July 2012
38 posts
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Back in the States
I miss pouring over the Talmud dictionary in the freezing Beit Midrash because there are like ten difference meanings to that one word and I miss being confused over whether something is a rhetorical or actual question and I miss learning how to develop D’var Torah skills by giving D’var Hummus and comparing the difficulties of the Irgun-Haganah power struggle to students holding a...
“In his Jerusalem speech, Romney went on to insist that “we cannot stand silent...”
– Peter Beinart, Mitt Romney Misuses Judaism to Support Israel and Buttress His Own Campaign (via praxidikai)
I don’t like this too much tbh. I mean the quoted paragraph is solid, but not the rest. I think the crux of it is that Romney, a Christian, a Mormon who has admitted to baptizing Holocaust...
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“In his Jerusalem speech, Romney went on to insist that “we cannot stand silent...”
– Peter Beinart, Mitt Romney Misuses Judaism to Support Israel and Buttress His Own Campaign (via praxidikai)
Last day of classes tomorrow, then back to the US. Wish I could spend more time learning, but I’m ready to go home.
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Nothing like arguing about Kristin Stewart to make you realize just how much of a leftist you are.
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The Relationship between Jewish Young Adult... →
There’s a survey going around for a psych dissertation about young adults’ Jewish identity and mental health. As someone who deals with mental health issues on a daily basis, I strongly encourage Jewish young adults out there to take it. Even if the results of this survey prove nothing more than ‘some Jewish young adults struggle with mental health and some don’t,’ it...
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My trip to a West Bank settlement: reconciling...
This is a hard post for me to write, but I think it’s one that needs to be written.
Today I went on a tiyul (trip) with the (co-ed, progressive, halakhically-observant, but welcoming of students of all religious backgrounds) yeshiva I’ve been at for a summer program to Gush Etzion, a bloc of settlements in the West Bank south of Jerusalem. We were mostly in and around Alon Shvut, one...
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Writing Our Own Story | kol isha →
Whenever I encounter this vignette, I am pleased and encouraged, awed and inspired. Our tradition recorded women standing up for themselves with no dire consequences and for that, I am grateful as a woman and a Jew. However, there has always been a part of me and will always continue to be a part of me that wishes that they were empowered to simply stand up and shout, ‘This isn’t right!’ without...
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vicieuse:
Thank you for all of those links! I have a really difficult time finding resources about Judaism. This original post was not directed specifically towards Judaism and I could be wrong about what I’ve studied about it, I didn’t have enough confidence in my knowledge to cite any specific examples. However, it does not mean the rest of my post is untruthful. I have re-edited...
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FUCK YOU LIGHTNING DELAY!!
Come on, New York weather!!! I’m seven hours ahead of you, so the one day you have an afternoon game that’s during waking hours for me, you have to have LIGHTNING?!?!?
(I thought this blog needed something non-Judaic for a change).
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vicieuse:
It’s cool that we’re never going to agree on religion, tumblr! I am good with being called ignorant because I don’t see value in Abrahamic religions. Oh well.
I guess I can’t ignore the centuries of rape and torture that still continues for women at the hands of those religions. Sorry, I just can’t turn that into feminism in any way for me. Just like I can’t see how anyone could be...
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zaatarwitholives:
vicieuse:
I don’t want to say anything offensive, but I am confused:
How can anyone identify as a feminist and believe in an Abrahamic religion? Those two things are so at odds to me that I personally don’t know how someone can reconcile them.
This is a very difficult question to answer. To me it’s like, how can you love pesto and wear blue jeans? I don’t see any...
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Today's classroom argument
No, history is not written by the victors (as a male classmate suggested in response to a piece by Dr. Tamar Ross about the way reasons for the exclusion of women were written after the fact). The history we are taught in classrooms is the history of the victors, yes, but to say all of history is written by the victors is the erase the voices of the minority, which do indeed exist throughout...
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יש לנו מישמיש. יש לנו חלה ובבקה. אנחנו מוכנות לזכור ולשמור את השבת. נתפלל קבלת שבת בבית כנסת רפרמי, ונתפלל שחרית ב”שירה חדשה,” בית כנסת אורתודוקסי שפמיניסטי ושוויוני. שבת שלום!
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After having the 2nd of my Israeli rental phones...
Me: Wine and chocolate spread are my adult ways of dealing with this.
Mom: Sounds good to me!!!
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Positive time-bound mitzvot.
A few notes from my Women and Judaism class that I’ve learned before but have come up again and bear repeating. I present them here without commentary but for the sake of remembrance.
‘פטור,’ patur—exempted—is not the same thing as ‘אסור,’ asur—forbidden.
Tzitzit were considered a non-time-bound mitzvah but R. Shimon dissented said they were...
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So today I survived the City of David despite traumatic water tunnels events two years ago. The trick is I went in the very short, very well-lit, very dry tunnel. Excellent.
Bought one of those layered, wrap-around, very Israeli skirts in the Muslim quarter.
The Israel Post Office website is literally the most frustrating things in the world. LITERALLY!!
First full day of classes tomorrow, plus...
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Prayer as Space
So it was the first day at Pardes today, and even though we spent most of the morning doing Orientation stuff, we did get to have our first class in the afternoon. The class I was in today is about prayer as an inner journey.
The teacher suggested prayer is about space. You might say that space creates distance and may prefer to think that prayer is about closeness. But, when you have a...
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Eitan Press: Lose Your Illusions and Find... →
I had waffles for dinner tonight. Thank you, Jerusalem.
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I should write a memoir entitled, “Pockets: The Reform Girl’s Guide to Driving to an Orthodox Shabbas Dinner And Pretending Not to Carry.”
Don’t hate.
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Mitt, Venn and Now →
I’m just really giggly about this existing.
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Nbd, just off to Israel.
Hey y’all. I’m going to Israel tomorrow!! I may have mentioned that I’m going to study at Pardes, one of the world’s best institutes of Jewish studies, also known as a yeshiva, in Jerusalem for 3 weeks courtesy of a fellowship through my job.
I’m going to try to post about my experiences as much as a possible, but I don’t know if I can keep up with all your...
sshmeer asked: That commentary you gave on how "Hineni" makes you feel was beautiful.
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“AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African-American women between the...”
– Robert Fullilove, guest on today’s show. (via nprfreshair)
In case you were wondering, HIV / AIDS is still epidemic. Find more sobering stats and information on how you and your partner can get tested here. Know your status.
(via inothernews)
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“She is more righteous than I” | kol isha →
The experience of the one who is suppressed – in this case, the woman who has no power in her own right – is not visible to the one who controls the situation. He is not able to see the effects of his decisions (or lack of decision) on her daily life, and he is not able (at least at the outset) to feel empathy for her plight. All is well in his world; why would it not also be so in hers?
But...
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A Food Tour of Israel: Machne Yehuda Outdoor... →
ONE. WEEK.
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I see all these complaints about Instagram being...
and I’m just like, my mom just had knee replacement surgery, is in so much pain and can barely move and she also has to sit in a house with no electricity in 100 degree weather, because she’s not well enough to leave the house and go to any of the places that have electricity and air conditioning? Let me feel a little more sorry for you since you can’t take a fuzzy photo, or...
