tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31034681787853517772024-03-06T19:36:21.335-08:00To Gather & To Heap UpEric Maroney, author of Religious Syncretism, The Other Zions, The Torah Sutras & published fictionThe Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.comBlogger1619125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-56525205932219260372024-03-04T12:24:00.000-08:002024-03-04T12:25:30.211-08:00Surviving Genocide: Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipGN-9C11EUgaNM2tXrXxpAvYrryO_3vn1pYSqijyTsIgwRA4vyRQU-Fo9YdBLnNJ0r5Bv8YMD66vcf6Fn5ZOJBTKHi5LtGIxP5juihsjQKnbCVVJhkk_dEOBjCbquibQZQm8MbvBTnYIBFsQAQ43i-w8IVP6Tjn0EwpFZ1c021IL8CLHkYXGMsllQQ/s445/Surviving%20Genocide.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="294" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipGN-9C11EUgaNM2tXrXxpAvYrryO_3vn1pYSqijyTsIgwRA4vyRQU-Fo9YdBLnNJ0r5Bv8YMD66vcf6Fn5ZOJBTKHi5LtGIxP5juihsjQKnbCVVJhkk_dEOBjCbquibQZQm8MbvBTnYIBFsQAQ43i-w8IVP6Tjn0EwpFZ1c021IL8CLHkYXGMsllQQ/s320/Surviving%20Genocide.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Surviving Genocide: Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas </i><span>by Jeffrey Ostler is a detailed and well-documented history of the attempted (and sometimes effective) eradication of Native American tribes east of the Mississippi River before the Civil War. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">While the book focuses on the attempts of the US government and its citizens to force Native communities from their land, and often eradicate them as a people, this book highlights the successful attempts by many native groups to maintain their identity, power, and agency in the face of brutal dislocation. They survived genocide through a combination of strategic alliances, guerilla warfare, and sometimes the sheer luck of patterns of American settlement. Ultimately, this is not so much the story of victims as survivors.</span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-77408197663179174882024-03-01T10:15:00.000-08:002024-03-01T10:15:19.500-08:00 Shalom Eric, email from Jake D., 3-01-24<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Shalom, Eric</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Well, I asked you not to answer my email, but you did (I knew you would, but I had to ask) – mercifully, your email was very short. But still disturbing! Do I have to drive to T-burg and take your shoelaces, belt, and the knives in your kitchen and hide them? Seriously man, give me a call – immediately, if what you wrote is the true state of things. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Barring that, let's get right back to 3, and call it, for the sake of clarity, 3b</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">3b. You do and have hated the concept of the Third Way, but if you look at this closely, there is no other option for Jews like you and me. We are Americans – neither radically pro-Zionist nor anti-Zionist. We hardly think of the Jewish state at all! We look on with horror as events unfold there, as the moral beings we are – but we are people caught in the middle. But do we look on with any <i>special</i> horror? Right now ethnic cleansing, murder, and sexual crimes (mass rapes) are happening in Sudan. But no one pays attention. Where is their <i>special</i> horror? Why is this catastrophe a lower moral priority for American Jews than Israel Palestine? Ask yourself that. But on to the main topic: Why are we in the middle? We belong to the first, or second-largest Jewish community in the world (depending on who is counting and how). And despite our numbers and influence, look at what the American Jew has become. Either you are a cheerleader for Israel – and that is your primary Jewish Identity. Or you find the Jewish state, and its actions, and even the fact that one exists, morally wrong, or repugnant. But why must we be in either of those camps? I know this dichotomy causes you much pain. Let’s examine it a bit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">3c. If you are in either camp, you are bound to Zionism – either for or against. You tell me stories of the minyan you belong to, and a great deal of energy is spent on justice for the Palestinians. OK. That is noble. But on the other side of town are the Jews you talk about (not at your shul) who hang their primary identity as Jews as Zionists. Some, not all, do not consider anti-Zionist Jews, Jews, or more graciously, but still a nasty, mean-spirit, self-hating Jews. As you know, I reject the entire structure. From A-Z. That is why we need the Third Way. We need to create an authentic progressive Judaism (really Judaisms) right here in America. We need our way. A Third Way. Why should we be tethered to a place we have never been? Why must be Jews in the very place where our shoes touch the ground.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">4. Let’s tackle four tomorrow. It is getting late. Well, Sunday or Monday, after Shabbos. What will I say: what does the Third Way look like? Well, preview [!] we are already doing it, but not calling it such. So, I will leave you with that. But I do want you to rest on the day of rest. And I don’t just mean just your body – I mean your heart and soul. The way you are heading now, well, it is not good my friend. I say this out of the deep love I have for you. You are so kind and generous… please treat yourself the same way! Love & Shalom: JD </span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-66405162038282760782024-02-29T16:54:00.000-08:002024-03-03T06:51:17.433-08:00Shalom Eric, email from Jake D., 2-29-24<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Shalom Eric,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Today is a perfect day to start this, Eric, as today is a day that only exists once every four years. What better way to throw useless words into the empty air than on a day that hardly ever exists! So