Tag Archives: chosen people
Ancestors
How odd of God To choose the Jews. So goes the old rhyming joke, from I dunno who. Some Englishman perhaps. But allow me to step in, on behalf of God, to explain why God did that. My explanation may count as … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, self-deception, Sex Appeal, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abrahamic religion, ancestors, being above it, bible as historical, Book of Job, chief rabbi of Odessa, chosen people, cost of life choices, covenant as divine partnership, covenant with God, divine connections, divine to human relationship, drama of assimilation, Edmund de Waal's The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance, empathy with God, family mysteries, family puzzle pieces, Family secrets, fleeing Europe, following one's heart, generational memory, God and Abraham, God in history, God in meditation, God in nature, God outside the Bible, God's footprints in history, hidden epic, history as record of action, history as record of deeds, How odd of God, inherited duties, inherited roles, inherited sorrows, Jewish destiny, Jewish genius, Jewish history, Jewish predicaments, Jewish vulnerability, Jewish week of mourning, Jews agree to the covenant, Jews and insult, Jews consent to covenant, Jews in Vienna, Jews record the covenant, justifying God, lech lecha, lifelong friendship, love or duty, native born Israeli, Nazi genocide, Neve Granot, personal affinities, Rav Tsair, Rechov Rav Tsair, religious chanting, religious rituals, Sabra, Shiva, sympathy with God, the covenant as partnership with God, the Jewish assignment, theodicy, Tom Stoppard, Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, Viennese roots, walking a social tightrope, wealth as protection, Wittgensteins of Vienna, writers' conversation
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Rocky Mountain Lowdown
Rocky Mountain Lowdown Jerry and I have about finished the first leg of a complicated journey, the part that took shape in the cities of Denver and Boulder in the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado. Jerry had some talks to … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, Cities, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, Power, presence, Propaganda, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, self-deception, Social Conventions, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged "the true Israel", academic conference, academic papers, ancient land, annihilation of the Jews, anti-Israel, anti-semitism, argument, Boulder, chosen people, chosenness, Christian doctrine, Colorado, covenant, covenant with Israel, death camps, death of God, Denver, divine encounter, divine visions, Evil, Faith, false prophets, God, God and humankind, God's chosen people, God's existence, History, Holocaust, Holocaust survivor, human freedom, human rights, intellectual defense, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish angels, Jewish army, Jews, Jews as witness, Nazi murders, Nazi regime, philosophical argument, philosophy, public intellectuals, Richard Rubenstein, Rocky Mountains, shamans, Shoah, spirituality, Supercessionism, the absence of God, the human story, The Jewish nation, the presence of God, the prophets, theology, trial of Adolf Eichmann, tribal women, tribe, truth, Ur of the Chaldees., witness
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Moses and Me
Moses and Me I never liked Moses. Or more precisely, I never felt drawn to the Biblical figure. For one thing, he seems to me unromantic. He has no significant woman in his life (unless you count the sister and … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Industrial Revolution, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, TV, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged anguish of Moses, Avivah Gottlieb Zorniber’s Moses: A Human Life, bad faith, Biblical characters, chosen people, co-religionists, compromised self, derivative selves, divided self, envy of Jews, father figures, God as design feature, God as energy, God as impersonal, God as laws of nature, God as laws of physics, God as Person, hatred of Jews, Henry M. Rosenthal, identifying across genders, identifying with Moses, incest, Jewish assignment, Jewish mission, Jewish self-hatred, Jewish survival, Jews as privileged, lovers in Scripture, marital love, mission of Moses, Moses, parricide, patriarchs in Genesis, patriarchy, personal God, psychoanalysis, Sarah Rebecca and Rachel, self-actualization, self-concealment, self-deception, self-loss, self-realization, self-unfolding, taking oneself seriously, true love, wives of patriarchs
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World History and Me
