HEY JEWS

Matzah available year round is nice for when I find myself with the urge to make matzah brei

Sometimes I have seen "Not Kosher for Passover Matzah" year-round and yes I guess there are Goyim who go for that

Some grocery stores around here have been displaying Passover food now, because they just assume that since Easter is Sunday, Passover must be right now too. Wonder if they will realize they have to leave it up through the end of April? Or will they remove it Monday?

― curmudgeon, Thursday, March 24, 2016 10:15 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was wondering about that, too. local grocer put the passover food out two weeks ago! I did a double take and thought perhaps i had forgotten the date. (didn't stop me from bringing some macaroons home, though.)

guys i find the ivanka phenomenon so confusing + i have so many conflicting thoughts on it and what it means about america and about the jews (and what it means that trump is using classical fascist imagery about birth + fertility when speaking about jewish grandchildren) but atm i just want to say that she has some v cute kids:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDUW0QhikCD/?taken-by=ivankatrump&hl=en

tell us more about the classic fascist imagery, think I missed this

well, just in his speech to aipac he made some comment about how ivanka is going to have her jewish baby very soon and this kind of political elision between the personal birth/fertility as a stand-in for political national health has a tradition. this is in addition to the many times that trump has used his own health + fertility as a stand-in for a kind of nationalist power (i saw a lot of speculation that this was the dog whistle behind him talking about the size of his genitalia). maybe i'm reading too much into it but talking about babies + birth in political speech reminds me a lot of hitlerian propaganda such as

http://www.crestock.com/uploads/blog/2008/propagandaposters_de/20.jpg

this is a big genre btw i'm not just picking + choosing one poster

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b7/83/f7/b783f79bd5b14685510ed21cdb4092d4.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/13/a0/17/13a017609f1de94c6d4d2845da397d21.jpg

http://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/womensmagazine.jpg

I doubt Trump's even aware of that but his AIPAC audience probably was and it was definitely a gross moment

i don't think trump needs to be aware of it to basically embody much the same ideology

in fact being aware of it would be a hindrance

I like the idea of Trump independently stumbling upon Nazi imagery and theories and conspiracies. Allows him plausible denial while at the same time allowing him to take advantage of it. Kind of like when Billy Joel was claiming to have composed something that turned out to be identical to some Mozart piece. " I don't know anything about Mozart, and I have never heard that piece, but how about that, aren't I good?"

isn't that standard operating procedure for Trump (cf David Duke etc.)?

Pretty much. What I'm saying is that maybe he really has no idea! Maybe all authoritarian neo fascists eventually find their way to the same (er) solutions.

i was surprised to learn this:

"Consider this question: how does the relationship between Israel and the Australian, Canadian, or British Jewish community differ from that of Israel and the American Jewish community? If one seeks an answer that can be quantified, note that, even taking into account the effect of the Birthright program—which to date has sent 400,000 young American Jews on trips to Israel—it is still the case that only about 40 percent of American Jews have bothered to visit the country at all. Without Birthright, that proportion would shrink to a third. By contrast, approximately 70 percent of Canadian Jews have made the trip at least once, as have 80 percent of Australian Jews and an estimated 95 percent of British Jews. Beyond the Anglosphere, 70 percent of French Jews have visited Israel, as have 70 percent of Mexican Jews and more than half of Argentinian Jews."

could this be perhaps partly due to americans just not being big foreign travelers in general? i.e. the average American has only been to three countries outside the u.s. and almost a third have never left the states?

maybe there's something to that - it's very surprising to see mexico + canada at 70% and the US at 30% less.

big lolz @ http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/kasich-meets-talmudic-scholars-explains-bible.html

i liked this lil riff on it

https://twitter.com/dwdavison9318/status/720271473198428160

oh hey that reminds me - anyone got a decent recipe for matzo ball soup? I've tried a couple but each time the matzo balls turned out way heavier/harder than they should be. (My familial elders is no help in this regard, as they are all terrible at cooking)

ygm i sent u a recipe

Seltzer is an essential ingredient if you want to avoid golf balls.

aha!

this probably belongs on a few different threads but why not here?:

http://patijinich.com/recipe/post_1/

good stuff IMO

This is probably a question best for Mordy, but has anyone written a good theological defense/explanation etc. of strict observance of all of the mitzvoth without belief in God? And conversely, what are the best defenses of Reform-type Judaism from a theological perspective (i.e. not merely justifying it using secular terms).