let’s get into it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">We’ve been talking, texting, and even calling each other, but I still worry about your state of mind. I keep going over your words in my head, thinking, no, no, he should not think that, it is harming him. Why does he not think this. Or this. If he did, he would be in less pain. He wouldn’t sound so close to the edge. So I need to be painfully honest here. We’ve know each other for twenty-five years… if I can’t tell you these things, than who can? So I am going to write you a series of emails. Yes, they are old-fashioned. But here I think necessary. I want my thoughts to flow, but also be structured, like an old fashioned letter. I want both, and email can do that. I’m going to number things for a while, and see how that goes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">1. First, let’s get into the Jewish Thing Again, as we call it, for what else do we always get around to eventually no matter where we start? I ask you again, abou the Jewish Thing Again, and please think about it: what kind of Jew are you? Remember what you said, an American Jews. Consider that phrase. America. Jew. American Jew. Your mother’s family came from Poland/Russian in 1890. They were not Zionists, and whatever religion they had petered out in less than a generation, and long with that, Yiddish was flushed down the toilet. What Jewish immigrant on the Lower East Side and then Brooklyn supported a family speaking Yiddish? By going to shul? You are the progeny of these people: who shed their Jewishness as if they were clothes on their backs which were on fire! You great-grandparents were no pioneers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">2. Now here you are, standing, sitting, sulking, on your windswept hill outside of Ithaca, and you worry about the Jewish Situation. I ask again, why is such a vast abstraction yours to worry about? You’ve got bigger problems friend, than to solve the problem of the Eternal Jew. You should worry about the Eternal Eric (and we both know you are not eternal, that you will die, and lately, it sounds like you wish it would come sooner rather than later. But more on that soon). I say this not to ridicule you, (HaShem forgive I should do that to you, my friend, my brother) but I am trying to do is to steer you to the course where I know you can make a difference: inhabiting that thin line where the events you can control and those you can’t stand side by side, and it is up to you to decide which is which, and which one to grasp and act, or grasp and sink. We’ve spoken of this so many times. There is no formula. You take it all case by case. I have known you for a quarter of a century, and the times you have been most grounded, most balanced, most SANE, is when you live in the zone. You change what you can… you make peace with what you can’t. When you don’t, you act crazy… really fucked in the head… and that is the point you are at right now. Fucked in the had</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">3. The Third Way: Yes, I am here already. Why so fast, you may ask? Because it ties to one and two above so closely, they are really one topic. One problem. And maybe one solution. You fought me viciously on the topic when we last spoke. And then the texts! Shit! But fair enough. We are all upset after October. It comes out in different ways. I forgive your cruel words. Even if you don’t ask for forgiveness (and you should, I am you BEST FRIEND); regardless, I forgive you nonetheless. So last time we spoke it was Am Israel this, Am Israel that, and when I could get a word in, and I hardly could, I asked where is this people you call Israel? This Am Israel. Is it the Chasid on the bus who looked at your jeans, bright knit kippah, and long tallit, and thought perhaps you were gay? Or that woman you study with, who constantly reminds you that Judaism has never had a feminist tradition until fifty years ago (and she is right, even when the Chasid is wrong about your sexual orientation) and makes you feel like that holder of a tradition you find abhorrent. Is this your Am Israel, you People of Israel, or really, is it something more, far more complex… yes, the Third Way I was trying to talk about. Crazy stuff. Look at the time. Let me continue tomorrow. I have to get to bed. Don’t email me back. I have more to say! I have to get to campus by 8AM for a meeting. Can you believe that crap? What kind of masochist does that, Eric? Get some rest, you look like shit. Shalom – Jake.</span></p><div><br /></div><p></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-56221043635789867312024-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:002024-02-06T08:18:17.062-08:00The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebsdcyKNJOSabiZ5Jt7sDgR8Cr6e6hzYdjhPODmpxoVVAhb1aZSvJ-W1u2W0EwxAONItN12zkvcX9HF4M9-ZH-T7TIVsfNiVV-0p2WGysLQhtC8mw-WSP5jVZWv0Jd_Y1ZvkcYvz44Y8-nL-w4CWKevWUGcJzEoX5QgBgE1EDjMFo3HKDAbI3sUZqvw/s522/Palestine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebsdcyKNJOSabiZ5Jt7sDgR8Cr6e6hzYdjhPODmpxoVVAhb1aZSvJ-W1u2W0EwxAONItN12zkvcX9HF4M9-ZH-T7TIVsfNiVV-0p2WGysLQhtC8mw-WSP5jVZWv0Jd_Y1ZvkcYvz44Y8-nL-w4CWKevWUGcJzEoX5QgBgE1EDjMFo3HKDAbI3sUZqvw/s320/Palestine.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé </i>is a difficult book to quickly review. Part of this is because of the complexity of the topic – and how fraught any historical investigation of the war that gave birth to Israel and expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians inevitably becomes. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from the Holy Land from 1947 to 1949. This fact seems beyond dispute. Palestinians lived in large swatches of the Holy Land, and then were forced to leave. There is complexity here: some left from fear, others were forced; their homes and villages were destroyed. In the end, the country of Israel was, except for a population of Palestinians in the Galilee, largely "cleansed" of Palestinians. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Pappe presumes that the ethnical cleansing was the reason for the war and not the result of Israeli armies conquering territory. Does it matter that much? Probably not. Plan Dalet, the largest effort by the Israeli forces to capture territory, can either be seen as a military endeavor – an effort to create a contiguous Israeli territory, or primarily a mission to remove Palestinians from the Holy Land. Again, does it matter? Not very much. The result was the same. One can view Plan Dalet in two ways: the military mission as paramount, to create a continuous country, and the other as a mission to get rid of Arabs. This is Pappe’s position. He downplays Arab and Palestinian armed resistance to Israel – as if they were not much of a threat at all, except for Jordan’s Arab Legion. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is difficult not to see this as a purely ideology view. And the numbers tell the story. The pre-state Yishuv and wartime Israel had a population of 600,000, and 6,000 died in the War of Independence. The loss of one percent of a small population is tremendous. Pappe is not interested in this. He never mentions this number.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is an important book, that highlights the horrors of war. The twentieth century was largely the story of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and population transfers. We need a book like Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder (and his other works) that ties together the Holocaust with other genocide/transfer events in Europe. I think to truly understand the Nakba, it needs to be tied together with other such events in the twentieth century, like the Partition of India. As far as I know, that book has yet to be written.</span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-91445468200958615012024-02-02T13:50:00.000-08:002024-02-02T13:53:27.517-08:00Unlocking the Secret of the Erev Rav: The Mixed Multitude in Jewish Kabbalah<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47Xt_MM2KAsIfqeAIfNcmBlpKVLkJPABI7cdI4qL0C4a1HKT1ej8bgpJXJGtJ4JUEe2Jf1YndEIuIl034oKY48kxg_eMTWFQhbpW4ah2LaM85zyXu9SM0yikr7hbet_VDtJcpWprBLqKlim69Q-wVa87zQEpodYpTf5rHsCt4kkC-gSI1SfgL4oP9Tg/s342/mixed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="228" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47Xt_MM2KAsIfqeAIfNcmBlpKVLkJPABI7cdI4qL0C4a1HKT1ej8bgpJXJGtJ4JUEe2Jf1YndEIuIl034oKY48kxg_eMTWFQhbpW4ah2LaM85zyXu9SM0yikr7hbet_VDtJcpWprBLqKlim69Q-wVa87zQEpodYpTf5rHsCt4kkC-gSI1SfgL4oP9Tg/w240-h361/mixed.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unlocking the Secret of
the Erev Rav: The Mixed Multitude in Jewish Kabbalah</i> by Rivka Levy is about
a religious notion that seems to have some adherents in the “orthodox” Jewish
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mixed multitude, erev rav in
Hebrew, refers to people who came out of Egypt with the Israelites (who were
not Israelites).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scholars do not know exactly
who these people were and in the Torah,
they are never mentioned again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">But in later Jewish tradition they became a shadowy group
within the Jewish tradition hell bent on destroying it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today calling someone an erev rav seems like
a way for one Jewish person to cast a shadow on another person’s Jewish credentials
because of a political or religious difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Needless to say, the concept of an erav rav is dangerous and
specious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Levy’s book does not overly go
into conspiratorial territory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sees the erev rav as a distinctly Jewish problem (and not an othering issue) with a
Breslov solution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> But </span>I don’t like the
concept of the mixed multitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t
need it; we Jews are good enough at creating differences among ourselves without the idea of a shadowy cabal, but at least Levy’s treatment is humane and broad.</span><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-42014889843956837052024-01-31T09:46:00.000-08:002024-01-31T09:48:02.682-08:00Afterlife: The Jewish View: Where are we headed?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2JQFkmMRremxBAI9baegucACega6YDOV9CVplI9UTf-uWuVnM79YOzfIFZ7LVTkdyUj623nIJoIS42O02Je-g932Qhp2s9dvD68Q2QmP8tXziiKjmiFuVP8s-y7EvfTEqOSp_ah_VY_ymWajJproE1USeJxbcJurYlMt_LrJwnlMF8hwL0IUgsbgew/s522/Afterlfe.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="327" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2JQFkmMRremxBAI9baegucACega6YDOV9CVplI9UTf-uWuVnM79YOzfIFZ7LVTkdyUj623nIJoIS42O02Je-g932Qhp2s9dvD68Q2QmP8tXziiKjmiFuVP8s-y7EvfTEqOSp_ah_VY_ymWajJproE1USeJxbcJurYlMt_LrJwnlMF8hwL0IUgsbgew/w241-h386/Afterlfe.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Afterlife: The Jewish View: Where are we headed?</i> by Jonathan Morgenstern is a certain take on the Jewish system of the afterlife, if we say there is a system at all. Unlike Christianity, where the idea of an afterlife (can be) extraordinarily important, in Judaism, it is important but carries less weight. Most Jews, particularly secular or progressive, have little idea of speculations of Jewish life beyond death.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I don’t agree with Morgenstern’s theology or worldview, but if you want a pretty short book to give you a picture of the Jewish afterlife, this is not too bad. Just don't think it is the only one in town.