HEY JEWS

so many lolz
http://www.shabbosapp.com

Seattle's Reconstructionist chavurah doesn't ticket their HHD services so I might actually go to Kol Nidre on Friday.

http://finkorswim.com/2014/10/01/the-shabbos-app-yes-it-is-real/ < this is crazy and worth reading. if any of the language or references in it are confusing ask me but it's, imo, a game changer (probably over time tho - but ppl in my frum world on fb are already asking how long it'll be before mainstream orthodox opinion is that electricity is okay on shabbat).

Many know about the psak of the Chazon Ish who prohibited electricity based on the melacha (Biblically forbidden creative activity) of boneh (building) because activating an electric device involves completing a circuit which is a form of building. Many people also know that this is not considered an accurate description of electricity or boneh by Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.

hard for me to take this stuff seriously/worry about it for precisely these kinds of reasons

altho yeah that app is nuts for seeming to be expressly designed to violate shomer shabbos

I did lol at this tho:

When I asked the Shabbos App developer what Shabbat would look like if everyone would be using their smartphones, his answer reflected this sensibility. He said “Shabbat will look the way Hashem wants it to look!”

Interesting post and interesting site thx. I really need to hit you up more for jewish reading recs.

Xp to mordy sorry

I think there's quite a lot in orthodox practice that revolves around the tension btw the spirit and the letter of law and what constitutes breaking vs navigating it. I find a lot of it silly roost times but I'm also fascinated by what motivates people to live that life, especially intelligent people who I doubt fear a literal angry God punishing them for disobedience.

fwiw, I attended my first Yom Kippur service in years through an unaffiliated org that provides free services, and I even fasted (all the way until 4:30pm at which point we were at PS1 and my wife insisted on M.Wells Dinette -- could not pass up, sorry G_d).

The night before, although I did not attend a service, I did read through some of a rabbinical assembly mahzor and listen to the Richard Tucker recording of Kol Nidrei. I think it's probably my favorite piece of Jewish music, and although I feel weird listening to it outside its purpose, it is available on Spotify.

We went to the family yom kippur service on friday. It was nice, lots of singing.

I decided I mostly like Yom Kippur and I'm just going to shrug at the parts I don't like (the "who by fire" stuff etc.)

Yeah it was a relief that they go pretty light on the guilt stuff for the kids

Shlomo Sand doesn't want to be a jew anymore: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/10/shlomo-sand-i-wish-to-cease-considering-myself-a-jew

thoughts?

why doesn't he just stop being an Israeli

considering his vile slandering of Jewish ppl I doubt he will be missed

generally confused by the piece myself

http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/32/64/27/7030263/5/920x680.jpg

Let's not forget Christian zionism was just as committed as Jewish. Isreal is the last stand and forefront of European colonialism.

totally, well said

are you jewish RT?

Lots of Jews have "assimilated" over the centuries and given up identification with Jewish culture and religion, so that in itself is not particularly interesting. Sand seems like he's just crying out that reality is too much pain for him, and while I can sometimes relate to the sentiment I don't think his essay is very coherent.

ok but guys the photo

related: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.621899

if it isn't clear what's going on, that's one of the Women of the Wall trying to hug an ultra-orthodox protestor

women of the wall ftw

http://www.shalomlife.com/news/26753/volunteer-finds-rare-jewish-war-heroes-comic-published-in-1944/

awesome and scanned
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=27391
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=21569
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39239

I've been wanting to read something about capes comics and crypto-Judaism, anyone know an academic/crossover book about this or should I just get around to reading Kavalier and Clay?

I hated that book so no

there have been a lot of non-fiction on the topic published recently but i can't give a good recommendation bc i haven't read any of it. maybe look at:

http://www.amazon.com/From-Krakow-Krypton-Comic-Books/dp/0827608438/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=09WDS1ANGH5C0GMWSX27

heading out to the hazon food festival now. v cool program imo:

Session 1 workshops include:

Quick Seasonal Pickling with Marisa McClellan
Bati LeGani: Planting Sacred Space to Connect Family, G-d, and Creation with Zohar Asbel (Children’s Programming)
Vegetable Gardening with Sally McCabe
Vegan Turkey Demo with Jasmin Ilkay
Food Insecurity in Israel with Leket
Shmita 101 with Rabbi Kevin Kleinman
Food Access Advocacy Work with Robin Rifkin
Raising Children with Shmita Consciousness – A Creative Laboratory with Rabbis Martin & Kelin
Baking a Difference with Challah for Hunger (Elana Silberstein)
Antibiotics in Agriculture with Sam Bernhardt
Snapshot of Moshe: The coming of Shabbat & Manna with Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Children’s Crafts & Storytelling with JKidPhilly (Lori Rubin)

