Pierre Sogol; Freelance Defenestrator, Annotator.

2012-08-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

[Headpost; always first]My Lord GodI have no idea where I am going.I do not see the road ahead of me.I cannot know for certain where it will end.Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I thinkthat I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.I hope

2012-01-09T14:39:00.001-08:00

FragileA challenge to suicidal student I remember from some really bad 90s TV show about a high school in California - "But if you did it, you miss out on all the wonderful struggle and tragedy that life is, don't you see?...like a really impressive, sad movie! Because...this is all there is!.." Ok, that's sick. That is a sad excuse for living, let alone not dying. So we cultivate an "objective"

2012-01-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

About Mordechai ElonFrom an email exchange with a former HaKotel student;Understand how this looks from the outside; the rabbi is simply and clearly bisexual. End of story. BUT NO!...Insiders see someone torn by 'temptations', who just needs direction and time for reflection...which, understanding that people actually live normal lives outside, sounds almost comical in its denial (as TRUE as it

2011-12-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

Knowing Before Whom you Stand By Knowing Where you StandThe Divine Intellect, free of all infirmity, knows things both in their succession and in their simultaneity; it beholds the logical unfolding of things as well as their global possiblity; knowing the substances, it knows as the same time the accidents, at the level of reality - or unreality - that is theirs. Some man in the Middle Ages is

2011-10-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

I'm at the bottom of a ravine, having fallen from above. Multiple critical injuries, weathers nice though so I have maybe a day more than most in such straights. So I pray and pray and pray, and God comes around to offer his 'comforting presence'. I ask him; did you bring a stretcher and some way to get me out of this? Anything? He Responds, "I'm omnipotent, etc, etc - I came to do the best

2011-10-06T05:59:00.001-07:00

Unanswered Prayer, Who Shall Live/Die, etc.One response to unanswered prayer I always wait to here in any Jewish discussion is "and sometimes the answer is no". I don't know that the speaker/'audience member' who presents it cares who else may be present - the terminally ill person with a world of responsibilities left behind that go unaddressed ('ripple effect' of what was before primarily their

2011-08-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Women Clergy, Weird Connections... Eveline Goodman-Thau, Holocaust Survivor, sister of R. Tvi Thau (Zvi Tau; I,II,III, IV) - pillar of the Messianic-Zionist Charedi Daati Leumi "CHARDaL" community - was ordained by Rabbi Yehonatan Chipman, Yeshivat Har Etzion alum ('74; hesped he gave for R. Amital here). Also of note, Mimi Feigelson, who claims smicha either from an un-named beit din or secret

2011-06-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

C.S. Lewis; "Obstinancy of Belief" Might taste better with an earlier post on "blind faith";"We have been told that the scientist thinks it his duty to proportion the strength of his belief exactly to the evidence; to believe less as there is less evidence and to withdraw belief altogether when reliable adverse evidence turns up. We have been told that, on the contrary, the Christian regards it

2011-06-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

"Life is [just] a Test[?]""The Iliad is only great because all life is a battle, The Odyssey because all life is a journey, the Book of Job because all life is a riddle...It is significant that in the greatest religious poem existent, the Book of Job, the argument which convinces the infidel is not (as has been represented by the merely rational religionism of the eighteenth century) a picture of

2011-06-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

How Now Shall We Live, IIR. Aryeh Klapper, "How Should Ethically Challenging Texts Be Taught?"R. Jack Bieler, “The Representation of Non-Jews in the Talmud and Its Pedagogic Implications".Prof. Solomon Schimmel, author of "The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs; Fundamentalism and the Fear of Truth", an ostensibly wide-ranging discussion of 'unreasonable beliefs' that is largely a critical work on

2011-06-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

Divine Abandonment IIOK...so this is pretty dark and does not reflect the usual doings of angels, but it does give some chizzuk of an unusual kind; a higher being, a direct servant of God, speaks on "asking why";Woman:"Why.."?Gabriel: I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now 'till

2011-06-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

Divine AbandonmentObviously a question a trinity-abiding Christian asks - but kind-of similar questions easily raised about the Avot - but such a rich question to me;"What does it mean to identify, as the definitive embodiment of God in human history, someone who declares himself abandoned by God?... If Jesus is the self-communication of God in flesh, then the cry of dereliction from the Cross is

