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some sayings of ר‘משבצונה“ל

For many years I have worked hard, and struggled with mastering virtuous. Now, in addition, I’m working on becoming more virtual.
This is an expression of that effort.

השיבנו ה‘ אליך ונשובה חדש ימינו כעוד לא היו

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All photographs are by Mark Hurvitz unless they are obviously not.

The photos in the banner at the top (only a shallow sliver of a much larger photo) are either from our home or our travels and are offered for their beauty alone (though a brain-teaser for me: "Where was that?").

davka flickr [walls]

davka flickr [gutters]

The People of the…

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 [...]

what do you put in your coffee?

[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 [...]

Hidden in plain sight

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 [...]

hidden in plain sight (continued)

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 [...]

Neapolitan

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

Which is the fast…?

[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? [...]

Why Wine?

[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 [...]