Tag Archives: the Jewish assignment
Light on the Longest Hatred
Originally Posted on July 20, 2021 by Abigail 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, … 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, postmodernism, 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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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, postmodernism, 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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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, postmodernism, 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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At a Loss
At a Loss Friends and readers of this column, I am really at a loss. I don’t know what to say as a woman, and I don’t know what to do as a woman. Let me at least tell … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, 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, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged a good life, a woman’s honor, a woman’s options, a woman’s voice, Abraham and Sarah, abusing a woman, atonement, being guilty, Bible study, blaming the victim, brazen response, Bullying, chronological living, counter-accusation, covenantal lineage, Day of Atonement, defeating a woman, defending men, defending women, discounting evidence, distance healing, dominating, email harassment, energy healing, evading the present, facing one’s time, facing the day, fake psychic, false accusations, false piety, feeling guilty, feminine being, feminine presence, femininity defeated, finding community, finding one’s footing, fraudulent spirituality, friendship, grounding one’s life, harassment, human dramas, inverting victimizer/victim relation, knee injury, liberated woman, life’s timeline, lived time, male gallantry, male projects, manipulative claims, men defending women, moral combat, no means no, nostalgia, not as advertised, one’s natural place, online friends, Paper trail, perfectionism, phony healers, prayer healing, predator, pretended atonement, preying on the vulnerable, promise breaking, pseudo-spirituality, purported healer, Rachel and Leah, Rebecca and Isaac, religious charlatans, religious community, religious fraud, respect for women, seduction, self-defense, sexual abuse, spiritual healing, spiritual integrity, stabilities of place, taking advantage, targeting the vulnerable, temporality rejected, the birthright, the Jewish assignment, Torah Study, trouble maker, truth in advertising, truthful witness, unwanted advances, valid complaint, victimizer, virtual spaces, vulnerability, women defending men, women’s biblical assignment, Yom Kippur
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“Style”
“Style” Years ago, my acupuncturist used to know a guru named Ramamurti. He still has a following, although he has since passed to his reward. I am told that there are ashrams in Pennsylvania now dedicated to this guru. How … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, chivalry, Christianity, class, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, mind control, modernism, motherhood, non-violence, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged acculturation, Australian philosophy, baiters, beleaguered peoples, careerism, careers, chutzpah, classroom examples, collegial friendships, collegiality, conduct unbecoming, conflict of duties, congresswomen, contradictions, defensiveness, discrimination, Down Under, empathy, ex-husbands, fairness, Feminism, founding feminists, founding mothers, funeral mourners, funeral pyres, gender bias, Gloria Steinem, good style, guru, haiku, hecklers, Hinduism, holy men, honor, honorable, humor, Jews, jokes about Jews, knowing how to behave, malevolence, Maxine Waters, moral high ground, moral quicksand, neurosurgeons, personal dignity, personal vs professional life, political advocacy, political friendships, poor style, public dialogue, public figures, public friendships, pulling rank, Ramamurti S Mishra MD, resurrection, Richard J. Firnhaber acupuncturist, right on the beat, right on the note, saints, self-respect, social aggression, social attitudes, social barriers, social embarrasment, social gifts, social quicksand, social unease, social victim, synagogues, the Jewish assignment, the right comeback, unfairness, vulnerability, wifely duties, wit, Women in Mathematics, zen
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