2011-06-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

ShavuotI admit it. I despise having routines that are working for me, productive engagements and activities (volunteering opportunities, job advancement, graduate school, exercise, socializing, opportunities for athletic training and competition, etc, etc) get muffed by time-bound observance - Shabbat, Yom Tov, Pesach - anything that shatters the calendar I make or try to make. It whispers to me

2011-05-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

R. Joshua Berman; Biblical CriticismMusic Video Code by Torah CafeYes, I admit, much of the usual Orthodox line. BUT he does ask some interesting questions and makes unconsciously insightful comments in towing the usual line; example, the 19th Century and the popularity of "big ideas", equivalent to current fads to "theories of everything" (though even this fad is from the 90s). Sometimes it

2011-04-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

On Other-than Divine AuthorshipI was just thinking of IMing a friend of mine, asking for prayer due to the profoundly dark mood I've found myself/put myself in - in part the sense that all I have left is hope, sensing no other connection to God, Who at times seems like an abusive father; thus far, emunah, "trust" in Him only applies to certain norms held by society (that he sustains his

2011-04-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

hell "...it is objected that the ultimate loss of a single soul means the defeat of omnipotence. And so it does. In creating beings with free will, omnipotence from the outset submits to the possibility of such defeat. What you call defeat, I call miracle: for to make things which are not Itself, and thus to become, in a sense, capable of being resisted by its own handiwork, is the most

2011-04-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

Lewis on Reality; Suggestions for Regnant "rationalisms" in Modern Orthodoxy"[T]he mere idea of a new reality, a New Nature, a nature beyond nature, a systematic and diversified reality which is “supernatural” in relation to the world of our five present senses but “natural” from [within] its own point of view, is profoundly shocking to a certain philosophical preconception from which we all

2011-03-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

Stories IIA sort of retraction from a previous post on the "Small Miracles" series and how I love the series. I do. But the love is tainted by the realisation that, however many such books may exist with however many such stories - the total numbers of people involved in them is statistically and literally a drop in the bucket compared with the vast, vast multitudes for whom such stories do not

2011-03-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

'Nature', Chassidut and "Eco-Torah"Wonder piece by Jay Michaelson, "Hasidism and Nature; Negation and Affirmation". Read and discuss..Ready? Of course it isn't necessary to be in a community of Chassidim to witness such behavior among those who would seem (by the standards of "neo-Chassidut"...)duty/cosmology-bound to behave otherwise - as "Eco-Torah" abounds in Modern Orthodox circles - but it

2011-02-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

Ratzinger; Doubt & Belief in the Modern World; IIContinuing from the previous post. Included, ironically, as I continued to read something I had heretofore (originally, I actually typed hearttofore..), considered a kind of faith divorced from Judaism, I found also an example from Chassidut given by Buber and others. Here, it is neither apart from Judaism, nor 'transcending' Judaism; it just is.

2011-02-28T15:35:00.001-08:00

Ratzinger; Doubt & Belief in the Modern World; IObviously from previous posts, I have not qualms posting things from other faiths if they strike me in a powerful way conducive to a viable Judaism and observance. I have always found ways to find Jewish congnates to the posts, or ways that I could explicate them further with Jewish sources.Roughly equivalent to Ratzinger below is lhvd'l Rav

2011-02-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

For The Sensualists"...and this [contemplating the transformation of self and body that occurs in death and Olam Haba] reduces our imagination to the withering alternative either of bodies which are hardly recognizable as human bodies at all or else of a perpetual fast. As regards the fast, I think our present outlook might be like that of a small boy who, on being told that the sexual act was

2011-02-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

Covenants[hope to do hyperlinks later]I understand the Orthodox reticence in engagement with much of modern Bible/Talmud scholarship on many issues, and I think a hidden factor is the fear that not simply modern scholarship, but those who integrate scholarship into their faith communities (mainline and "historical" Christianity and to a degree liberal Judaisms - much less so Islam), may be [more]

2011-02-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

You have never talked to a mere mortal“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some

2011-02-09T06:18:00.000-08:00

"Gosh, we're all really impressed down here, I can tell You..." Maybe I believe too much about a God who is Too Great and Too Big, Too Powerful. And this is dangerous. He can appear to change, to change His mind from our knowledge or our perspective by simply not revealing all to us, neither through the collective 'us' (via mesorah - parameters and depths of which fluctuate over time, etc), the