</span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-45965133968920151012024-01-24T13:05:00.000-08:002024-01-24T13:06:56.099-08:00Jewish Mysticism: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Kabbalah, Merkabah Mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidism<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsW3vBeYgiDZl9HlzvrM3pKKQp6XwZ-5api9yGxcpCEhTzgdMS6qUbXv0f93D5r0are6CJwO-xQ_RvmgDFmWtKC389KoUzl_FkjW92aIm8jQeRzgSm3WMnlGlZdesWvF04O2S9ASvCjObY0YqGnZBLMQ-onw5TqaO5jWd8O1UAWuJCWMVsKyPTpNdrYw/s342/81sdA2vAilL._SY342_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="219" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsW3vBeYgiDZl9HlzvrM3pKKQp6XwZ-5api9yGxcpCEhTzgdMS6qUbXv0f93D5r0are6CJwO-xQ_RvmgDFmWtKC389KoUzl_FkjW92aIm8jQeRzgSm3WMnlGlZdesWvF04O2S9ASvCjObY0YqGnZBLMQ-onw5TqaO5jWd8O1UAWuJCWMVsKyPTpNdrYw/w241-h376/81sdA2vAilL._SY342_.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><i>Jewish Mysticism: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Kabbalah, Merkabah Mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidism</i> (Jewish Spirituality) by Mari Silva is actually one of the better introductions to Kabbalah I have read. Given the author’s (seemingly other) New Age type works, this book is surprisingly scholarly in a popular and comprehensible way. Except for the somewhat long digression about fundamentalist religions (I suppose this was written post-911) this is an excellent book to ground your Jewish mysticism.</span><span> </span></span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-42521723466080518752024-01-21T12:33:00.000-08:002024-01-21T12:34:06.320-08:00No Greater Remembrance<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuUE32emSFMCyew-AHom6tRQMlaClmfQLGkdSEnZMiIM32aZB-Q0kOoUktmOfM848D3v8WMlxhdMaPDiI_231GYohTYlhNwFtr_zB_83jAAeqTL0NiAF_yBN9OgMOqFZFahjKbjAO9wHdmpxNLEy3N4Op89TZ3iJ1Dk64x2v5qNDsWH_enB2qX-7NXQ/s342/Liliana.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="226" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuUE32emSFMCyew-AHom6tRQMlaClmfQLGkdSEnZMiIM32aZB-Q0kOoUktmOfM848D3v8WMlxhdMaPDiI_231GYohTYlhNwFtr_zB_83jAAeqTL0NiAF_yBN9OgMOqFZFahjKbjAO9wHdmpxNLEy3N4Op89TZ3iJ1Dk64x2v5qNDsWH_enB2qX-7NXQ/w258-h392/Liliana.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice </i>by Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the more powerful books I have read recently. This is everything a piece of art should be: a moving invocation to life and loss, an examination of the injustice in this world, especially for women at the hands of predatory men, all written in powerful and gorgeous prose. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book is deeply sad but also hopeful. Rivera Garza has written a work that is a memorial to her long dead sister that shines brighter than any plaque or statue. By the end we, the reader, know Liliana, murdered at twenty, as if she was still her young and vibrant self; her sister brings her to life so we can love her too.</span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-73984908338426114152024-01-12T09:31:00.000-08:002024-01-12T09:31:11.597-08:00How to Read the Bible<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrLRQa2RKp89F4yupSfjhXVwUP_nu1Kp4P4kCMG_UweAvoNoFu2br61hc7cpxWSFLSv9y8MbG4hs-ATOW6BZZo0ysmPezAZxUU8Wve2yZIORvndPGVgD5TNO8jqIHI4J3ydzLEBgYM3rUTZX4sUho6BZLYyDU5nb95Ie059TrD2MPt2RIgRCqcjkAlaA/s342/How%20to%20Read.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="228" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrLRQa2RKp89F4yupSfjhXVwUP_nu1Kp4P4kCMG_UweAvoNoFu2br61hc7cpxWSFLSv9y8MbG4hs-ATOW6BZZo0ysmPezAZxUU8Wve2yZIORvndPGVgD5TNO8jqIHI4J3ydzLEBgYM3rUTZX4sUho6BZLYyDU5nb95Ie059TrD2MPt2RIgRCqcjkAlaA/w242-h364/How%20to%20Read.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>How to Read the Bible</i> by Marc Zvi Brettler is a tour de force of the historical-critical method as applied to the Hebrew Bible. He uses the biblical texts, external sources, archeology in his exploration of this well-known, but little understood book. This is simply an excellent introduction to this particular view of the bible text, for both beginners and more advanced readers interested in this topic.</span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-18731369767525630812024-01-11T06:58:00.000-08:002024-01-11T07:07:02.952-08:00The Lovely Bones & 70's Loss<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqzwiKeMJsEr2tQ6nZ8lg0b3rl23vfC6JYmEQO6pCDdM67zFep0GpEF7xU5PXdxdtAhixcjcxj23GkuMGQCcDmmxSZ75Vbh7d7UjcuI4mUJ1aGmM5tjUSbr_0eTCFhMmqWv30ll20bbHAOnZ9j7lppWo6vM3YhNQJDylITl8OVWPtnorILFOLLFE1ojg/s522/The%20Lovely.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="345" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqzwiKeMJsEr2tQ6nZ8lg0b3rl23vfC6JYmEQO6pCDdM67zFep0GpEF7xU5PXdxdtAhixcjcxj23GkuMGQCcDmmxSZ75Vbh7d7UjcuI4mUJ1aGmM5tjUSbr_0eTCFhMmqWv30ll20bbHAOnZ9j7lppWo6vM3YhNQJDylITl8OVWPtnorILFOLLFE1ojg/w253-h384/The%20Lovely.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I can see why <i>The Lovely Bones</i> by Alice Sebold was the gigantic hit that it was: it captures the essence of the seventies when fears of missing/murdered children began to enter the zeitgeist. The ghost theme was worn out by the time this book was published, but Sebold largely pulls it off- and it is necessary for the story. The ghost entering the friend part and the sex scene was excessive; this is particularly the case in a novel about sexual violence. But I did enjoy that-no-real solution to Susie’s murder – people learn to live with her passing as a memory and a presence.</span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-42860464876617152492024-01-08T08:01:00.000-08:002024-01-08T08:02:12.532-08:00Sudan: The Failure and Division of an African State<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrC9bo8Yu6tRqTbJ_UtXsiv9ZiLxwE0MiqTPq4LYnk-cigNiHCLbh0CnwElf_mfQ8ppevK-jjaoLVRLm1OAcpId6P5_N03rSY6m97ib_V7_airOoxKIJjrLa2XkGd9whH8M8_Gc_Fd98AxCjiKBLaiX3te5mh4PTShnmk1DpHQxvt5IK7StHe920ejqA/s522/Sudan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="335" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrC9bo8Yu6tRqTbJ_UtXsiv9ZiLxwE0MiqTPq4LYnk-cigNiHCLbh0CnwElf_mfQ8ppevK-jjaoLVRLm1OAcpId6P5_N03rSY6m97ib_V7_airOoxKIJjrLa2XkGd9whH8M8_Gc_Fd98AxCjiKBLaiX3te5mh4PTShnmk1DpHQxvt5IK7StHe920ejqA/w254-h396/Sudan.