Tag Archives: talmud-midrash

Rush Limbaugh at Yeshiva Bubble

Posted on February 18, 2021 by zjb

  Explaining the confluence between Haredi Jewish society and Trumpism, this piece here in Mishpacha indicates that in the tightly enclosed bubble of the Haredi yeshivot and culture, with limited access to secular newspapers, at least for this author and … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Uncivil Religion (Haredi) (Coronavirus)

Posted on January 31, 2021 by zjb

  Saving life, or pikuach nefesh, has nothing to with it. “Uncivil Religion,” in contrast to Civil Religion, is religion set apart from and, under crisis, against civil society and the larger social good against which it seeks to protect … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Shekhina (2nd Temple & Rabbinic Sources)

Posted on December 23, 2020 by zjb

On God/Shekinah in Targumim, 2nd Temple Period, and rabbinic sources, see this exhaustive entry by Kaufman Kohler and Ludwig Blau in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia available online here. “The term,” they explain, “was used by the Rabbis in place of … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

(סמא דמותא) Death-Torah (Coronavirus)

Posted on October 20, 2020 by zjb

  As a rule, religious tradents associate kedushah (holiness) with life and images of life like light, water, and fruit. But with what kind of life? Life in this world or life in the world to come? In truth, religion … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

(Things) Mishnah Shabbat is Beautiful

Posted on September 15, 2020 by zjb

    cedar bast [lekhesh], uncombed flax [ḥosen], raw silk [kalakh], willow bast [petilat ha’idan], desert weed [petilat hamidbar], nor green mosspitch [zefet], wax [sha’ava], castor oil [shemen kik], burnt oil [shemen sereifa], fat from a sheep’s tail [alya], tallow … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

(Without Justice And Without A Judge) Tulsa (לית דין ולית דיין)

Posted on June 19, 2020 by zjb

לית דין ולית דיין The accounts here of gruesome death from the race-massacre in Tulsa bring to mind the words of the arch heretic in midrash and Talmud, Elisha ben Abuye, reflecting in response to Roman rule; the world is … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Care for a Corpse (Gemilut Chasadim) Flowers (Cornovirus)

Posted on May 10, 2020 by zjb

Readers of ethics and Jewish ethics, in particular, should recognize in the remarkable story about this woman and this powerful act of caring for a corpse one of the greatest acts of kindness marked in rabbinic sources that one person … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

(Art & Artifice of Religion) Lishna de-Rabbanan (Aharon Lichtenstein)

Posted on April 26, 2020 by zjb

  Yitz Landes posted here at Twitter this translation of a bit from Aharon Lichtenstein touching upon [1] art, artifice, and artificiality of the type of literary style in (Jewish) religion intentionally removed from lived social contexts and cultural surroundings, … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

(Talmud & Art) Cats at Seder Behold I Bite the Mouse (Illuminated Haggadah)

Posted on April 14, 2020 by zjb

Pesach is almost done with this year but I wanted to share with my Talmud, art, and animal friends this charming little post from the amazing blogsite here at the Bodleian. These medieval illuminated images from the Haggadah are the … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

(Foucault) Inside (Mishkan)

Posted on March 26, 2020 by zjb

Deep inside a chapter on the Beit Ha’Mikdash in the Bavli, I found this little gem on a Coronavirus detour through Foucault’s The Birth of the Clinic. It speaks as well to the rabbinic gaze, to “powers of truth” in a … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment