We have been called a People of the Book for nearly 1400 years. We did not invent the term. It was given to us (as well as to Christians) by our cousins the Muslims. Nonetheless, even as our technologies move us beyond the physical book, the text remains. We return to the text that has [...]
[cross posted at The Jew and the Carrot]
Pharisees of course
A Tiny Vial of Pharisäer
Ever-sensitive to appearances of Jewish references in popular culture, I was a bit surprised to read Maureen Dowd’s headline in The New York Times on Sunday, July 19, 2009: “Pharisees on the Potomac”
I did not see any mention of late antiquity [...]
At the far east end of 47th Street in Manhattan, between 2nd and 1st Avenues a broad lovely park leads up to the United Nations complex of buildings on the East River. A farmer’s market is set up every Wednesday throughout the year.
a market and plaza to rally against genocide
This broad space is known as [...]
continued from hidden in plain sight
what are we hiding (from)?
As of this writing, the phrase “hidden in plain sight” appears in a Google search 142,000 times. It must refer to a wide variety of concepts and situations. How many things to we encounter and pass by that are as though they are hidden from us [...]
Over the years I have been asked:
What kind of a rabbi are you?
To which I answer without hesitation:
A good rabbi!
And then my interlocutor stammers a bit and says:
No, no, what… oh, ah…. Are you…?
At which point I gently interrupt and say:
Neapolitan
[cross posted at the Jew and the Carrot and at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism].
The prophet Isaiah asks (58:6-7):
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the fetters of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [...]
[cross posted at the Jew and the Carrot].
At Pesach we drink a lot of wine. Why is it called the symbol of our joy?
In an arid environment, wine can be seen a method of preservation. If you do not live or work near a well or a spring or some other source of [...]