Sefer Ha-Aggadah (The Book of Legends), the collection of thousands of stories from the Talmud and rabbinic literature compiled by the Hebrew poet Hayim Nachman Bialik and the editor/publisher Yehoshua Ravnitsky, was first published in 1908, and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. In celebration, people around the world will be reading and discussing Sefer Ha-Aggadah from start to finish, beginning in just a few weeks and completing it in two years.
Everyone is invited to participate! All you have to do is obtain a copy of Sefer Ha-Aggadah in Hebrew or English, and follow along each day with the schedule. It’s about a page or two each day. You can join the email list to keep up with administrative announcements.
We’ll be discussing each day’s reading on the blog, Sefer Ha-Bloggadah. We have an amazing and diverse team of bloggers (including a number of Jewschool contributors) who will be blogging each day, and all are invited to join the discussion in the comments. In addition to the blog, in-person discussion groups are being organized in some cities, and you’re invited to organize one in your area.
The Sefer Ha-Aggadah project will formally kick off on Shabbat afternoon, August 16 (Tu Be’Av), at the National Havurah Committee Summer Institute, and then the schedule begins on Monday, August 25.
[Pictured is Swift Boat Veterans for Truth backer, Ambassador to Belgium and RJC Chairman Sam Fox]
According to the Huffington Post, Suzanne Kurtz, communications director for the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), is making up news–and not the funny kind that Jon Stewart and the Onion are so good at putting together. And it’s also not funny who is paying for it.
A press release was issued Monday calling on Barack Obama “to drop Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) from his upcoming trip to Israel.”
Mr. Hagel is not, however, joining Mr. Obama to Israel; Afghanistan and Iraq, yes; Israel, not-so-much. It seems that the folks at the RJC are trying to manipulate the news to make it appear that Senator Hagel is a close adviser on Israel to Senator Obama. The press release lists a resume of ‘anti-Israel highlights’ from Hagel’s recent career.
In August 2006, Hagel was one of only 12 senators who refused to write the EU asking them to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
In December 2005, Hagel was one of only 27 who refused to sign a letter to President Bush to pressure the Palestinian Authority to ban terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian legislative elections.
In June 2004, Hagel refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to highlight Iran’s nuclear program at the G-8 summit.
In November 2001, Hagel was one of only 11 senators who refused to sign a letter urging President Bush not to meet with the late Yassir Arafat until his forces ended the violence against Israel.
In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four senators who refused to sign a Senate letter in support of Israel.
after the jump is a transcript of the phone call from Monday afternoon between The Huffington Post and the RJC, sad and entertaining–like fake news ought to be.
My name is Rob Kutner. I’m a writer for “The Daily Show,” as well as the creator of annual NYC Purim spiel “The Shushan Channel,” and the co-writer of a little piece of fun-with-stereotypes you may or may not have seen called “Jewno.”
But most recently, I’ve authored a book entitled APOCALYPSE HOW, a tongue-in-cheek “survival” guide that goes through topical chapters n Food, Clothing, Shelter, Social Life, Dating, Politics, Career, Recreation, and Finance — to show you how the world to come will be much better than the current one.
However, since the book’s publication, I’ve received numerous complaints from Jews (I know, can you believe it???) that the book does not sufficiently address specifically Jewish end-time issues.
So, I want to assure you that the next edition will contain an entire “Olam ha-Bagraphy,” including such critical tachliss as:
-Food — Ten low-fat, delicious, and totally blecch-friendly recipes for Levyatan (ever tried it smoked with a nice shmear?)
-Relocation — Finding a comfortable place to stay in Israel when all the world’s Jews have returned there (Hint: How do you feel about the Negev?)
-Home Makeover — Design advice for Beit HaMikdash 3 (Ex: Who makes the best dolphin skin, and where you can buy it wholesale)
-Personnel — Telling the real Mashiach from impostors (Spoiler alert: It is Schneerson after all - should have donated to the telethon!)
Â
BUT, I cannot release this updated version until ALL COPIES of the current run are sold out. So it’s up to you guys. Â Go towww.apocalypsehowthebook.com
and buy one now! Hint: Makes a great Bar/Bat Mitzvah gift — and much funnier than a savings bond.
I find the coverage of recent conversion matters pretty interesting since most other impacts of church-state in-separation over there are also heavy-handedly controlled by orthodoxy. I mean, this isn’t new. Maybe it’s new that the orthodoxy is fighting itself, and that the Modern Orthodox are beginning to feel it’s impact also.