2011-02-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

Kavorkian"Recently, I had three former CEOs of companies -- perfectly healthy -- who called me up and told me they wish to die"...Says Kevorkian, the man with "no regrets" - after being told 5 of the 100 people he helped commit suicide that were discovered didn't qualify for his concept of "patholysis". His response when asked;"So... what did you do? What did you tell them?" I asked gently. "No,

2011-02-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

John Haught; Intelligent Design and IdolatryFrom here;Q. You've used another analogy in discussions with me that might be illuminating. This is the boiling water analogy. Could you give us that?A. Yes. I think most of the issues in science and religion discussions, most of the confusion that occurs happens because we fail to distinguish different levels of explanation. And so what I advocate is

2011-01-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

"Watches over the Converts..."I was recently reminded of a question I raised in a post I did a while back on Aish's claim we are in a "spiritual holocaust", a statement I thought more powerful and pregnant than they intended it to be.What about the Converts who have cast their lot with the Jewish people - amidst a profound spiritual Holocaust?A tremendous question about what and who we value as

2011-01-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

..."!?אם אלוהים ירצה" Dave Draiman, lead singer of Disturbed, in a not-cardboard "Kotel kippah"?...He actually says in the interview "...if God Wants" about Disturbed playing in Israel?...oh...my stars. This is weird cool news. I'd like to hear them cover "Mama Rachel", I sincerely think he could pull it off. I've ragged on them on and off for a while, but I should stop. I've only known of him

2011-01-03T04:07:00.000-08:00

Academic Scholarship, Theodicy, Authorship & Revelation -Deliverances to the HeartWe challenge the sincerity of mortals who are empowered to alleviate the suffering of others, but only offer solace such as "my thoughts and prayers will be with you" - and yet we have such in the Psalms, other founding revelations from God Himself, the very font of Jewish theodicies - telling us that the righteous

2011-01-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

Borei Kol HaNeshamot...A New Year...Please."When warm weather came, Baby Suggs, holy, followed by every black man, woman, and child who could make it through, took her great heart to the Clearing--a wide-open place cut deep in the woods nobody knew for what at the end of the path known only to deer and whoever cleared the land in the first place. In the heat of every Saturday afternoon, she

2011-01-01T15:53:00.000-08:00

More Physics And Torah (To My Taste...)From a review by William Kolbrener of "One People, Two Worlds". [emph. mine in bold];Bohr’s classic experiments with light demonstrated how interpretive perspectives (what Thomas Kuhn would later call paradigms) “must affect their object by their very act of observing.”[24] Bohr had shown that, depending upon the experimental context which he employed, light

2010-12-31T08:59:00.000-08:00

StoriesI LOVE these stories, love Yitta Halberstam's books, I admit it. In general, they're based largely on research and verification, to the extent possible with such stories, and include those of the authors. The more I read such stories, truly, the more invigorated I am in my belief that God Cares, that our lives matter and He acts in this world, by whatever means.What I do not appreciate,

2010-12-30T18:30:00.000-08:00

REPOST; Sept. 9, 2009Morality, Torah & "How Now Shall We Live?"I've had that passage from Yehezkel (33:10) lodged in my gray matter for years, it has come to fore this Ellul in my own life and in the greater setting of the Observant community I've been in, and how they've reacted to ongoing problems, intrinsic and incidental (Rubashkin, the abuse scandals, the NJ/Deal money laundering/

2010-12-30T00:01:00.001-08:00

I realized at precisely 3AM this morning that I am a "Frier" (Israeli slang for pushover, milquetoast, exploited by others - often with unusual relish by the formerly-exploited), only an authority and source of information for irrelevant, inexperienced, unchallenged experiential data on irrelevant, untested or outmoded information - much of which we'll just call Judaism. It's simply irrelevant -

2010-12-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

Temple Grandin; Thought and PhysicsPertinent to constructive, focused thought, feeling and in a sense prayer, and their effect on the world of action;In all the years I have worked in slaughter plants, I have intuitively felt that I must never misbehave near the kill chute. Doing something bad, like mistreating an animal, could have dire consequences. An entangled subatomic particle could get me.

