Below is the podcast of the talk I presented for Tisha b’Av at Beth Israel.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.0MB)
July, 2009:
Tisha b’Av lecture in Philly area
I will be giving a lecture this Wednesday evening enitled “Have you forgotten us completely?” Crying Out to a Loving God. I will be exploring how the rabbis responded to the destruction of the Temple, how they responded to the text of Lamentations, and what that in turn can teach a community of faith about responding to our own times of crisis. From the Beth Israel website:
Wednesday, July 29: Beth Israel will be hosting a county wide Tisha B’Av service at 8:00 p.m. in the Holocaust Memorial Garden. Our guest presenter will be Professor Brady from Penn State. Professor Brady has degrees in Judaic Studies and Hebrew Literature. Attendees are asked to bring a flashlight. Open attached flyer.
What is the difference between an iPod and a Walkman?
A 13-year-old found out. This story is a month old, but I just came across it. BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Giving up my iPod for a Walkman. Among his amusing observations:
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.
Palestinian Authority Officials ask Canada to Seize Dead Sea Scrolls
For some reason the most recent Royal Ontario Museum exhibition of Dead Sea Scrolls has ignited a lot of debate. The most recent headline to cross my digital threshold was one I had not heard before (but I don’t look for these things as a rule). They make some interesting arguments, perhaps fueled by the debate over the Elgin Marbles. From The National, a UAE paper:
The problem for Palestinian Authority officials, who contacted ROM executives in April, is that the exhibition contains artefacts illegally acquired by Israel when it annexed East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.
The PA’s archaeological department said it was important for Canadian institutions to be responsible and act in accordance with their country’s obligations.
“I’m not saying those scrolls are not Jewish and Christian in nature,” said Issam al Ahmed, the executive director of Palestine House, an educational and cultural organisation in the Toronto area. “But they were discovered prior to the Israeli occupation and they were exhibited in the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem in Palestine.”
At least they are not saying “those scrolls are not Jewish and Christian in nature.” Although I would say they are not Christian in nature. Britain is no closer to returning the Elgin Marbles so I expect it is highly unlikely that the Scrolls will go anywhere but back to the Shrine of the Book.
