art

Nostalgie de la Boue

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Joseph Epstein is a conservative writer, mid-70s, who has spent much of his literary life pissing off readers with liberal or left values. His newest piece in the Wall Street Journal—”The Late, Great American WASP”—is a case in point, worshipping a bygone American WASP-ocracy that supposedly sacrificed the pleasures of mere domination in favor of power-wielding packaged with a sense of responsibility. While Epstein’s literary output has been polished to a smudgeless sheen, it still reeks of brownnosing, reminding me of the Francophone notion I borrowed for today’s title: nostalgie de la boue. Literally this is: nostalgia—homesickness—for the mud. It is meant to indicate an attraction to whatever is low, crude, degraded, to the romance of the wallow in our sensual nature without the trappings of civilization.

Judaism

Torah Commentary- Shemot: Moses and Emancipation

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I. The Challenge
Whereas the stories within the book of Genesis fall into atomizable story units, when encountering the book of Shemot (Exodus) it is clearly organized with a longer arc of narrative, with the episodes being more syncytial and interwoven. The themes I wish to deal with in these pieces do not find their closure in one verse or one commentatory, one might say they are “deterritorialised” across the arbitrary perasha divisions. One major theme encompassing a large portion of the book can be summarized as “how can one change the world for the better even in the face of a powerful evil empire?” Insight into how one individual, like Moshe (Moses, as he is known in English) was capable of standing up to the dominant world power, and changing the course of human history, is not limited to one episode alone.

Culture

My Problems with the Jewish ‘Fat Cats’

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“Fat cats” is a term that my father and my boss used to describe the wealthy Jews who finance synagogue and Jewish organizational programs. They would acknowledge the justification for part of my negative attitude toward most rich Jews, but they followed with the cautionary advice: “You have to respect the fat cats.”

Healing Israel/Palestine

Nelson Mandela: A Jewish Perspective

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Jews love and loved Nelson Mandela. He inspired us with his insistence that the old regime of apartheid would crumble more quickly and fully when faced with revolutionary love and compassion than when faced with anger and violence. Mandela also challenged us to think deeply about whether the current situation in Israel/Palestine reflects the ethic of compassion that is so central to Judaism.

Healing Israel/Palestine

The Mideast is America's New Wild West

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Why the enduring “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel? Cultural historians, who look at symbols and stories more than politics and policies, say a big part of it goes back to the late 1950s, when Leon Uris’ novel Exodus reached the top of the bestseller list and was then turned into a blockbuster film, with an all-star cast headed by Paul Newman. Scholar Rachel Weissbrod called it a “Zionist melodrama.” M.M. Silver devoted a whole book to the phenomenon: Our Exodus, with the subtitle, The Americanization of Israel’s Founding Story. A preeminent historian of American Judaism, Jonathan Sarna, came closest to the truth in his blurb for Silver’s book: Exodus “consciously linked brawny Zionist pioneers with the heroes of traditional American westerns.”

Culture

Religion and Utopian Economics

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Economic and power relations are the place where lofty religious or humanistic ideals come to ground. This is a place where atheists and the religious can work together to discourage exploitation, especially through Nonviolent Communication.

Culture

Weekly Sermon: Learner's Mind- The Unexpected Hour

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Whoever means to be serious about the possibility that there is a God somewhere needs to be serious about the possibility that the way we worship is no good. The trouble with worship is that we have it so controlled that we already know all that’s going to happen. Quit your worship charades. Let go of your control and let God in.

Christianity

Pope Francis on the "Different Species of Human" a.k.a. Women

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Pope Francis praises women while asserting that their gender-based skill set is not fit for leadership. He thinks women are geniuses, but still not sharp enough to be priests or govern their own bodies. This flattery strategy will not work for those of us who would like to see women ordained to the priesthood, and we can not allow such superimposed gender norms to be delivered around the world.

Culture

An American Muslim Thanksgiving Journey

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The challenges faced by our children as they struggle to assimilate in American culture imply a very real danger of becoming conflicted and confused as they grow older. But we can all rally behind a holiday like Thanksgiving. After all, it’s a perfect blend of national, cultural and religious values: we come together as a nation, but bring our own unique foods and practices to the celebration, and we stand united with our common religious teachings of gratitude and service.