NIF just sent out notice of a Sunday webcast featuring Naomi Chazan, Gershom Gorenberg, and others to discuss varying opinions on what should be done, titled “Fundamentalism or Freedom?”
Personally I think the promo video is a bit tame — and much prefer the flash version:
Jewschool would like to congratulate our colleagues at Jewcy and Zeek on their new partnership:
Zeek, an online journal that has helped shape modern Jewish-American culture, today announced that it is joining forces with Jewcy.com, one of the web’s most innovative and rapidly-growing online communities. Beginning today [May 1], Zeek’s online content will be published at www.jewcy.com/zeek.
Zeek joins Jewcy as the first content partner in Jewcy’s initiative to create a publishing network of editorial sites serving the YoCo psychographic – young, culturally omnivorous Americans looking for meaning and community.
“We are joining strength with strength,” said Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, chief editor of Zeek and formerly the managing editor of Tikkun magazine. “We’re a leader in Jewish intellectual, cultural, artistic, and spiritual life, and Jewcy is the largest and most dynamic Jewish community on the internet.”
“Zeek is the first of many partnerships to come in our effort to assemble an all-star team of the nation’s most original, creative voices,†said Tahl Raz, CEO and founding editor with Joey Kurtzman. Kurtzman added: “Zeek consistently publishes daring, groundbreaking work. This had to happen.â€
Zeek will retain its editorial independence and continue to publish its print journal. Its most recent issue, published last month, is a 120-page anthology of Russian-Jewish art, fiction, and poetry.
The venture is the first such merger among the publications and organizations collectively known as the ‘new Jewish culture,’ and represents a joining of two of the leading forces in independent Jewish media. Said Kaiser, “This is a natural evolution of the work all of us have been doing, and we’re thrilled to be joining forces.”
We applaud the proliferation of indy-Jew-media. Mazal tov!
It always frustrated me that tfillin is translated as “phylacteries” because it doesn’t help in the slightest to explain what they are or their function. What the hell is a phylactery? So while joking over this phenomenon in the office this morning, of course someone said look it up — and the wikipedia result floored me:
Phylactery, an amulet to protect the wearer from harm, enclosing magical text, herbs, or relics.
Wtf? That’s even less helpful in describing what they are! The other two definitions on wikipedia are sci-fi fantasy fiction and videogame references. I can blame the Greeks only for the first one.
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.
Last week the Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life released its “US Religious Landscape Survey.”  It’s quite awesome, as it maps out the myriad religious communities in the United States — by region, by income, education, marriage and reproductive patterns, age, gender, ethnicity, and, well, just about everything short of sock color.  So, if you want to know how Jews measure up next to other Americans, I recommend checking it out.  For those of you who prefer bullet points: 1.  28% of Americans now identify with a faith tradition that they were not born into. 2.  16.1% of Americans do not identify with any faith tradition (Easily the group with the largest growth). 3.  The percentage of Jews converting out of Judaism exceeds the percentage of people becoming Jews by choice.
This isn’t about bean-counting, but it does tell an important part of the story for American Jews — Jews may be different, but Jews are not exceptional. Â At least no more exceptional than any of the other religious communities in America. Â
There isn’t much in the way of instructions, but just start playing and you can figure it out pretty quickly. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I got up to Level 12. But then I got stumped. Has anyone figured out how to beat that level? Drop me a line if you do.
Okay, in the realm of the totally trivial:
Hasbro is trolling for business for their new international edition of Monopoly. To do this, they have instituted a vote in which people may go their website and vote for which cities they wish to appear. I have received umpteen mails about this that I should vote for Jerusalem to appear, and that seemed reasonable to me, as it is an important international city in many ways. So one day when I was being a slacker and not working on what I should have been I went over and voted for Jerusalem, Israel.
However, if you go over there now what you will find is not “Jerusalem, Israel” but simply “Jerusalem” a format in distinction to that of any other city: lacking a country.
If you believe that Hasbro should cease to opine on political matters, you may tell them so here, a URL that I include because it’s a pain to find any way to email them directly.
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.
Whoa, missed this yesterday! Fed up with Israel’s siege, Gazans blew up 2/3 of the 7-mile wall between Gaza and Egypt, and flooded over the border in the tens of thousands to buy water, milk, wheat, cigarettes, and medical supplies. I suppose this is what happens when you starve a million people, yes?