2010-12-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

"He Said he Wanted Five Daughters......named for the expressions of happiness; Gila, Rinah, Ditza, Hedva...and Ahava". Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture, 2010 (his parents do the fantastic Seraphic Press blog), Dennis Prager. I so need to give serious heed to this counsel. I am on my way to surrendering to despair, of the dimensional variety. I can no longer fend off the intuition that I will pass

2010-12-27T14:54:00.001-08:00

C.S. Lewis; Foreshadowings of Jesus, "The Suffering Servant" and IsraelC.S. Lewis and to some degree the Early Church as well as Tolkien and others propose that "myth", or more particularly particular myths - of a dying and reborn "Corn God" of virgin birth, etc, foreshadow the historical occurance of Jesus, the non-mythical, the myth become fact. I'd like to shortly attempt a presentation of

2010-12-27T13:19:00.001-08:00

Robert Pollack & R. Adin Steinsaltz; Purpose Praise and PrayerFrom here;The Lord, who has existed before time and the universe began, created both time and the universe in order to have, in time, creatures—the word means things created—with free will, who could then choose to say thanks for their and the world’s existence. For thanks to be proper and meaningful—the proper form of thanks is to

2010-12-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

More Polkinghorne on Prayer and PhysicsBecause I believe that there is an interconnectivity in things (holism again), I believe that alignment can have consequences for third parties also. In more conventional language, we offer our wills to be aligned with the divine will. A metaphor I often use is that of laser light. What gives laser light its unusual effectiveness is that it is what the

2010-12-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

The Blessing of Mixed Blessings, Cloudy Days and Cloudy MilleniaMr. Polkinghorne: And, of course, there are all sorts of different forms of prayer. I mean, there's sort of worshipful prayer. And I think a lot of scientists actually pray in that way without knowing that they're doing it, because one of the rewards for what is actually a laborious business doing scientific research is a sense of

2010-12-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

Whether/Whither JudaismAt first this video had me laugh, the attempt of selling Judaism to a non-Jewish child with a Jewish father (Ross). But then I realized from my own life how my life must look to the non-Jews I know, many of whom consider me some kind of Utah Mormon farm-boy on the "facts of life" - having long ago left my pasts in the dust in coming to God. The pointless hopes and beliefs,

2010-12-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

KidsFrom R. Yehudah Fine;Life changes when you are the only person sitting in a hospital room late at night with a kid dying of AIDS. I learned more about forgiveness at death's door than any other place in my life. Often kids were saying to me at the end, "You know what my parents did to me. I can never forgive the horror that began when I was just a young child, but if they walked into the room

2010-12-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Religion as a Cause of ViolenceMostly my emphasis;"In god is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens offers a litany of contemporary examples of how, in his view, religion foments violence [examples drawn from his own anointed experience as a journalist and corespondent, rendering no other experiences or views ultimately legitimate for him as a secularist; meaning is a personal projection, and he has

2010-12-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

Rav Amital on Religious Faith in the Face Annihilation from here; Did the fact that you’re a religious person help you to cope as a survivor?After the war I was in contact with Abba Kovner a”h [a leader of the Vilna Ghetto revolt, and a kibbutz leader and poet in Israel]. Once we were both participants in a TV panel about the meaning of the Holocaust. He asked me, “Did you have problems with your

2010-12-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

IsraelJust a little Shatan's Advocate here;I used to dream of making Aliyah, of fulfilling a mitzvah yes, but of a "something more" than just a black and white obligation - I can no longer think of a modality for Israel in a religious sense except as a means of fulfilling Yishuv Eretz Israel; I can't believe there is a religious obligation to be an "Israeli" in the ways that must be admitted now.

2010-11-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

"It Gets Better" and Euthenasia/'RTD'Moishe's words at 6:22 -6:36 were profound and powerful, regardless of what ones personal struggle or resignations are. And so much hizzukh I get for just sticking LIFE out again, regardless of what ones torment is - "It gets better".At the same time, I can't help but know that these guys likely do not traffic with the views of other non-religious/non-Orthodox

2010-11-29T15:21:00.000-08:00

"Never before in Jewish history had we such large groups of people who are so in but also so out."From Avakesh;Our children now grow up in a pradigm in which the supreme value is making rational, efficient and value free choices. There are many possible choices and one makes them based on what one wants and desires and not based on overarching conisderations. One can have a mitzva or a a cell

