Religion & Spirituality - Judaism

Nov 25, 2011

There is a moment in Rachel Simon's haunting "The Story of Beautiful Girl," when a widow lies and becomes a new person, a hero. A young developmentally disabled woman, "Beautiful Girl," and the deaf "Number Forty-Two," escape the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha. Beautiful Girl has just given birth to a girl. When the police charge the house to capture the couple, Martha hides the baby, and raises her as she runs from one city to another until

Nov 18, 2011

I was first annoyed by the two boys sitting in the row before me playing a game of "Made You Look" for the entire flight. I was trying to focus on a scene from the portion and I was distracted by their game until I realized they were giving me the key to the text:

Nov 11, 2011

In early 18th century England, George Psalmanazar fooled practically everyone with his outrageous tales of the imaginary land of Formosa. Nothing seems to be excluded from his book, lending it a convincing verisimilitude; child sacrifice, superstitions, weapons, musical instruments, and food. The very barbarities in the book's details seemed to prove that it was a truthful account of a distant land. Even the great Dr. Samuel Johnson was fooled. It took a master of imaginary travel, Jonathan Swif

Nov 5, 2011

The caller was still upset sixteen years after a Farewell to Simchat Torah lecture: "We were all finally just having fun after weeks of repentance, introspection, numerous laws, and one holiday after another. We were simply happy dancing with the Torah. Then, you had to ruin everything by giving an incredibly powerful and inspiring lecture on the next step, as if we still had work to do. All the fun went out the window!

Oct 31, 2011

“Waiting for Godot” follows two days in the lives of a pair of men who divert themselves while they wait expectantly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. They claim him as an acquaintance but in fact hardly know him, admitting that they would not recognize him were they to see him. To occupy themselves, they eat, sleep, converse, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide – anything “to hold the terrible silence at bay” (Wikipedia).

Oct 13, 2011

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of God with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of God. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of God—to follow God and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his hear

Oct 10, 2011

Having no theory at all and having too many theories both suggest that you are in the middle of a crisis of knowledge. A year and a half after the Millerites “Great Disappointment,” one former believer, Enoch Jacobs, exclaimed, “O what an ocean of contradictory theories is that upon which the multitudes have been floating for the last eighteen months. Do you not long for rest from these conflicting elements?”

Sep 26, 2011

He climbed his way up from the pit and made a grand entrance into the palace. He was escorted into the throne room and stood before the king. His exit from the pit was exciting. His entrance into the throne room, grand. This was his moment. How would Joseph take advantage of the ultimate opportunity? By remaining standing.

Sep 19, 2011

Rabbi Marc Ouanknin understands Yachatz, breaking the middle matzah, as the Lacanian Real sending us on our quest through the seder for our ever receding Real , creating a symbolic order in the Lacan sense. Breaking the matzah creates an open space for our symbolic registry to occur. We are thrown into the seder just as we are thrown into our quest for the recovery of the real.

Sep 12, 2011

The philosopher Michel Foucault postulates that modern medicine began when doctors stopped asking patients, “What is the matter with you?” a question that invited a complex personal response, and began asking, “Where does it hurt?” instead, a question that focuses solely on biology.

Sep 6, 2011

What does one do after a hurricane leaves his home without power for six days, ruining all the food, and making it impossible to clean the house? You have really special guests for Shabbat!

Aug 29, 2011

A maitre d’ at a well-known kosher restaurant laughs about customers who come in for a ‘famous dish,’ but cooked according to their instructions. He points out that the dish will not be the famed food for which they came if cooked differently. “Are you sure you don’t want to try it as it is? he will ask. “Oh, no! I know the way I like my food cooked,” is always the answer. More than half his customers will not give the restaurant a chance to present their food in the kitchen’s fa

Aug 22, 2011

“Acquire a friend for yourself (Avot 1:6).” How? Since I first learned this Mishna as a little boy I’ve heard it explained as, ‘even if you have to buy the friendship with gifts.’ It hasn’t worked for me, and I believe that I’ve never seen it work for someone else.

Aug 16, 2011

Anne Fadiman recently published a collection of essays entitled Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love. Ms. Fadiman invited famous writers to reread books that were important to them when they were young. Most of the essayists had not read the assigned books in many years, and were often enchanted all over again by a long absent friend.

Aug 8, 2011

“The city that was great with people (Lamentations 1:1).” The Midrash goes to great lengths to describe the wisdom and wealth of Jerusalem’s inhabitants before its destruction by the Roman. I appreciate the point of describing the wisdom, but why spend so much time describing the wealth? Does wealth make a city great? New York City has many wealthy people, but also many poor and homeless. Does its wealth make NY a great city?

Aug 1, 2011

The Kabbalists use different verses to focus on the Name of God during the Mussaf – Additional prayer – on Rosh Chodesh – The New Month. They use the following verse on Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av: ”Moses and the Cohanim, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, Be Attentive and Hear O Israel.” (Deuteronomy 27:9)

Jul 24, 2011

"It was my first session practicing Tai Chi with the best Pesukei D’zimirah chazzan in the world, “HBB.” He asked me to walk across my living room as if I was walking on the street, and after ten seconds, said, “Stop! I mean, please stop Rabbi, and don’t move any part of your body.”

Jul 21, 2011

Today, you will find good number of people who are great believers of the predictions of Indian Vedic Astrology. There are various things that make astrology in India so popular among people. Indian culture and Indian religions are considered the most ancient in the world. Indian Astrology is originated from such ancient religion and culture.

Jul 18, 2011

“So he arose, and ate and drank; then he went, on the strength of that meal, forty days and forty nights, until the Mountain of God, Horeb (I Kings 19:8).” What did Elijah eat? If it was from the same cake, why did only this meal and not the first last forty days and forty nights? How did Elijah know to head to Horeb?

Jul 11, 2011

The 1973 Jerusalem Post ad was for “Chutzpah,” by Aviva Dayan, the daughter of the celebrated hero: “Arrogant! Direct! Provoking! But at the same time refreshingly natural like the Sabras in whose image it was created!”