This morning NPR ran a great piece about the Loyal League of Yiddish Sons of Erin in New York City. Newspaper Excerpt On Loyal League’s Annual Banquet ” ‘Green bagels,’ assured Michael Mann, president of the Loyal League of Yiddish Sons…
Suffering Silently? Longman and the Book of Job
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This is from a promotional blog post at Baker Academic’s blog for their Job commentary. I am not sure whether the comments are from Tremper Longman, the editor of that volume (the blog says “by Tremper Longman”) or not since…
Grand Canyon
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This past week I had the great joy and pleasure of being at the Grand Canyon with my family and our Leadership Academy students. I have posted some of the sunrise shots at Targuman | PhotoBlog.
The Daily Show – Fighting for a traditional Purim
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The story starts here, with a NY state assemblyman from Brooklyn, Dov Hikind dressed in black face as a basketball player at a Purim party. Now watch this. The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor…
Aside
Rhetorical Aside
Warning: This is not a statement about the current immigration debate in the US. This is a statement about rhetoric and the use of language.
I have often heard people say “we shouldn’t use the term ‘illegal alien’ because there are no other instances where we label the person as ‘illegal’ rather than the action.” Not true. Two examples immediately come to mind: thief (“illegal taker of things”) and murderer (“illegal taker of another’s life”). And there are plenty of others I am sure you can come up with (“embezzler,” for example).
Does one have to be in ‘Eretz Yisrael to be a “real Jew”? (And what does Esther have to do with it?)
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Tablet Magazine – A.B. Yehoshua Calls American Jews “Partial Jews” A collection of American students shrug him off By Tal Kra-Oz|February 19, 2013 12:31 PM| Sunday afternoon at an auditorium in Jerusalem, A.B. Yehoshua, one of Israel’s most famous…
It’s just a hat
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But not any more. This picture of Mack was taken shortly after Christmas 2011. You can read more about the studio session on my PhotoBlog. That fall I had purchased this silly little gray fedora from Target. I am a…
What are you giving up for Lent?
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Some are giving up more than others…
Aside
In the comments of another post a few people asked about the value of Rabbi Kushner’s When Bad Things Happen to Good People
If God is a God of justice and not of power, then He can still be on our side when bad things happen to us. … Our question will not be Job’s question, “God, why are You doing this to me?” but rather “God, see what is happening to me. Can you help me?” We will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted.
I cannot say I agree with everything that might be contained within these statements, but in so far as dealing with the unjust death of innocents and injustice as a whole, I think this is spot on.