2010-11-26T11:05:00.001-08:00

The Beast With Two Fronts/Two Fronts & Two BacksI'd heard the midrashim about Adam and Eve originally being joined at the side or back, and that, aside from implying that couples are in some deep sense truly mono-gamous - beginning archetypally as one, that this is also prevented them from initially coming to know each other as raw bodies and then as persons but first as a self-knowledge. They

2010-11-25T05:30:00.000-08:00

Shomayah TefillahReading through "Katif; Nine Days in Av" over this past Shabbat really just took the heart right out of me, really dragged my trust out into the streets and gave it over to the violent, lustful mob. Tuesday at work I watched this video.Orange Tears of Gush Katif At The Very End Hundreds of girls gathered from around the country and from Gush Katif itself - such unity so lauded

2010-11-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

New Look At An Old Post[very messy, hope to expand a lot on it over the next week] from 2007, on the relation of science 'truth' and religion/ethics 'truth':There is value in imprecision, of reckoning in coming to know in the world - where perhaps many maxims(?) are not systematically written up as a whole map because we live in lieu of Nevuah, the means of certainty in meta-matters. Or at least

2010-11-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Old Email to Myself @ The TimeOh the ways I've changed and the ways I havent...[2005]Not long ago in a life-induced stupor, I decided the best way to forestall my (I"H) children's assimilation to Goyishe olam was by giving them weird 'english' names that would do the segregating for them. but the minute I found some weird names, I realized they were too cool, and my imagination took it from there

2010-11-02T09:01:00.001-07:00

From Eric Reitan; Moral Atheists, Ethics Without [Explicit] FoundationsFrom Eric Reitan;Often, the issue of morality is invoked by religious fundamentalists to villify atheists: There can be no morality without God, they argue; and hence, atheists must be amoral. The reasoning here is terrible, of course. Even if you think that the existence of objective moral truths in some fashion or another

2010-10-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

"Frum Schools Cant Be Built Fast Enough."Or so a popular addage goes about rightwing places, I'm sure the statistics of Charedi Orthodox birthrates and children of other committed Jewish families being sent to Orthodox schools indicate this, regardless of their family hashkafah. When a system knows it's taking the bulk of the future, when it has so many people benefiting, service can slack off of

2010-10-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Addenda to Post on People Leaving Orthodoxy "in Droves"Found this, seems pertinent to an earlier post. On the recent AJC Jewish Public Opinion Survey;Why is the proportion of Orthodox in the survey holding steady?In 2000, 10 percent of the survey identified itself as Orthodox; in 2010, it was 9 percent. For decades, the conventional Jewish wisdom has been that the Orthodox community is growing by

2010-10-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Cost of an Observantly Observant LifestyleFrom a blog I follow that often features disturbing and informed observations on Orthodox Jewry at large in the U.S.;"If you create a community that requires the members to be in the top 6% of US income, and makes one comfortable only if one is in the top 3% then you have a social problem."The latest inflated statistics for the U.S. (you can guarantee

2010-10-11T06:10:00.000-07:00

Just Brilliant; Vintage Scrubs

2010-10-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Follow the Bouncing Biblical/Xtian Presuppositions that made for Science....[my emphasis] I do not believe that the successful pursuit of scientific discovery is an activity that is feasible in every conceivable world, but it is a fact of our experience in this particular world. By that I mean...that the explanation of the success of science in exploring the intelligible universe is ultimately

2010-10-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

A Brief Apology for LuddismThat technology should be radically opposed which is not recyclable (or biodegradable), and which is incompatible with at least 4 previous generations of is predecessors (generations of a technology should be several years, not months), and which cannot be powered easily by conventional electrical means (i.e., could be distributed in developing nations where DIY

2010-09-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Modern Orthodox TV Contestant Bares Bra, Publically Renounces Shabbat [UPDATED]First off This Video IS NOT tzniut and not necessary to watch - you can obviously just close your eyes and listen or skip to the conversation about what she says in the links below;Further coverage and discussion on Bang it Out, on Tablet and a rebuttal here on the blog of the Pacific Jewish Center rabbi. This post

2010-09-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

A Fascinating Exchange on Non/Jews Gerut..began here and continued here, both from linked from the blogroll of an OTD blog I follow. I spent some 10 years in a community with lots of Gerim, and too much time at a shul noteworthy for hosting them and leading them into "normalcy" (and sometimes families of them) - though the shul itself was far from mainstream, for all its pretense, though now it

