Big Aish Posts a Decent Article!!!!!!!

I can’t believe it. I simply cannot believe it. I actually read something intelligent on Big Aish. About the composer Steve Reich, about the Hebrew language, and his incorporation of it into his composition, and his contributions to Jewish literacy.

One of his great pieces of that era (1981), is called Tehillim — not Psalms, but Tehillim. The skills that he gained and his mastery of cantillations and Hebrew grammar are obvious in that musical piece.

Okay, I’m sitting down. I’m breathing deeply. There must be an explanation. There must be a reason. How could someone from Aish HaTorah write this? Nothing about this article screams glitzy, creepy fundamentalism. The author actually went to see a classical music concert, like it is completely normal for an Orthodox rabbi to do so.

Let’s see who this author is…it’s …oh, for crying out loud. It was written by Rabbi Buchwald. He runs NJOP. He’s Modern Orthodox. This guy has nothing to do with Big Aish. They must have paid him decently for the article, or more likely, paid for it as a reprint after being printed somewhere else. It costs less that way.

False alarm. Everyone go back to sleep.

Man, that was disconcerting. Like when someone starts talking while in coma. Okay, what is else is on Big Aish this week?

Okay, let’s see…top story is a piece by a real Aish writer, Rabbi Salomon. About celebrity.

Today it might be Brad Pitt; tomorrow it could be Jennifer Hudson. For some it is Tiger Woods, for others it is Cate Blanchett, or whoever the lords of People magazine decide to deify this week. It doesn’t really matter. These personalities are but mere instruments in our empyreal attempt to borrow a morsel of associative greatness.

There we go! Keep it smarmy, keep it silly, keep it lowest common denominator.

Big Aish’s brand message is back on track.