What you probably want is an argument from historical revelation (that as our understanding of morality develops so should our practice). This is a better answer for justifying Reform-type Judaism (which makes most sense in a sociohistorical context imo) but not for strict observance without belief in G-d. Essentially though if you accept this historical based revelation than you can believe in the Torah even while believing that it was a changing document. Can also be a nice way to square parts of the Torah you don't like with the divinity of the Torah as a whole -- that our current level of revelation demonstrates that we can't understand, say, Leviticus, the same way it was understood in 1000BC. That it wouldn't even be an appropriate way of practicing the Torah. You can also fold in development of the oral Torah into this. Every since taking Brill's Revelation course at YU (looks like the syllabus is here: http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/713482/rabbi-alan-brill/revelation-materials-unit-i-five-models-of-dulles-and-some-21st-century-questions-/) I can't help but think of these models in terms of their use - what questions they're coming to answer, or problems they're coming to address. That's why I think ultimately Reform is best understood as a response to acculturation into German Protestant culture and less as a stable theological theory. nb that Heschel's Torah from Heaven revelation model answers a lot of these same questions but keeps more of the divine revelation at Mount Sinai (which historical revelation only just barely preserves).

Re the other question I don't have a good answer (tho possibly you could make one from cultural preservation, or communal fidelity) but I did hear stories about Yeshiva students who were leaving their schools en masse during the high point of the Haskalah movement and there's a story I've heard that in Slabotke Yeshiva bochurim would smoke on Shabbos while learning gemara bc learning gemara was just too geshmak. This isn't really the same thing but it kinda gets to the same idea that maybe there are reasons to participate in these traditions despite not signing on to much of the theological underpinning it.

I'm not Jewish. This is the Jewish-related thread I always see--maybe there's a better one...Flipping through DVDs at the flea market this morning, the guy beside me, in his 60s, holds up the old musical Till the Clouds Roll By.

"Isn't 'till' misspelled there?"
"No, that's right--you can spell it 'till' or ''til.'"
"Doesn't that 'till' mean moneybox?"
"It means both."
"Okay...It's Hollywood, it's Jews, and they're well educated."

And then I'm almost positive he said "Thanks, Ben"--maybe it was "Thanks, then," but I don't think so. Not my name, and, well, our evolving friendship hadn't really gotten to the exchanging-names stage yet.

Reminds me of a group trip I took as part of a tour group to a Casablanca, Morocco market where one bargains for the price and someone saying to me later--"I hate that Jewing down stuff"

in case anyone was wondering the magic key to fluffy matzah balls is seltzer water and whipped egg whites

Someone wrote a letter to the editor complaining about a picture printed in the newspaper a few days ago of local Hasidic Jews burning chametz. "The bread should have been composted."

That reminds me a little of the people who clucked at the Hassidic Jews whose home burned down because of a Shabbos hot plate malfunction. Any excuse to vent your discomfort with the other.

some very interesting stuff in here about the intersection between halacha and labor:
https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/benjamin-brown-on-halakhic-labor-law-statist-or-democratic/

lipa watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hsG8TYdtg0

it's unbeLIPAble

Hey Jews! I have a new job with my local Jewish Social Services!!! I'm super happy, it is a fantastic org with about a 50/50 mix of Jews/non-Jews both on the staff and client side.

Double bonus: I get both the usual federal holidays AND the Jewish holidays off! 20 paid holidays, holy shit.

Yay quincie! Mazel tov.

Thank you. The folks who interviewed me liked that I talked about tzedakah and tikkun olam in my cover letter, ha!

I hadn't really ever articulated it before my interview, but I found myself noting that my Jewish studies greatly influenced my decision to become a mid-life social worker. They really did.