2010-09-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

hopefully finished before Rosh HashanahI think popular paradigms of hashgacha pratit encourage a peculiar certainty about the nature of the world. It is as if all - spiritually speaking, physically speaking, everything - as in everything all over, over time from Day One on - could have happened no other way than precisely as it did and does, no exceptions - without resulting in badness we don't

2010-08-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

"Every system can strangle you if you let it..."And my second thought after reading that line was;"As with any relationship - with anyone or anything else - that threatens strangulation if you don't stay on your toes...for God's Sake, why stay with it?"Does my 'judgmental' exclamation harbor in some Freudian sense the answer itself? "For God's Sake"? Is that the only kind of relationship you

2010-08-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

Dr. Eric Reitan; Liberal Theist Respondent to the New AtheistsI agree with so much of this segment regarding religion(apart from the issue and nature of revelation, from whichreligions claim derivation), let alone Judaism, that I findmyself, despite joy in clarity, in a very sticky wicket. In Ellul.Great timing.

2010-07-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

An Error Worse than Ta'utFrom First Things, which may have a "friend" in a recently posted quote from Chomsky;For a long time as a young teacher, I believed the danger of prostituting their minds by believing falsehoods was the preeminent, or even singular, intellectual danger my students faced. So I challenged them and tried to teach them always to be self-critical, questioning, skeptical. What

2010-07-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Strength to Admit Error"Franz Rosenzweig, author of The Star of Redemption, was the philosopher-theologian of this crisis moment. In Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menahem Mendel Schneerson (Columbia University Press), his densely brilliant new study of the Rebbe’s mystical thought, Elliot R. Wolfson aptly quotes Rosenzweig on the function of the false

2010-07-15T06:43:00.000-07:00

Rav Amital, Zecher Tzaddik LvrachaI'm so sad that I am both outside the loop of those who can actually appreciate him and his Torah, alienated from the Talmud Torah that gave him life through such a life.

2010-07-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hiding in Plain Sight and MindHarkness Tower on the campus of Yale University. Yes, I chose this image because it reminds me of Mordor, and the Eye of Sauron. 'Famously', Frank Lloyd Wright was asked if he lived in New Haven, which architectural structure he would choose to live in. He responded Harkness Tower - so he wouldn't be forced to look at it.Upon hearing this story, I immediately thought

2010-07-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

Pluralism Without Relativism; Judaism &#a0;Watch this at Boston.comOriginally culled from here.A Google search for "pluralism without relativism" will bring up other fascinating ideas of course, and later I'd like to pick through them. Also relevant is R. Alan Brill's recent Judaism and Other Religions. Him recently on mysticism in the modern era;

2010-06-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

TranshumanismGreat quote from a Catholic seminarian on criticism of Transhumanism (made here);"As a former transhumanist, I think the greatest draw is a(n unconscious) Zen-like annihilation of the self into that 'precision'. The problem is like the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit--the former is built around abstractions while the former is based off of man [revelation, relationship, etc

2010-06-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Jacob MilgromBible Scholar, Conservative theologian of sorts (don't think he had any official position). Avakesh does a good summary of his ir/relevance for Observant, believing Jews. R. Zelig Aster of YU makes reference to his introduction to Leviticus as a possible grounds for reconciling Biblical Criticism with an imperative for observance. An interesting and revealing quote for why Orthodox

2010-05-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

"Mori v'Rebbi Professor Moshe Greenberg"Professor Moshe Greenberg, long-time professor of Hebrew Bible at Hebrew University passed away late March 15th, I only just learned of it. R. SZ Leiman wrote a tribute to him some 10 years ago, from which the above quote is derived, the transcript is here. Menahem Butler's post, and R. Alan Yuter on Prof. Greenberg;Prof. Greenberg purchased Rabbenu Tefilin

2010-05-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

Prophecy, BibCrit & Philosophical Arguments for The DivineR. Yoel Finkelman has proposed that though;"Other nations may not have been present at Sinai, [God]...might, in some way, communicate with them". He bases this on Moreh Nevukhim II:40 as inclusive of laws and statutes outside the Jewish canon as 'prophetic' for being true and reasoned, and spoken by an ethical and morally sound person.