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Sudan: The Failure and Division of an African State</i> by Richard Cockett details the modern history of Sudan, and its rapid descent into a malfunctioning state. It is hard to summarize quickly why Sudan is failing; many factors have come together to create this situation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The classic colonization borders are at work: the country has an elite “Arab” population that sees itself as the natural rulering class of Sudan’s other Muslim and “African” groups in the west Darfur and along the coast. There is no sense of being Sudanese in the nationalist sense of the word. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Cockett does an excellent job showing the people and players in this complex geo-political mess. The book was finished in 2010, and unfortunately, a civil war much like the one in the early 2000s is in progress. This is from today’s (1-8-24) news:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">“The east African nation of Sudan is in the midst of a devastating civil war that has killed over 12,000 people and displaced more than 7.3 million within the country since fighting began in April, according to data from the United Nations.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is happening now, and the world seems to only care about the Hamas/Israel war and Ukraine. </span></p><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-11619851875511652202024-01-04T07:22:00.000-08:002024-01-04T07:22:26.713-08:00ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ROBXXy37QrPcPhVr1uEwbG53uABwy8-OIVKO8MDGgZH3hYpO19EhdsqQaMynA5HNHbBh8mkGL7HcWwShwhEK5bpRx7yR4U17Oq30RzjjQBaZ4k3gDwQTCfgz-eLnl3gjnt2vZOjvTgb0ZGGqkRgiXXGoU9NsBOwGjDR7xrdxG1lg43zsr53ORRg5Rw/s445/parasha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ROBXXy37QrPcPhVr1uEwbG53uABwy8-OIVKO8MDGgZH3hYpO19EhdsqQaMynA5HNHbBh8mkGL7HcWwShwhEK5bpRx7yR4U17Oq30RzjjQBaZ4k3gDwQTCfgz-eLnl3gjnt2vZOjvTgb0ZGGqkRgiXXGoU9NsBOwGjDR7xrdxG1lg43zsr53ORRg5Rw/w250-h376/parasha.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary</i> by David Kasher is an excellent dive into the traditionally “accepted” commentaries on the Torah, which was once part and parcel of nearly all Divrei Torah. Kasher is creative in his use of Rashi, Nachmanides, and ibn Ezra, among others. This is a refreshing read free of diversions into Kabbalah and esoterica; just clean Torah commentary and how it relates to our contemporary lives.</span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-63969844207851070802023-12-20T07:32:00.000-08:002023-12-20T09:13:31.351-08:00Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_yI0Z3BbsST2btjNfLtkl5XzfHR8GFW92m5KJGDR8gQ62O2g9aVrMP6lco1TzzmGlrreAx5Eur3k3i4jelYvLxyb1asBeNaB0eIP7dAf_BKTz5JTm-6CEaStSE8kT6ZYgu91bEK_8nv19zvX-QsmuS-y8P3OFMzUCt2YkNUJPEyWvvxmyfyLtkviJdg/s522/Writing%20on%20the%20Wall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="337" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_yI0Z3BbsST2btjNfLtkl5XzfHR8GFW92m5KJGDR8gQ62O2g9aVrMP6lco1TzzmGlrreAx5Eur3k3i4jelYvLxyb1asBeNaB0eIP7dAf_BKTz5JTm-6CEaStSE8kT6ZYgu91bEK_8nv19zvX-QsmuS-y8P3OFMzUCt2YkNUJPEyWvvxmyfyLtkviJdg/w234-h362/Writing%20on%20the%20Wall.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">In <i>Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity</i>, author Karen Stern takes us on a journal of context. We have many written records by elite Jews in the first decades of the common era, but we know very little if these accounts reflect the lives of Jews on the ground.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Stern examines graffiti in several locations in the eastern Mediterranean: from outside rock outcroppings along trade routes to the inside of synagogues, to marketplaces and sporting arenas. She sees in these places the ubiquity of Jews in many contexts, even in a time of rising persecution from both pagans and Christians.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Stern’s careful analysis shows how well-integrated Jews were in their surroundings. Jews had much in common with their Christian and Pagan neighbors, and their graffiti (and all three groups produced graffiti) if not for specific Jewish references, would be identical. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This has been a refreshing trend in Jewish scholarship in recent years: instead of looking for factors whereby Jews are separated from their social environment, the areas of overlap are viewed as more salient, and a richer field of study. This book certainly bears this out. The graffiti examined in this important work was made by "ordinary" Jews, giving us a glimpse of their world outside the rabbinical lens. </span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-37465971564777658932023-12-12T11:33:00.000-08:002023-12-12T11:34:02.474-08:00The Secret That Is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqld1qjIllqveQ7f6CKJForGzWN8KW1MTgKnaPyA7GtL5kYZBdUbpIUB5p8WKZPTNnDP5MFF2J9qOjgtFOrsFPTSRzYw5C4Knnz36zBkOYOsGDV8TQ2kXkWTeq-5agJxPyha4qgrKGEDOqMB8viNiBym3HQ-1M-UdTehSM8iwsXfn9tv-OqPOb1iRMcg/s522/The%20Secret.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="348" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqld1qjIllqveQ7f6CKJForGzWN8KW1MTgKnaPyA7GtL5kYZBdUbpIUB5p8WKZPTNnDP5MFF2J9qOjgtFOrsFPTSRzYw5C4Knnz36zBkOYOsGDV8TQ2kXkWTeq-5agJxPyha4qgrKGEDOqMB8viNiBym3HQ-1M-UdTehSM8iwsXfn9tv-OqPOb1iRMcg/w257-h386/The%20Secret.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: large;">Jay Michaelson is an incredibly talented and versatile writer. Last year, he won a Jewish Book Award for his scholarly work on Jacob Frank. Now, we have a collection of short fiction, The Secret That Is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales. All of Michaelson’s books share common features, but there are also dissimilarities. He is that kind of writer, always pushing his subject matter both toward his concerns and away from them.