by LastTrumpet [➚] · Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
From Salon:
It’s got the power struggles, intrigue, love triangles and plot twists of any soap opera. But in the world’s first Hasidic “telenovella” — as soaps are known in Israel — there are no steamy love scenes and dialogue is peppered with “praise the Lord.”
The first half-hour episode of “The Rebbe’s Court” aired Thursday on Azure, a new Israeli cable channel focusing on Jewish issues. The show is set in a community of Hasidic Jews in Tel Aviv and portrays a world normally closed to outsiders.
Uri Orbach, the channel’s program director, said the show’s goal is to entertain, but narrowing Israel’s religious-secular divide is a welcome byproduct. “You see the ultra-Orthodox as real people,” he said.
Many Israelis believe the culture clash between Orthodox and secular Jews is one of the nation’s most pressing problems. Each side feels its way of life is threatened by the other, and decades of animosity have left the two groups with little common language.
Also, the pluses of a shomer-negia soap:
Actress Ranana Raz, who plays Zippora, said the soap’s steamy story lines are difficult to portray in the Hasidic setting, where men and women refrain even from casual touching. “It is challenging to show desire when you can’t do things in the normal manner. The eyes talk a lot,” she told Israel TV.
Menaster said the limitations make “The Rebbe’s Court” more exciting than a run-of-the-mill soap.
I’m going to reserve judgment until I find a way to see it. If anybody finds it online, let me know.
Full story. tip to avakesh
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
In a course at the U of North Texas, R’ Geoffrey Dennis asked his students to offer a kabbalistic commentary on U2′s mysterious ways. He’s posted some of the choicest bits over at his blog.
Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain
K.Gr. – Water = Divine experience.
A.D. – Go to the waterside and pray. The Shekhinah will reveal the hidden to you and your soul will awaken.
W. Got – [Into] the feminine side of the Sefirot power.
K.F. – Let [God's] glory fall on you; dive as deep as you can.
Let her talk about the things you can’t explain
J.P.H. – The esoteric.
V.I. – Donkey drivers and women can reveal things that are profound, even thought they don’t seem important.
C.D. – A tzadik or rebbe is required to talk about the things you [the hasid] can’t explain yourself.
K.F. – Find the meaning, keep asking questions.
Anybody got any other pop songs with obvious kabbalistic imagery? YehuditBrachah once told me that “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bil Withers is about the departure of the Shekhina.
Full story.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Monday, April 21st, 2008
A guide to whether imaginary animals are kosher or not:
Dragon – A: “No reptiles or amphibians.” EM: “No exceptions? What about if it chews its cud?” A: “Shut up.”
Encantado (dolphin-human shapeshifter) – EM: ‘Surely it’s kosher when it’s a dolphin.” A: “A dolphin is a mammal just like you. It has no scales, even though it has fins. Besides, what if it starts changing while you’re eating it?”
ET – A: “…..?†EM: “It had cloven hooves.†A: “It’s a humanoid.†EM: “It looked like a pile of dung. It seemed to chew cud. Would any alien be automatically un-kosher?†A: “I guess it really depends on the alien–like a plant?†EM: “An alien that comes down to Earth.†A: “No, because they wouldn’t be considered an animal.†EM: “What if they looked just like a cow, but with a brain?†A: “Cows have brains.†EM: “Arggh!†A: “But cows don’t travel to other planets using their brains.†EM: “My point exactly!†A: “Anything intelligent is not kosher.â€
Headless Mule (fire-spewing, headless, spectral mule) – A: “No, because the mule itself, even if it weren’t fire-breathing, isn’t kosher. The fire doesn’t cleanse it.†EM: “But it’s self-cooking!â€
Full story.
Tip to Boing Boing
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Or if you’re not free until next year, and would like to spend the year learning is Jerusalem, check this out:
FUNDED LEARNING OPPORTUNITY IN JERUSALEM NEXT YEAR
Yakar seeks creatively maladjusted, non-conformist students to be Yakar Scholars
The Yakar Scholars Program: deep inquiry into traditional texts coupled with an approach that treasures personal authenticity, the arts and a commitment to justice.
* Learn in Beit Midrash 3 mornings a week + 2 evenings a week.
* Receive free tuition and a Stipend of $300 per month for living expenses
* Scholars can learn at either Advanced or Introductory levels, women and men
* Scholars are asked to contribute their talents to the community
We seek people dedicated to looking deeper within tradition and themselves for truth, who are equally dedicated to responding to the cry in the street, and serving the community.
The Yakar Scholars Program: In the service of God there are no rules, and this itself is not a rule.