2010-05-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

R. Shlomo Riskin, Coercion and Ecumenicism[I hope to work on this after Shavuot; this is an unedited compilation of my thoughts, not organized yet]In a fund-raising CD he sent out Pesach 07 called "Pour Out Your Wrath on the Gentiles (Who Do Not Know You)", R. Shlomo Riskin interprets Rambam as believing that there is an obligation for Jews to seek the conversion of non-Jews to Judaism. Elsewhere

2010-05-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

"Take not Thy Thunder from us - take away our pride.."Iron Maiden/Bob Marley Mashup - "Revelations" and "Exodus"...

2010-05-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

Rav Aharon Soloveitchik z"lWith the pictures painted of Orthodox leadership these days, as stalwart, ever-certain and fixed in the knowledge and emunah as their disciples are of them, I have thought it worthwhile to post on this blog examples of different models of leadership. An example from Rabbi Ahron Soloveitchik;In the summer of '75, Rav Aharon visited NCSY's Camp West in Big Bear,

2010-04-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Nine times out of ten......the coarse word is the word that condemns an evil and the refined word the word that excuses it.-Chesterton, The Victorian Age in LiteratureIn darkness of recent events - and yes [x50] these things don't typify authority in the observant Jewish world - I just wanted to reiterate the importance of occasional outbursts of anti-authoritarian punk rock (Rollins remake in

2010-04-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Rav Kook on HeresyFrom David Guttman;When one speculates about God without [secular] knowledge and without Torah, one develops in one’s mind a dark image, full of emptiness and confusion. When that person now turns to divine worship based on this previous empty concept, man slowly loses the splendor of his existence, because he becomes attached to empty and confused ideas. When this goes on for

2010-04-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Newly-Published Rav Kook; ReligionFrom here (my emphasis);The fact that God is perceived only through religion has caused the world to fall into the lowest depths. God should be known from all of life, from all of existence [specifically not, seemingly, only as a result of having applied religion, i.e., mitzvot, to life to "kasher" it], and thus He will be known in all of life and in all of

2010-04-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Self-inflicted Dhimmitude in lieu of CaptorsA further take on the use of perpetuated, "unexpurgated" unredacted views of - and in this case from - non-Jewish neighbors and the consequences for self-definition. Bat Ye'or, renown scholar on Dhimmitude;The civilization of dhimmitude does not develop all at once. It is a long process that involves many elements and a specific conditioning. It happens

2010-04-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Rambam, Reward & Punishment Twix boyscout commercialG MySpace VideoI remembered this commercial the first time I'd heard it argued that Rambam did not believe in reward or punishment as generally understood by Chazzal (for now, just the link to Kellner);-Comes David Guttman to take Rambam & The Things That Cometh After along his route.-Aish, however has 'cleared' things up a bit in what is billed

2010-04-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Revelation to [Members of] The Nations, Cont'd.Rav Kook [notes mine];"Infinity is the mighty foundation of all cultural life in every aspect [1]. The striving to glorify infinity conquers death and wipes tears from all faces."Arpelei Tohar, p.36"...and because the connection between the human thought and feelings and the divine, unlimited and highest light must be of many and varied shades, for

2010-04-12T06:06:00.001-07:00

Sinai, Moshe Rabbenu and Revelation to [Members of] The NationsR. Yoel Finkelman;"What is often downplayed in understanding the notion of revelation is the universalistic element that accompanies the particularistic aspect of Sinai. For a great many Jewish thinkers, it is a mistake to focus exclusively on the fact that only the Jewish people received the Torah. Other nations may not have been

2010-04-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

Chazzal and Social Sciences IIIFrom a previous post on this theme;The closest we have to a description of humanity after Tanach is nowhere near a thorough, empirical science; there is Jew and non-Jew.R. Alan Brill has written on Jewish Orthodox perception of culture through the lenses of most all of contemporary Orthodoxy - which is to say, for the most part, 19th Century Protestant frameworks -

2010-03-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

Chazzal and Social Sciences, cont.If I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you. However, if I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you,then I am indeed I and you are indeed you-Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. I had seen the above adage, with which I was familiar, hanging in a basement shul where I live. I'd seen it after a week

2010-03-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

Chazzal and Social SciencesCan a Judaism that claims to result from Rabbinic Judaism - have an anthropology, have a view of humanity at large, if the Rabbis did not have something we can call an anthropology? the closest we have to a description of humanity after Tanach is nowhere near a thorough, empirical science; there is Jew and non-Jew ("Jewish Identity in Early Rabbinic Writings", by R. Dr.