Tikkun olam is a powerful organizing principle and I want to learn more systematically about it.

the way tikkun olam is used by renewal (and how it has entered popular humanist judaism imagination) is somewhat distinct from its original context (in kabbalah). there's an association between the meanings but i think something is lost in the contemporary usage. acc to kabbalistic account of creation G-d first created a perfect world. but the world was too perfect - too rigid in its completeness - that it shattered. that was the world of tohu (the void). the second world G-d created, our world, was the world of tikkun. and in that world sparks from the shattered vessels of tohu were scattered. when you do a mitzvah you elevate those sparks birur nitzitzut (essentially doing a mitzvah brings the will of G-d into the physical world and so that's a way of perfecting the world, by bringing G-d's presence, in a way that doesn't shatter reality). so that's the original tikkun, but you can see how it transmuted to become a softer concept of just doing good things to make the world better - minus the esoterica.

wiki says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tohu_and_Tikun

The implications of Tohu-Tikun underlie the origin of free will and the realm of Kelipah (evil), caused by Shevirat HaKelim/Shevirah (Hebrew: שבירת הכלים‎‎ "Shattering of the Vessels" of Tohu), the processes of spiritual and physical exile and redemption, the meaning of the 613 mitzvot (Jewish observances), and the messianic rectification of existence. Through this Tikun/Tikkun (תיקון) also has an active meaning, the esoteric Birur/Beirur/Birurim (Hebrew: בירור‎‎ "Sifting/Clarification") of concealed Nitzotz/Nitzutzei Kodesh/Nitzutzot (Hebrew: ניצוצות‎‎ "Sparks" of Holiness) exiled in physical creation. This new paradigm in Kabbalah replaced the previous linear description of descent with a dynamic process of spiritual enclothement, where higher "souls" invest inwardly in lower "vessels". Related to the primordial cosmic realms of Tohu-Tikun are two associated spiritual states for interpreting existence, psychological temperaments, or stages in the spiritual development of the individual.

The cosmic drama of Tikun in Lurianic Kabbalah inspired the 16th-18th century popular Jewish imagination, explaining contemporary oppression and supporting messiah claimants but the most important Tikun is to have peace and order in Creation. The revivalist Hasidic movement, from the 18th century onwards, internalised esoteric Lurianism through its own concern with experiencing Divine Omnipresence amidst daily material life. The terminology of the modern Jewish ideal of Tikkun Olam ("Fixing the World"), popularised by Reform Judaism, is taken from the Lurianic concept, but applied more widely to ethical activism in contemporary society.

Yeah I remember reading some version of the kabbalistic account at some point in my rather mystical teenage years and finding it rather inspiring

I rather hope that there's a progressive case to be made that Jews engage in tikkun olam not (only) because it's our word for the ethical dictates of secular social justice efforts but because it is a mitzvah (in the fullest possible theological sense available to atheist Reconstructionists such as me)

for future reference

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrEpDQUXEAAAe1B.jpg

kinda wanna poll

http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/09/12/author-miriam-libicki-thinks-jewish-identity-is-complicated/
http://jewishartsalon.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/miriam-libicki-towards-a-hot-jew02jpg.jpg

Great link forks thanks

Hey Jews! What's everyone doing for the holidays?

goin to family services for yom kippur

temple had a challah-making thing we went to last weekend

I have never attempted challah. I'm not much of a baker, and good challah is pretty easy to find. How was yours?

I am working the Jewish holidays because I need the comp time for a vacation later in the year. Also: not actually Jewish.

Yesterday I hung out with two rabbis on separate occasions and they were both really cool and I want to hang out with them again.

Also yesterday at a meeting my colleague leaned over and asked if it were really possible that Trump contained shards of light from the shattered vessel. She thought not.

my wife (who is Hungarian and not Jewish) is nonetheless a master (mistress?) baker so she's p much got it down. but given that this was a family event (ie involving little kids) the recipe everyone was following was different/simpler and was "not how she would have done it" lol. still tasted great/came out fine.

I'm gonna be working cuz um I'm not that observant really

xp