Apply Through Interview. Contact: Tel: 972-2-561-2310 /1 Or: info@yakar.org
More »
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Saturday, March 15th, 2008
There’s been ruckus over a facebook decision recently to label the settlements over the green line as being in “Palestine.”
The J Post:
Ma’aleh Adumim resident Julian Czarny woke up recently to discover that he lived in “Palestine” – at least according to the popular Internet social networking site Facebook.
Facebook no longer allows members from Ma’aleh Adumim, Ariel, Betar Illit and other settlements over the Green Line to list their hometowns as situated in Israel, but instead provides only a preset location, with their country listed as “Palestine.”
“Someone at Facebook is simply prejudging whatever may or may not come about in future negotiations,” said Czarny. “Who exactly decided on this computerized transfer of over a quarter-million Jews from Israel to Palestine?”
Whether or not I agree with the decision, I find it fascinating the way folks’ on-line lives intersect with off-line world.
Also, here’s the facebook group.
Full story.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
From JTA:
Benny Shanon, professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has argued that the miraculous sights and sounds in the Exodus account of God’s giving of the Torah to Moses may have been drug-induced.
And how do you think he deduced that?
Shanon, who published his theory in the scholarly journal “Time and Mind”, said the Mount Sinai spectacle recalled a “trip” he experienced after drinking psychotropic drugs of a kind that can be found in some desert plants.
“I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations,” Haaretz quoted him as saying. “It seems logical that something was altered in people’s consciousness. There are other stories in the Bible that mention the use of plants: for example, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.”
And here’s the kicker:
But he added: “I have no direct proof of this interpretation.”
According to Shanon, the drug theory is more feasible than other explanations for the Mount Sinai story — that indeed the Israelites communicated with God, or that it is all just a fairy tale.
Seriously? For a far more interesting piece on the relationship of psychedics to Judaism, check out this article over at Jewcy.
Full story.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Monday, February 25th, 2008
My beard is a constant source of conversation (especially with my mother). So when I saw an article in Commentary titled “Why Beards?” you can bet my interest was peaked. In the article, Meir Soloveichik examines the Jewish beard, from its biblical origins to modern America.
Wherever we look, writes Kass, “we see in Egypt the rejection of [bodily] change and the denial of death.†Shaving was a key element in this rejection. “No shaggy outlines or blemishes mar the perfectly smooth look. What appears to be an unveiling [of the human face] is actually also a veiling of age and disorder.†With this in mind, it begins to seem no accident at all that the Hebrew Bible, which steadily sets itself against pagan practices of every kind, should have positively enjoined the opposite practice—that is, the wearing of beards—thus visibly and deliberately repudiating the false blessing of eternal youthfulness and underscoring the fact of our eventual and inevitable mortality.
More »
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Today was Shushan Purim Katan here in Jerusalem. That is, in a year with two months of Adar, the first month we don’t celebrate the full holiday, but we maybe drink a little bit, and a day later than non-walled cities.
I wanted to tell y’all about the new Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo Podcast – you can subscribe here, or click here to add the podcast to itunes.
So far, we have a special talk on R’ Shlomo Carlebach’s music with Ben Zion Solomon, probably the world’s most knowledgeable person on that topic, as well as Reb Chaim Kramer of the Breslov Research Institute giving over a teaching of Rebbe Nachman on Purim.
Soon to come, Kabbalistic and Chassidic Insights into Purim with Rabbi Avraham Aryeh Trugman.
I had no idea the depths of Purim until recently – and these talks should help you reach the heights of the highest day of the year.
Last week, one of my teachers remarked to me before class that he’d almost had a heart attack when he looked at my facebook page, due to one of my friends wearing a bikini in her profile picture. He then picked up the theme and taught this Torah from the Mei Hashiloach (at the end of the PDF) all about Purim and nudity. Gevaldt.
Purim sameach to everyone!
(also, there’s a shiur here from Aish Kodesh in New York on Purim Katan that’s probably worthwhile)
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
Yeshivat Simchat Sholomo, the Carlebach yeshiva in Jerusalem, is live streaming their classes! Even if you’re far away, you can learn “Torah from the heart to the heart.” The schedule is available here, but not 100% up-to-date.
This afternoon (4:30 PM Jerusalem Standard Time) a new four-part series on Torah and Ecology will be beginning, taught by Reb Shaul Judelman of the Eco-Activist Beit Midrash, and a number of special guests. The next few Wednesday afternoons will feature special classes on Purim, and, G!d willing, a session on Carlebach Niggunim with Ben Tzion Solomon, the father of the guys from Soulfarm & The Moshav Band.
For now the classes are just available live, but with G!d’s help, there should be an archiving system in the near future.
If folks would like a more complete up-to-date schedule, ask and I’ll post it in the comments.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Monday, January 28th, 2008
From Israel News:
An Israeli porn site is proving surprisingly popular with Web surfers in a number of Arab countries, some of which don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel.
After installing software that could detect where users are logging on, managers of the site found they were receiving thousands of hits a week from folks in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, even though the Israeli net domain .il is blocked from some of these countries.
“We were amazed to find a huge amount of our users from these countries,” says Nir Shahar, who manages the site.
…
“Arab people usually see female Israeli soldiers in a bad situation, so there’s a lot of curiosity to see what Israeli girls look like without any uniforms,” says Shahar.
“We don’t make regular porn films. Our films parody the situation in Israel, so we look at issues like the elections here and Mossad.
There is a lot of relevance to the Arab-Israeli situation.”
…
“We are also interested in making films with Arabs and Israelis in them,” Shahar says.
“It’s something we can do to speak about the connection between the two people, but its not going to be easy.”
I don’t even know what to say.
Full story. (Warning = NSFW)
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Opponents of Germany’s new smoking ban have appalled Jewish leaders by selling more than 1,000 “smokers’ T-shirts” that display a yellow Star of David and suggest that discrimination against nicotine addicts is like Nazi anti-Semitism during the Third Reich.
The controversial T-shirts went on sale on an internet site in the run-up to a smoking ban which came in to force in 10 of Germany’s 16 federal states on New Year’s Day. Its promoters insisted that Germany needed to be woken up to what it described as “disgraceful discrimination against smokers” in bars and restaurants and claimed that its shirts were “the most aggressive smokers’ resistance shirt available”
Photographs of the T-shirts show them displaying a yellow Star of David identical to the Judenstern, or “Jewish star”, that the Nazis forced all Jews to wear in Germany after they were elected to power in 1933. The word “Jude”, or “Jew”, which was inscribed in the centre of the Nazi stars, is replaced by the word raucher, or smoker..
Almost as bad as all the “Bush & Olmert are Creating a New Holocaust” signs I saw last week.
Full story.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Monday, December 24th, 2007
Daniel Burstyn, over at Sustainable Judaism, on the jumbotrons during davvening at the recent URJ Biennial:
Jumbotrons are all well and good for large gatherings of non-Halakhic Jews, like the Biennial and Craig Taubman’s Friday night live kind of things. They might be ok for other environments, like camp. Maybe when the Temple is rebuilt, there will be Jumbotrons.
But they really go against the grain of the “do it yourself” aspect of Judaism, as it has developed since the publication of the Jewish Catalog in the early 1970s.
…
If Joe or Jane Jew can’t walk onto the bima and run a worship service as well as s/he can run a committee meeting or an awards dinner, then something is broken. There should be no “little man behind the curtain,” nor flashy light show on the bima in Judaism.
Full story.
Amen!
I remember the jumbotrons and the pit band at Kabbalat Shabbat at the Biennial two years ago, and feeling like it was Shabbat: The Musical. More »
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Thursday, December 20th, 2007
Because I will always have the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old boy…
Over at Jewish Myth, Magic & Mysticism, Geoffrey Dennis writes:
So, as a former Registered Nurse, I often emphasize to my congregants that Judaism is a spiritual tradition that embraces every aspect of what it means to be human. Hence, at Kol Ami we encourage use of the b’rukhah of Asher Yetzer ha-Adam, the blessing for having a bowel movement.
This prayer, said once in the morning, covers all subsequent bodily functions for the remainder of the day. But the Shulkhan Arukh, the 16th Century digest of Jewish law by the legal and mystic genius Joseph Caro, also reveals a more complex spiritual tradition concerning defecation. In 3:3 Caro states:
If one wishes to palpate the rectum with a pebble or a piece of wood in order to open up the hole, he should do so prior to sitting but not after sitting in order to thwart sorcery.
He proceeds to bring Talmudic sources explaining how we leave our guardian angels outside while we’re doing our business, leaving us vulnerable to the forces of negativity which attempt to enter our every orifice (even that one).
Texts are provided to sufficiently enrich your BM experience well beyond Asher Yatzar – how to excuse the angels from accompanying you into the john, as well as formulas for protection. If all that isn’t enough:
Rabbah bar bar Hannah said: We used to walk behind R’ Yochanan,
And when he needed to go to the bathroom -
When he was carrying a book of Midrash he’d give it to us.
But when he was carrying tefillin, he wouldn’t give them to us.
He would say: “Since the Rabbis permit us [to take tefillin into a privy],
They will guard me [against demons]!†(Berakhot 23a-b)
Full story.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
From Foodnavigator:
‘Kosher’ was the most frequently used claim on new products launched in the US during 2007, while ‘All Natural’ and ‘No Additives or Preservatives’ were amongst the other most popular claims used on new products, reveals data from Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD).
…
The increase in the popularity of kosher products is not only because of a growing market focus on the needs of Jewish consumers.
In a survey conducted by Mintel in 2005, 55 percent of respondents who buy kosher foods said they thought they held a higher mark of health and safety than non-kosher items. Mintel identified demand for dairy- and meat-free products as driving forces behind market growth.
Moreover food that is certified as Kosher is also suitable for Muslims who follow a Halal diet.
I heard today that there was once a study done at Shaarei Tzedek hospital that cholent when eaten on Shabbat caused less of a rise in cholesterol than cholent consumed during the week. I also once heard that the extra soul we receive on Shabbat allows us to eat twice as much, but due to the fact that it departs as Shabbat ends, it sadly isn’t around to help us digest. Anyone who’s seen the vast numbers of falafel/schwarma huts in Jerusalem knows that kosher and healthy aren’t even close to synonymous. Fascinating that folks think so. Better that the thinking it’s an evil Jew tax.
Full story.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
JTA reports:
Leaders of Reform synagogues don’t always get what their members want, according to a new study by the movement.
The study shows a marked disconnect in several areas between what the leaders think their members are looking for and what the members say they actually want.
In general, the synagogue leaders seem to underestimate their members’ interest in Jewish practice and worship. And they overestimate the synagogue’s importance in the religious lives of their families.
The study is being released at the URJ Biennial, which just began. The article gives a bunch of info about what’s going on at Biennial, and the emphasis on outreach and membership. Some more findings:
More »
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
From JTA:
Seeing Bob Dylan at a prayer service isn’t all that rare. Hearing a Bob Marley tune played on guitar while a minyan sings the Shema prayer is.
Marley and Dylan tunes are just as likely to be part of the nusach at “Jam Davening” as those of Shlomo Carlebach and Debbie Friedman. The monthly prayer group at the Davidson School of Jewish Education of the Jewish Theological Seminary is part guided meditation, part sing-along, part traditional prayer and part dorm-room musical jam that includes instruments ranging from guitars to didgeridos.
Participants say the result is invigorating and deeply spiritual.
Perhaps this is a new development in the Conservative movement, however I’ve heard the Bob Marley Mi Chamocha for at least 10 years now in the Reform movement. Also, based on my experience, it’s not uncommon in the indie-minyan/chavura world for tunes to be adapted from popular music. Chassidic Niggunim were occasionally adapted from Russian drinking songs – I heard a great teaching once about redeeming those melodies by putting them to holy use.
While I think it’s cool that this is happening at JTS, I wish the author had done a bit more research – this is hardly new, although it is good to see it spread.
Full story.
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
Banksy, my personal favorite graffiti artist (sorry, Mobius), is holding his annual “Santa’s Ghetto” show (“a loose collection of the great unwashed hawking their artistic wares”) in Bethlehem this year, across the street from the Church of the Nativity. From the show’s site:
Bethlehem is one of the most contentious places on earth.
Perched at the edge of the Judaen desert at the intersection of Europe, Asia and Africa in the state of Palestine it was governed by the British following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. After World War II the United Nations voted to partition the region into two states – one Jewish, one Arab and there’s been fighting ever since.
It’s obviously not the job of a loose collection of idiot doodlers to tell you what’s right or wrong about this situation, so you’re advised to do further reading yourself (this month’s National Geographic has an excellent article all about Bethlehem).
We would like to make it very clear Santa’s Ghetto is not allied to ANY race, creed, religion, political organization or lobby group. As an organisation the only thing we’ll say on behalf of our artists is that we don’t speak on behalf of our artists. This show simply offers the ink-stained hand of friendship to ordinary people in an extraordinary situation.
Every shekel made in the store will be used on local projects for children and young people. Not one cent will go to any political groups, governmental institutions or, in fact, any grown-ups at all.
Who wants to go?
by LastTrumpet [➚] · Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
Humor site Cracked has a hilarious list of the 9 Most Badass Bible Verses. They’re not so much central to my religious life (or the way I understand how we live Torah, for that matter), but I laughed. Here’s #8 (the verse is above):
We’ve all been there. You’re walking along, minding your own business, when a gang of cocky, young bastards start hurling abuse at you. Most of us would just keep walking, or maybe, yell some insults back or flip them the bird. Elisha (commonly regarded as the Luke Skywalker to the Prophet Elijah’s Obi-Wan Kenobi), however, decides to take it one step further. Invoking the name of God, he summons motherfucking bears to come and claw the shit out of them. More »
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