of nature.” The anthropomorphism caught my … Continue reading →

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Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch on Philosophy of Halakhah

Posted on June 8, 2020 by zjb

Liberal Orthodoxy —Alan Brill on Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch on the Philosophy of Halakhah, ethics, Maimonides, religious pluralism, religion and state with references to and links to primary sources.

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Foucault & Maimonides (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 24, 2020 by zjb

The Coronovirus pandemic keeps bringing me back as a go-to to Foucault (always under the influence of colleague and friend Gail Hamner) and to Maimonides (at the suggestion of colleague and friend Bill Plevan who recommended reading Hilkhot Deot). Foucault … Continue reading →

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(Knowledge/Power) Maimonides (Art of Reason)  

Posted on April 20, 2020 by zjb

Maimonidean reason has in common with Foucault a basic correlation between knowledge and power. It pops up in the introduction to Commentary on the Mishnah. Wisdom adds to the inner power of a person which is the actualization of human … Continue reading →

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(Maimonides) Talmud Torah (Mean As Spit)

Posted on April 2, 2020 by zjb

Curious about the initial reluctance among Haredi authorities to shut down the yeshivot in response to the coronavirus, I went to take another look at the Hilkhot Talmud Torah in the Mishneh Torah. My thoughts about the Haredi response were … Continue reading →

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(Maimonides) The Difference Between Religious & Secular Is The Difference Between Heaven & Earth (Mishneh Torah)

Posted on March 31, 2020 by zjb

By way of a little contribution via Maimonides to academic arguments about the existence or non-existence of “religion” and “the secular.” The argument is that the two terms along with the judgment that posits either the difference or separation between … Continue reading →

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(Maimonides Says) Cultivate the Middle Way (Hilkhot Deot) (Coronavirus)

Posted on March 29, 2020 by zjb

At the time of a global health pandemic, where better to turn than to the Great Eagle? Hilkhot Deot is a moral-medical compendium, famous for its elaboration upon the Aristotelean mean. But that’s not the half of it. The larger … Continue reading →

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Teshuva Love-Sick (Maimonides)

Posted on October 7, 2019 by zjb

Proving something about the sensual, even arabesque, core at the heart of Maimonidean rationalism by way of proving R. Akiva’s dictum that the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies is some over the top love-sick camp from Maimonides … Continue reading →

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