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This collection of short fiction does not disappoint. Here we have ten stories, modeled after the ten emanations of God as depicted in the Kabbalah. The Kabbalah has always flirted with, if not indulged in, heresy, and Michaelson’s tales allow this flirtation and indulgence to become a full-fledged sexual romance. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>You can read this collection knowing close to nothing about Kabbalah. Just revel in the mystery and richness of Michaelson’s prose. If you know some, you will know more after reading. If you are an accomplished Kabbalist, you will see old sources poured into new vessels to great effect in this extraordinary collection of stories.</span> </span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-43126174595862693502023-12-11T09:08:00.000-08:002023-12-11T09:08:49.094-08:00Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiGNWrO7wssUaZdj57Qn0NFbhIKwmzrgargjdAb5NJ1fzYJCO_z01gBWUJp8YFVnQL4vZoZ8V3sFlBWEAKvsdFAVkM2WMU35gR45l6K3p64NcGpDVsUy5r4Itqg0WE2F8ogRl9YijCHeKon48ajEhPZdN2e0AuBVyd4P9v1yr43PmxKb0QluUmdj63A/s522/dirshuni.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="346" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiGNWrO7wssUaZdj57Qn0NFbhIKwmzrgargjdAb5NJ1fzYJCO_z01gBWUJp8YFVnQL4vZoZ8V3sFlBWEAKvsdFAVkM2WMU35gR45l6K3p64NcGpDVsUy5r4Itqg0WE2F8ogRl9YijCHeKon48ajEhPZdN2e0AuBVyd4P9v1yr43PmxKb0QluUmdj63A/w263-h398/dirshuni.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash by Tamar Biala (Editor) and Tamar Kadari is an interesting and often unexpected dive into Torah from the 50% of Jews largely excluded from study – women. This collection is from Israeli women and no doubt the original Hebrew was an amazing excursion into Israeli Hebrew being used to cast and recast Hebrew stories of different ages and stages. The translators give us a flavor of the word play involved – wordplay which is key to midrash in all its forms. This is a wonderful, enriching collection of Torah works.</span></p><div class="celwidget" data-cel-widget="titleblock_feature_div" data-csa-c-asin="" data-csa-c-content-id="titleblock" data-csa-c-id="4c1h91-cz7mab-d9qqzi-rfpvll" data-csa-c-is-in-initial-active-row="false" data-csa-c-slot-id="titleblock_feature_div" data-csa-c-type="widget" data-feature-name="titleblock" id="titleblock_feature_div" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div class="a-section a-spacing-none" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><h1 class="a-spacing-none a-text-normal" id="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 36px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><br /></h1></div></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-2515374118824440962023-11-16T10:13:00.000-08:002023-11-16T10:14:27.289-08:00A Deep Dive<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4tvdHEaHQ1I3Dr-TC42WpqXdMiVVq3_87rT_54lzvy0Qo6XMGmd7hQhJmMioRMy9zt8bTb5Rl97YAYQ0FW1mI1sPpW64sk3WQ-lNb75ET7TFwwzouZ8aFv1OOZqz5b2QZlvNAm9Hzgu6TBM-Zt0CyBf-8rMsRStzN9ptFxgg1s_9YqcFQiX-EtOBwA/s522/embers%20of%20war.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="345" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4tvdHEaHQ1I3Dr-TC42WpqXdMiVVq3_87rT_54lzvy0Qo6XMGmd7hQhJmMioRMy9zt8bTb5Rl97YAYQ0FW1mI1sPpW64sk3WQ-lNb75ET7TFwwzouZ8aFv1OOZqz5b2QZlvNAm9Hzgu6TBM-Zt0CyBf-8rMsRStzN9ptFxgg1s_9YqcFQiX-EtOBwA/w270-h409/embers%20of%20war.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: large;">Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall is probably the go-to book for the Franco-Vietnam War. It is certainly very thorough and at over 1000 pages, you should really be interested in this topic to take this book on… this is not casual reading but a deep dive into Vietnam before the American involvement. This book is brilliant, but detailed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-59147463023043471822023-11-13T10:11:00.000-08:002023-11-13T10:12:37.982-08:00Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvP2_2u_fdVVy_x65ITcljSDFYXDIIX8W_LLJInfgYTqkMQn31v7AjCK8G-fYv-i-LzZD-YFplBWAWtro6jR6KzYyV_W4P393sDTzKdUpP0tkbxLP5HyMwC54W2QPLPyN6zK21mFAK5I6hNJQdQPG1YgzdT9NpN-yaSPd70msZzmdvq8HqSVwFCsf6A/s522/Ordinary%20Men.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="343" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvP2_2u_fdVVy_x65ITcljSDFYXDIIX8W_LLJInfgYTqkMQn31v7AjCK8G-fYv-i-LzZD-YFplBWAWtro6jR6KzYyV_W4P393sDTzKdUpP0tkbxLP5HyMwC54W2QPLPyN6zK21mFAK5I6hNJQdQPG1YgzdT9NpN-yaSPd70msZzmdvq8HqSVwFCsf6A/w252-h384/Ordinary%20Men.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><i>Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final
Solution in Poland</i> by Christopher R. Browning shows how under the right circumstances,
most men can become mass killers. </span><span>They
do not even have to be heavily indoctrinated by ideology.</span><span> </span><span>Peer pressure works just fine.</span><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>These police units were given the task of killing
Jewish men, women, and children, most of the time at point-blank range. </span><span> </span><span>The task was considered difficult – not because
of an inherent compassion for Jews, but because killing large numbers of people
takes a psychological toll on shooters.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">The men of Reserve Policy Battalion 101 did not have to participate
in the mass killings. They were given the
options of other assignments. Some did take them,
and this made them outsiders to their comrades, forcing others to do the unpleasant
work. The mechanics of this are very
simple and scary. People can grow accustomed
to bloodshed just like any other difficult job - just because they want to belong.
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And of course, when these men were prosecuted by West
Germany, most were not convicted. And
due to German laws, their names can’t be released to the public. Disgraceful.</span><o:p></o:p></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-74982631667014720832023-10-26T09:34:00.003-07:002023-10-26T09:34:39.552-07:00Hasidism: A New History<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDD7V50Onqn-vvfIpt4f5ABN4zeowRnaotDvtkSqq3T95DlSwtElRsMxjVPlQNxnNPgEcY9UosOpoeb0SIDdHvmOOfOsc7slq18_TyxJ5mYiYsOzFG9cFuXFiDPCyxF76ZkWA5-3Dm7DFUmOU0TQ1EDP0pYNocWh5oGDtsZ4Yhl_HBgQjJlW6WQqaPQ/s522/A%20New%20History.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="346" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDD7V50Onqn-vvfIpt4f5ABN4zeowRnaotDvtkSqq3T95DlSwtElRsMxjVPlQNxnNPgEcY9UosOpoeb0SIDdHvmOOfOsc7slq18_TyxJ5mYiYsOzFG9cFuXFiDPCyxF76ZkWA5-3Dm7DFUmOU0TQ1EDP0pYNocWh5oGDtsZ4Yhl_HBgQjJlW6WQqaPQ/w249-h376/A%20New%20History.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Hasidism: A New History </i>by David Biale, David Assaf, Benjamin Brown, and others, will probably be the definitive history of this Jewish movement for some time. There is the scope of the work, from the very early day of Hasidism, when it really wasn’t even an organized movement, to its present-day forms, where Hasidic groups have been revitalized after their terrible losses in the Shoah. There is also its detailed orientation: contemporary scholars have reassessed historical investigations of Hasidism, to ask new questions and reach new conclusions.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">This in-depth work is for anyone interested in Hasidism who wants to go knee-deep. </span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-59105061446837978282023-10-19T11:11:00.001-07:002023-10-19T11:11:30.487-07:00The Non-Dual Siddur, and More<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Pjpf_am_r8tP0cmy1XpguuCUvcOJXS7jLoQKVKkIvwKZAiCE9RxgMHoXRkdpb-HN4AevgATtlB0NKiYtV7XLu8CsBxm3HoqB0qvlGnHPsTbuYAwzLsv8-F_08qDHvOhSB6_8By5mPK7hguMaePY6Ssrw3vVOeDbe7KNTvY7GO7Zm3NuHlU07udorwA/s522/Well-Green.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Pjpf_am_r8tP0cmy1XpguuCUvcOJXS7jLoQKVKkIvwKZAiCE9RxgMHoXRkdpb-HN4AevgATtlB0NKiYtV7XLu8CsBxm3HoqB0qvlGnHPsTbuYAwzLsv8-F_08qDHvOhSB6_8By5mPK7hguMaePY6Ssrw3vVOeDbe7KNTvY7GO7Zm3NuHlU07udorwA/s320/Well-Green.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Well of Living Insight: Comments on the Siddur</i> by Arthur Green is a handy commentary on the siddur, written from Arthur Green’s distinctive angle on Jewish non-dualism. This is the kind of book you want to read a bit at a time, soaking it in; it is also the musing of a man who has studied the siddur for years and comes at it from a variety of interesting, often unexpected angles.</span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-57058529294808746832023-10-16T06:57:00.005-07:002023-10-16T06:58:06.796-07:00The Stoic’s Guide to Emotional Mastery: Learn How to Stay Calm and Disciplined <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_0AvIHPkgWaZu8oD9Sks56OdEJlX2j_y5cwwYUArO5vyJ8HHILzyDpcaQd7M9ajv1UpVsEeD_PO_w_-J1mOJY2ZSY1wUToTh5W56lw3MVVA4Ra0hLu2jphycZN2kYyne7YMtrnd6P0DLwfbvt7g05zuaGLlQc9OJtn0HA3EWR3K0cs2p6nua0opXZA/s522/The%20Stocis%20Guide.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="348" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_0AvIHPkgWaZu8oD9Sks56OdEJlX2j_y5cwwYUArO5vyJ8HHILzyDpcaQd7M9ajv1UpVsEeD_PO_w_-J1mOJY2ZSY1wUToTh5W56lw3MVVA4Ra0hLu2jphycZN2kYyne7YMtrnd6P0DLwfbvt7g05zuaGLlQc9OJtn0HA3EWR3K0cs2p6nua0opXZA/w264-h397/The%20Stocis%20Guide.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Stoic’s Guide to Emotional Mastery: Learn How to Stay Calm and Disciplined by Winston Meskill, is one of the many books about Stoicism to come out in the last few years. I think we live in a quintessentially Stoic age: we are part of a dying empire, living many degrees away from feeling any power or control of our own lives. Stoicism worked in the Greco-Roman age as it gave its adherents control over what they could control, and the tools to let go of what was not under their control. We need these skills as well – and this book is an excellent guide.</span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-38325707761261614202023-10-10T08:25:00.005-07:002023-10-10T08:26:02.847-07:00Revisionist Reading<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJhoHMUfbeArqUygNG6456wjKYKEaTi-FQpUxyBEq9GRS9r-6Gav0TBZ6wdQDF1sJkB_ZGEzGPfyuBWN54NaU_Da7mnzcj0fb7_jLYpsjDPDDa9MN7D2J-6iDgRSzqXjt0WEzdUiukGhnEpWkx_568WdmaZXaVdQNX0QiFF2oRrLJMGR63Pq8Y-kyLQ/s445/the%20lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="286" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJhoHMUfbeArqUygNG6456wjKYKEaTi-FQpUxyBEq9GRS9r-6Gav0TBZ6wdQDF1sJkB_ZGEzGPfyuBWN54NaU_Da7mnzcj0fb7_jLYpsjDPDDa9MN7D2J-6iDgRSzqXjt0WEzdUiukGhnEpWkx_568WdmaZXaVdQNX0QiFF2oRrLJMGR63Pq8Y-kyLQ/w243-h378/the%20lady.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I haven’t read D.H. Lawrence in more than a decade. After seeing a decent movie version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, I decided to read, once again, the novel. Understand that Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, and The Rainbow deeply influenced me as a reader and writer when I was young.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now, over a hundred years since it was written, Lady Chatterley has not aged well. Few people would agree with Lawrence’s notions of the role of the sexes, both in and out of bed. What was radical in 1928 is no longer so - and some of his words are harmful. Lawrence’s fascist tendencies are also on display here, with the narrator’s sweeping and narrow generalizations about humanity. Returning to this book was a real exercise in revisionist reading.</span></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-74494169013160252132023-09-20T08:46:00.004-07:002023-09-20T08:46:53.588-07:00Not For Me, Maybe For You<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0GzkL2t2dwKJStQrtrhBH5fZB0JSwDvUOsdV22rdIpCcHEIqL4onfrpQ80sJ7Fej3VkjhWL8IOcwjMGlL9r2J0wGurW3VS3HmJRGDWnFeVc3RTdyBZTQ1ky8VWGEg08VoSkLXPuPE1iXx97wO0HhwlF87gu_sln7gZzaxG8Y8YoS0HqxpcL2Z-TPcQ/s445/Osman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="283" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0GzkL2t2dwKJStQrtrhBH5fZB0JSwDvUOsdV22rdIpCcHEIqL4onfrpQ80sJ7Fej3VkjhWL8IOcwjMGlL9r2J0wGurW3VS3HmJRGDWnFeVc3RTdyBZTQ1ky8VWGEg08VoSkLXPuPE1iXx97wO0HhwlF87gu_sln7gZzaxG8Y8YoS0HqxpcL2Z-TPcQ/w241-h379/Osman.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?: Discover a Life Filled with Purpose and Joy Through the Secrets of Jewish Wisdom</i> by Michal Oshman is a fine book, and if you don’t have a wide Jewish background, this book is a great start. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I have two issues that are a problem for me, but probably not others. I don’t believe that we have something like a stable, unchanging soul. The author does and it is key to her thesis. I also do not believe that we have a singular destiny. Maybe we have more than one?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I also have a prejudicial attitude about people who coach executives and work on corporate culture. But that is my problem. Additionally, I am not sure how "secret" this Jewish wisdom actually is...</span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-71723513898225220492023-09-14T10:44:00.005-07:002023-09-14T10:49:59.233-07:00A Nationalist Whitman<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNPwzudAIn0-pOvifd2iOSkyS6xgVvW_p8s-DPOsMABlLUq9zBqyxiYZwedL9b_j9iSTKRhCwjDZyIx_lkNtewrkl3wGaEtvXuIOpHCJj6hpWS36TrnaxZE-3KcfHBFmMrYojXL5ajFamL7CdpzC4Go9g3lJ1nSja-DoMGuXRpY6RzEyjan09lwgZD3A/s500/Drumtaps.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNPwzudAIn0-pOvifd2iOSkyS6xgVvW_p8s-DPOsMABlLUq9zBqyxiYZwedL9b_j9iSTKRhCwjDZyIx_lkNtewrkl3wGaEtvXuIOpHCJj6hpWS36TrnaxZE-3KcfHBFmMrYojXL5ajFamL7CdpzC4Go9g3lJ1nSja-DoMGuXRpY6RzEyjan09lwgZD3A/w252-h379/Drumtaps.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Walt Whitman’s <i>Drum Taps</i> may surprise people who read <i>Leaves of Grass</i> ages ago and have a foggy memory of its contents. The title suggests that Whitman is a nature poet, enraptured by trees, the seasons, and the country. While this is certainly true, it is not the whole story. <i>Leaves of Grass</i> celebrate the bustle of city life, trade, commerce, and the capitalism of the day.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Drum Taps</i> displays an often-nationalist, Whitman. These (mostly) Civil War poems bring out the martial tendencies in Whitman, exhibiting a poet who saw the glory in war. Yet this is not completely true: as a nurse in Union hospitals, Whitman also saw the horrible cost of battle, and many of these poems reflect this.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Like all of Whitman’s work, Drum Taps is complex. The most famous of these poems is “O Captain! My Captain!” about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and featured in the movie Dead Poet’s Society. In context, it takes on other meanings.</span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-25478911360726378842023-09-13T12:57:00.003-07:002023-09-13T13:01:15.697-07:00A New Species and New Questions <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4PI1ktNHTyqQQBis8HhSDAeYML0mFQcqUS1X4Hr5zSH9y0EEfImidCI9bdeZobA0TeeMzDkqZYHXi6OL1K7VlRLajtUPxgu5CT9pGPU_r5gNH8p1DoGw-4yK_wyHyBDnDG_TZElVcGmOfqiMrOmkBXgKxtRHYsJcWntEoz6HdHmsmSFU-lO8jaXf0Bg/s522/Cave%20of%20Bones.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="348" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4PI1ktNHTyqQQBis8HhSDAeYML0mFQcqUS1X4Hr5zSH9y0EEfImidCI9bdeZobA0TeeMzDkqZYHXi6OL1K7VlRLajtUPxgu5CT9pGPU_r5gNH8p1DoGw-4yK_wyHyBDnDG_TZElVcGmOfqiMrOmkBXgKxtRHYsJcWntEoz6HdHmsmSFU-lO8jaXf0Bg/w258-h388/Cave%20of%20Bones.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Cave of Bones: A True Story of Discovery, Adventure, and Human Origins</i> by Lee Berger and John Hawks tells the increasingly more tangled story of the genius homo. The hominid they discovered, homo naledi, with its primitive features and small brain, should not have been alive when it was, 250,000 years ago, when Homo Sapiens were evolving in Africa. But they were, and they also buried their dead in a deep inaccessible cave, and created figurative art on the walls.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The more we discover about the genus homo, the more notions we must jettison. Is it a part of the genus homo’s makeup to bury the dead, and create figurative art? Is it simply an outgrowth of our species? A fascinating question. With this discovery, I lean toward yes. </span></p><div><br /></div>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103468178785351777.post-86474515067955506232023-08-15T17:18:00.008-07:002023-08-15T17:21:20.082-07:00Essential Reading<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinlG_hyYrQkwfms1onuUGEVrl5wmz3tvWjKzblKUB9CnhgawFKrnkLGPqumcyustvV1tOcS4d1oFoQI-v0CCvHoTPH5MiUhyWPG2sU0kemezeZeaqVCXZCFojKn45EBHrj8YsYaG9cV_bDZD_b2vM2YRT7-LA-d8b17s4kZqoAHR2p_Q9RX6dZZnH7Og/s500/Plaskow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinlG_hyYrQkwfms1onuUGEVrl5wmz3tvWjKzblKUB9CnhgawFKrnkLGPqumcyustvV1tOcS4d1oFoQI-v0CCvHoTPH5MiUhyWPG2sU0kemezeZeaqVCXZCFojKn45EBHrj8YsYaG9cV_bDZD_b2vM2YRT7-LA-d8b17s4kZqoAHR2p_Q9RX6dZZnH7Og/w239-h359/Plaskow.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972-2003 </i>by Judith Plaskow is a source text for the rise and continuation of modern feminism in Jewish thinking. Plaskow is a rigorous thinker, and it is fascinating to watch her evolve and change as the landscape of Judaism and feminism changes. This collection of essays are truly essential.</span></p><p><br /></p>The Right to Writehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272997801840646037noreply@blogger.com0