Posts from — September 2006

Vice Magazine provides pictorial and storyline to promote their hipster, paleo-conservative vision of how Jews and Muslims are to blame for most of the world’s current problems, but still implicitly note, “Aren’t their kids the cutest?â€?

Look at them play!

Whatever issues with Vice’s insensitivity, this sure beats the shakshooka out of the grand claims of hope from Seeds of Peace.

Hat tip: Heeb Magazine message board

It is always a strange pleasure when a family member possesses a talent that you do not have.

Melanie’s eye is unique in her ability to see herself as well as others. For it is dubious how clearly we are able to see ourselves. Rather, the accuracy of self-perception may depend on how willing we are to see our reflection in others. And this is no small matter.

Perhaps this is part of Melanie’s secret for success in seeing others.

Her new site so far concentrates on three projects.

1) The Disability Project – Part of awareness of disability is to really see the person with the disability. This was Melanie’s job.

2) Central America – Melanie traveled through Central America for six months, and saw a lifestyle quite different than ours here.

3) Grieving for her father, who suddenly and shockingly died a little over three years ago.

A personal section to this site is scheduled soon.

I was hesitant to write anything about this, but decided that since there are readers who expect to see my posts on occasion, I should say something somewhere.

Well, the skinny is that because of differences over “liberal Judaism,� I will no longer be writing for Jewschool. This was, according to Mobius, the major point of contention. Then he rolled our respective contributions (exactly 50/50!) into a spliff, and then he crashed on my sofa.

For me, the problems in “liberal Judaism� are the inverse of those in the charedi Jewish community. I harbor grave concerns about those philosophies that seek resolution at the expense of vibrant and natural tensions and conflicts with our ancient civilization and laws and the secular world and modern ideas.

I do not believe it is in our communal interest to rewrite halachic code as we see fit. But I also do not demand that all Jews follow halachic code. I would just ask that when we do something outside of halachic law, we don’t call it Judaism.

Regardless, I have no shortage of projects to pursue with greater focus. I will continue to blog, and will not rule out guest posts anywhere.

In the end, I am better positioned to examine the challenges in charedi outreach than those afflicting the religious left, a world I never was part of in a significant way.

Despite serious differences with many of Jewschool’s writers, I would be ungrateful to not acknowledge that this was a tremendous learning opportunity, both in terms of web and craft.

And I even made a couple of friends in the process.

After a period of uh, “freelancing,� I am returning to full-time work. The French call the orgasm a “mini-death.� This is what happens when you live in a country with a lot of socialism. You have more time. For the good stuff.

Why are the Neocons in power again?

I think this is a “mini-death.� It is kind of like preparing for death. Inevitable. Tragic. The Torah lists work as a punishment for the sin of eating from the tree of knowledge. Along with death.

Still, on some level, we all must work. Avraham worked, Yitzchak works…even the Rebbe works!

Of course, it’s a different type of working for the Rebbe. He doesn’t feel its work, and is focusing on the mitzvah itself when he fulfills his vocational obligations, but the point is, even HE still works.