World History and Me Last night I watched a documentary about the “discovery” by Europeans of the Western Hemisphere – that vast tract of land between Europe and the India that the spice-hunters sought. In my childhood, that discovery was … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Biblical God, Christianity, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Ethics, Evil, exploitation, Faith, Films, Freedom, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Medieval, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, non-violence, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, scientism, self-deception, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged 10 commandments, 16th century advances, 17th century colonists, advances in navigation, advances in ship-building, advances in world trade, adventurers, American good guys, American guilt, ancient Israelites, animal nature, australopithecines, biblical battles, Biblical historicity, Bronze Age cities, cherem, chosen people, co-religionists, collective atonement, collective guilt, collective penance, colonization, conquest of the weak, conquistadores, Darwinians, defeat of the weakest, depopulation, discovery of America, European diseases, European exploration, European massacres, evolutionary survival, exile, explorers, extinction of hominids, fossil record, genocide, God's blueprint, God's people, God's sovereignty, hegemony, historical guilt, Homer, hominid competition, hominids, homo erectus, homo naledi, homo neanderthalensis, homo sapiens sapiens, hypocrisy, idol worship, indigenous peoples, interpersonal aggression, Israelite wars of destruction, Jesus, Maccabees, man as animal, manipulative moralizing, missionaries, moral high ground, moral posturing, moral rank-pulling, Native Americans, natural defenses, Nazi bad guys, Nazi language, New World, niceness and brutality, Nietzsche, non-fiction narrative, non-violence, Old Testament God, organized pogroms, pagan ways, Pentateuch, personal history, pioneers, policing language, political theory, pre-Columbian population, promised land, psychological self-defense, Queen Isabella, religious non-violence, religious violence, Roman hegemony, securing territory, small pox, survival of the fittest, survival of the strongest, territorial defense, theory of history, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, Torah Study, Trojan War, TV documentary, violence, virgin continent, virtue signaling, voyage of Columbus, war of all against all, will-to-power
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“Believe You Me”
“Believe You Me” In “Treachery and Transcendence,” last week’s column, I wrote about the disappointing “new treatment” for my walking handicap. Despite all, I decided to continue it for another week or two, just to see if it could be … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, scientism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged a patient's trust, action, Ambiguity, antecedent conditions, Arc of the Covenant, Ark of the Covenant, bad check, belief, broken promise, bystanders, chosen people, commitment, credance, credibility, demoralization, demoralizing experience, desert wandering, determinism, Divine mission, Egyptian bondage, Emmanuel Levinas, enabling, experimental treatment, fate of Korah, freedom, holiness, human worth, iatrogenic, interpersonal relationships, Israelites, Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Korah's rebellion, land of milk and honey, Levite rebellion, Levites, lying, manna, midrash, misplaced help, moral dispute, Moral evaluation, moral responsibility, Moses, Moses' humility, Moses' leadership, Mount Sinai, nocebo effect, nullified promise, Numbers 16, parting of Red Sea, passover night, philosophers, placebo effect, plausibility, playing devil's advocate, prayer guidance, promise, promissory note, psychology, rebel faction, repairing the breach, repairing the world, Sartre's "the serious man", spiritual competition, spiritual envy, spiritual mediator, spiritual rank, spiritual track record, temptation, the Other, the ten plagues, Torah Study, transcendence, treachery, trust, truth, univocality, walking handicap, words
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“Broken Pieces”
“Broken Pieces” I’ve never read Kafka and don’t want to, because I prefer happy endings. Elizabeth Bennett should marry Mr. Darcy, Peter Pan should never have to grow up, and … you get the idea. The whole notion that real … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Femininity, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, master, memory, Mind Control, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged airline security, background check, brokenness, bureaucracy, chosen people, clues in a narrative, covenantal history, dehumanization, despair, Dierdre McCloskey's Bourgeois Equality, dignity, Divine warnings, double-binds, economic theory, Elizabeth Bennett, emancipation of the Jews, feeling suicidal, fingerprints, Franz Kafka, God's promises, happy endings, harmful radiation, humiliation, ideal wholeness, inventions, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Jewish historiography, Jewish history, Kafkaesque, liberty, liberty and dignity, Mr. Darcy, optimism, persistence, pessimism, Post-Modern bricolage, predicaments, preventing terrorism, problem-solving, prosperity, radiation and safety, radiation treatment, rushing to judgement, secularism, sexual molestation, suicide, suicide prevention, terrorism, The Covenant, tragic-comedy, TSA, TSA precheck, Woody Allen
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Michael Wyschogrod
Michael Wyschogrod When the Jewish Review of Books arrived a few days ago, I noticed with pleasure the cover article, “Michael Wyschogrod and the Challenge of God’s Scandalous Love.” Good! I thought. Michael is being attended to and treated as … Continue reading →