Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column
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"I would like to open this site for conversation with women of all ages, convictions and styles of life – wherever situated on the gamut of experience. In principle, there is no bar to men joining in, since how one defines women has a lot to do with what it means to be a man. But it is women I invite to pull up a chair at this virtual café table and put their questions and views into the conversation. I can be wrong as often as right, so specific advice will be avoided. What will be sought is light on how best to frame the situation of women, considered as a highly interesting problematic. What kind of hand have we been dealt, as women, and how can we best play it?
Comments are warmly encouraged on any post at any point."
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Monthly Archives: July 2021
Explain This.
Explain This. If the roof falls in or the ship is taking water, I’m the teammate you’ll want to have around. I’ll do anything that seems to need doing and I won’t try to be important while I’m about it. … Continue reading →
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, bigotry, book reviews, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged 19th century novels, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", acupuncturist, avoiding platitudes, back to normal, barriers to friendship, can't make old friends, coming up roses, comrade in arms, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, covenantal renewal, defending the defenseless, extraordinary people, facing solitude, family reunion, fight with my name on it, friend in hospital, future Holocaust, going with the flow, group identity, illustrated books, in your lifeboat, Jewish origins, lifelong friendship, local sage, moral condescension, moral solidarity, multi-generational understanding, normality, ostracism, personal identity, picturing the story, post-surgical visit, preparing the Shoah, repairing friendship, rolling with the punches, social condescension, story and picture, teammate, unforced familiarity, what I am, who I am, women friends
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Light on the Longest Hatred
Light on the Longest Hatred I’d intended to devote this column to leisurely reflections on what I sometimes term “the Jewish assignment” in history. Reflections prompted by a biography I’m now reading, with the title, Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Martyrdom, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “The Right Way to Act”, academic politics, academic union, anti-Nazi resister, armchair moralists, choice of evils, Divine mystery, Divine Presence, extremist tactics, Franz Rosenzweig, Genesis 12:3, group think, I and Thou, Israel's right to exist, Jewish disunity, Jews in history, Leo Baeck, longest hatred, Martin Buber, Michael A. Meyer's Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times, opinion shapers, partnering with God, Professional Staff Congress CUNY, PSC Israel resolution, rabbinic responsibility, ritual observance, the Jewish assignment, tying past to future
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The Man/Woman Thing
The Man/Woman Thing We were having dinner at the Mission Inn, which is one of the attractions of Riverside, the town in California where we stayed during the week of my neuropathy treatments. The Mission Inn is an architectural and … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Judaism, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged a good man, accepting poor treatment, American aesthetic, American architecture, American landmarks, bashert, bashert marriages, being stood up, co-creative relationships, common courtesy, creativity in difference, debasing men, eligible man, excuses men make, exploiting vulnerabilities, expulsion from Eden, female powerlessness, healthy relationship, holding oneself in high regard, honor in relationships, honoring men, humiliating women, ideal relationships, idealizing men, idealizing women, Judah ha Nasi, King James Bible, lose-lose v win-win, male/female polarity, man/woman asymmetries, man/woman discourtesy, mutual protectiveness, neuropathy treatments, non-advice, non-ideal relationships, original sin, phony excuses, profaning relationships, public humiliation, rabbinic midrash, Riverside California, romantic destiny, seductive line, self-esteem, selling the Brooklyn Bridge, settling for less, social constructs, taste in architecture, the curse on Adam, the curse on Eve, the price you put on yourself, the way God sees us, toxic relationship, unfair advantage, yin and yang, zero sum game
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Jewish Forgiveness
Jewish Forgiveness For some readers, this title is an oxymoron and might even prompt a double take. Are we talking about non-Jews forgiving Jews, and how they can do it? Surely Jews have a problem with forgiveness and grace. Jews … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, Christianity, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged accepting apologies, analytic ethics, bearing witness, British Analytic Philosophy, careless absolution, cheap grace, Christian culture, Christian forgiveness, common humanity, complexity of forgiveness, concern for justice, Day of Atonement, Emmanuel Levinas, Eve Garrard and David McNaughton's Forgiveness, evil unmitigated, evil's charm, evil's magnetism, excusing wrongdoing, foolish good intentions, foolish well-meaning, forcing good will, forgiveness withheld, forgiver and forgiven, forgiving injuries, generic humanity, God is watching, God's forgiveness, Hassidic master, Holocaust victims, honoring victims, human progress, human solidarity, identifying with wrongdoers, Jewish forgiveness, Jewish v Christian forgiveness, justice v self-interest, law v grace, looking good while being bad, misplaced fellow feeling, moral discernment, moral philosophy, moral vulnerability, parables of Jesus, prodigal son, rabbinic midrash, redeemable evil, repentance, secular viewpoint, self-promotion, self-respect, sincere apology, sincere regret, soul's redemption, spiritual discernment, spiritual intelligence, telling right from wrong, there but for the grace of God, thick skin, wrongdoers reform, Yaffa Eliach’s Hassidic Tales of the Holocaust, Yom Kippur
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