2010-03-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

Prof. Aharon Shear YashuvHis father was in the Waffen SS. Was m'giyur with a bet din consisting of Jakob Petuchowski (HUC), David Hartman ('Orthodox') and Yochanan Muffs of (JTS). A Conscientious Objector in Germany - a Major in Zahal. Hosted by the Conservative Yeshiva in Israel.

2010-02-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

The First Time This Blog Has hosted Torah From R. Shlomo CarlebachWhat about giving aliyot (being called to the Torah) to women? I’ll tell you an unbelievable story. I gave a concert in Paris. After the concert, a beautiful young lady came up to me and said, “I want to tell you my story, I come from a Chassidic home in Boston. I like to paint, to draw. I managed to get to college, despite my

2010-02-24T14:58:00.000-08:00

This One is For Aish, Mesorah.org, Et Al."In addition to the prevalent grievous misunderstanding of the nature of divinity beliefs, there presently persists an equally grievous misunderstanding of the ground on which they are believed.of the cheapest shots in the entire science/religion discussion is the one that goes: science is matter of observation and reason while religion is blind faith. I

2010-02-23T07:21:00.000-08:00

In Punjabi, "Rabbi" means "God-facing"...A high-spirited devotional kafi (poetic composition), performed by a Punjabi Sikh.

2010-02-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

The Dangers of Proclaiming Explicit Miracles in Our DayA post from 2006;In yeshiva at Aish [I, II, III, IV, V, comments following here], it was given over more than once that the number of Jews lost to intermarriage, apathy and assimilation since the Holocaust surpasses the number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust...I’m more interested in the spiritual/philosophical consequences of the

2010-02-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

"Monotheism is a fabrication...""Monotheism is a fabrication of gentiles, an imprecise translation, a sort of self-contradictory comprehensible infinity, and therefore can lead to nothing [the limits of the "God of the Philosophers" in leading anywhere but the the self-referencial limits of a given rationality]. This is not the source of the Name of the God of Israel, the Infinite, the

2010-02-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

David Gelernter

2010-02-08T08:19:00.001-08:00

Just Like I've SaidWorking Israelis will foot the bill for the many Charedim who live off the state, precipitating their collapse - probably to niggunim and dancing in the streets in Mea Shearim. They will probably celebrate their return to explicit Dhimmitude as well, while everyone else packs up and makes aliyah to America. If we can imagine it, it can happen. Americanize Israeli I say; pack it

2010-02-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

"World's Strictest Parents" (BBC); ISRAEL!!FINALLY someone posted them on Youtube...there was much talk about how swell the family was towards them, etc. They could really have chosen a Dati sabra Sephardi family for more entertaining culture clash - and Gemma would probably have ended up being m'giyur and marrying some Zahal stud.

2010-02-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

Pashkavils and Social Control Theodore Dalrymple on Political Correctness;"In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or

2010-02-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Death of IdeologiesWe've been yotzei "observance" and "belief" through ideological filters for so long, we now have profound trouble even comprehending observance and faith outside of the "sanctioned" set of competing and faltering institutions and affiliations - that have existed for a juvenile 200 years, "Orthodoxy" included. How is it possible that we've given mere ideology the authority and

2010-01-21T13:49:00.001-08:00

A Possible Kosher "Weak" Pluralism?I mean 'weak' in the philosophical meaning of proofs and arguments - where "weak" suggests an argument relying strongly on a presupposition shared in a dispute. Shaiya Rothberg on the efforts and trials of individuals according to the Rambam Moreh Nevukhim III:34;“Among the things that you likewise ought to know is the fact that the Law [that is, the Torah] does

2010-01-17T07:16:00.001-08:00

More With Torah and Biblical CriticismSo River Tam treats Bible/Tanach as an engineer would, and Shepherd Book responds the way a loyal caricature of a religious person would, according to the personality of Joss Whedon; a mixture of unreflective "faith" perspectives as defined by science, instead of definied within a given religious perspective. I respond with Bro. Guy Consolmagno on River

2010-01-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

"...people are defecting from Orthodoxy in droves"A comment from a congregational rabbi made in a post here. The whole post is worth reading, but this statement really grabbed me, as no one I 'trusted', until this point, had made the claim. I found similar statements made by Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, and have even chased down a few demographic studies that could suggest