Session 2 workshops include:

Small Batch Preserving with Honey with Marisa McClellan
DIY Pickling with Phickle (Amanda Feifer)
Turkey Butchering Session with Grow & Behold
Intergenerational Cooking Program with Tina Wasserman
Sustainability Through Eradicating Animal Farming with Dara Lovitz
Olive Oil: The essence of Hanukkah with Ronit Treatman
Faith-based Partnerships to Improve Food Justice in Philadelphia with The Food Trust and Rabbi Kevin Kleinman
Partnerships for Sustainable Community Food Systems with Ryan Kuck
Shmita Cycles in the Kabbalah: Different Torahs for Different Worlds with Joel Hecker
Shmita and Pre-agricultural Food Systems with Nati Passow and Bob Pierson
The Eco-Kosher Dollar with Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Children’s Crafts & Storytelling with JKidPhilly (Lori Rubin)

hazon festival was great

i've never heard about this chag before:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigd

but since cheshvon doesn't have any other holidays i think i'm going to start observing it

every time this pops up in my bookmarks i hear rita moreno yelling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C797vkyV5hc

http://tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/153792/brodner-thanksgiving

http://cdn1.tabletmag.com/wp-content/files_mf/JT-Final-1.jpg

Occurred to me for the first time ever to ask my dad if we're eligible for German citizenship through his dad, he didn't think so but we looked it up and we are. Now I really want to do it. Having an EU passport seems potentially useful, and I can't deny the emotional power of being somehow made whole in this way.

i think i've mentioned my ladino speaking friend before who really wanted to take advantage of spain's offer recently idk if she succeeded

http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/

Anyone here have ancestors from the Bessarabia/Moldova area?

http://elitedaily.com/music/shake-it-off-hanukkah-best-parody/879262/

there's also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wi1H3UnKhk

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/artistic-director-fired-from-theater-j/2014/12/18/b6404b48-8712-11e4-abcf-5a3d7b3b20b8_story.html

Longtime theatre director at DC Jcc fired for controversial play choices

Sorry to say I didn't have to read it to guess what you meant by "controversial." Disappointing that the "big donors" or whatever still can't handle this kind of thing.

Yep. Ari Roth has a great rep in the theatre world.

Interstingly, the webpage for Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art redirects to an Air Jordan store.

Ha

my daughter learns about the parsha + stuff at school and she has recently been coming home w/ questions about hashem. like she asked me if hashem has a mouth and i tried to explain anthropomorphism to her, but she's 3 so it was tough. (well, hashem doesn't actually have a mouth, bc hashem isn't like us at all, but he kinda has a mouth like that's how we understand it -- D's expression slowly glazing over as i explain.) she also wanted to know when hashem sleeps and we explained that hashem is always awake but does rest on Shabbos but i think that confused her as well. i chap a ton of nachus when she comes home singing something she learned at school - like "hashem is here hashem is there hashem is truly everywhere" or "hashem gave us a present, do you know what it was, he gave us the torah, so we could do its laws," but i do wonder what the concept of "hashem" could possibly mean to a 3 year old.

"mommy" probably

i guess like adults aren't any better at apprehending the existence of god

Thursday night screening and concert as part of DC Jewish Film Fest

East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem

In 2013, Israeli-born folk singer David Broza crossed into the mainly Arab portion of the city of Jerusalem to record in 8 days an album with Israeli, Palestinian, and American musicians, including guitarist/producer Steve Earle. The process was filmed in and out of the studio and is the subject of the 80-minute movie East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem. The focus of the movie is on Broza’s enthusiastic effort to get Israelis and Palestinians together via song, but despite the nobility of his struggle, his well-meaning spoken and sung platitudes are less interesting here than the other musicians and the fascinating cityscape shots. In the studio, Palestinian singer Mira Awad’s vocal intonation and range is striking, and her description of how her beliefs and duet partner choices aggravate both Palestinians and Israelis conveys some of the impossibility of the situation there. Rapper Muhammad Mugrabi also shines. His wearied tales and the footage of his barbed-wire-topped, walled-in Shuafat Refugee Camp home region are heart-breaking. The film acknowledges extremists on both sides, but with the aid of Palestinian and Israeli youth singers who note the naivety of it, nevertheless figure singing in English the Elvis Costello-popularized song “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love & Understanding,” is a step in the right direction. Broza, Awad, and Earle will do a 45-minute musical set and Q&A after the screening. Feb. 26 at Sidney Harman Hall.

http://aeon.co/magazine/culture/the-double-life-of-hasidic-atheists