Attention everyone in Chicago: We’ve been informed about a brand-new website, JewishMeetup.com, which seeks to be a central resource for the Chicago Jewish community. It’s providing a space for people and organizations to advertise their events, as well as to find people with similar interests to organize things with. The site is hot off the presses, so the forums (etc.) are mostly empty right now, but if you know about anything Jewish going on in Chicago, or want to make something happen, go and post it!
After damn near two years of planning, fundraising and designing (and re-planning, re-funding and re-designing) the improved New Voices web site is up! Archives, comments, free subscriptions, and all — welcome to the 21st century, Jewish Student Press Service. If you’re not familiar with the sordid history of JSPS/New Voices and it’s thorn-in-the-side approach to Jewish campus life, then read editor Josh Nathan-Kazis’ enemies list below…
The November/December 2007 issue of NewVoices is online now at newvoices.org. Highlights include:
A Quiet Freshman’s Secret Past, by Arielle Reich. One year ago, Sam fled his isolated Satmar upbringing for the secular world. This fall, he’s starting college. And you thought your first year was tough.
A Student-Run Shabbaton Falters, by Ashley Bagan. Once the vanguard of the post-denominational movement, Jews in the Woods has fallen on hard times. Will it be a casualty of its own success?
The Best Years of our Lives, by Marissa Brostoff. Harvard sociologist Nathan Glazer reflects on his time as editor of Avukah Student Action, a Jewish student newspaper of the World War II era.
My Enemies List, by Josh Nathan-Kazis. Hillel’s domination of Jewish campus life is dangerous for Jewish students, and the Jewish community as a whole. Here’s why.
A new website, FreeRice.Com (a sister site of Poverty.Com), has come up with a pretty intriguing plan: get people to play a vocab quiz game, and for every word gotten right, 10 grains of rice are donated through the United Nations World Food Program to hungry people around the world. (Those 10 grains add up if you play for a while.) The revenue is generated from pageviews for the advertisers at the bottom of the quiz game.
The vocab is pretty good–they have like 50 levels that self-adjust based on your answers, so it becomes pretty tough pretty quickly and, I have to say, kind of addictive.
Since you’re going to goof off online anyway, why not do it in such a way that helps someone?
The oppression of Jews here is about our invisibility. Much of this is internalized, and we as Jews find ourselves not expressing our Judaism publicly — to our co-workers, neighbors, volunteer/activist organizations, for example. How it is experienced by those of us as “out†Jews is often by being tokenized or by confronting workplaces, communities, individuals, or educational institutions as entirely unaware of any Jewish culture, holidays or history in general, thus making it even harder to show ourselves.
A long time ago, I posted on the Polari Bible translation. So, for the sake of consistency, I felt the need to share with you the literary masterpiece that is not the LOLCat Bible. It’s… well, it’s pretty annoying, actually. But we here at Jewschool are dedicated to bringing you the full spectrum of Jewish and/or religious experiences, so here you go (Exodus 20, natch):
1. Then Ceiling Cat spoked all them werds:
2. I iz suprior man, and I broughted u out of hawt lend wit no cheezbrgrs for hard werk at all
3. U gotz other Ceiling Cat, I mek u ded.
4. If u try be Ceiling Cat of any of mai creayshunz up in floaty skai, down in erth or in watr or I mek u ded.
5. If u think faek Ceiling Cat iz Ceiling Cat, I mek u ded and ur children ded and ur children-children ded, for being stupid.
6. If not I wuv u and all ur childrenz-childrenz-childrenz!
7. U sez Inivsible Man bad, I mek u ded, for I dun liek it. Srsly.
8. Remembur caturday and keep holy.
9. U werk sicks dais and finish werk, kapish?
10. Dai sevn, u no werk. U and all ur peepz go wrship me.
11. I maded heavenz and erth and see and the stuff that does teh funney hoppey stuffz in and on it - so I make it holy cuz I no werk.
12. Bez u good to papa and mama so u has long lief.
13. U no mek peepz ded!
14. U no mek sexxes wit other gurlz or menz than ur wief (so no awsum treesum alowed!).
15. U no tek stuffs for free if not getz for free.
16. U no tell bad stuff about ur neibor.
17. U no wantz neibor stuff! No wief, no gurlz, no menz, no animulz! NOT YOURS.
More where that came from here. It’s actually an incomplete wiki, so if you fancy yourself a LOL-P, a LOL-E, a LOL-J or an LOL-redactor–here’s your big chance.
[Pictured is Swift Boat Veterans for Truth backer, Ambassador to Belgium and RJC Chairman Sam Fox]
