The Agony and the Ecstasy (or, Where Kant Got It Wrong)

By yschwartz September 17, 2010

The following thought is in part a development of a marvelous sermon given on the “Shabbat of Repentance,” by Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center. All weaknesses are my own. As I write these words, traditional Jews are sitting down at their tables and eating of fine linens for the “seuda mafseket”: the…

Read More...

Happy Jew Year

By Carly Silver September 17, 2010

If the Maya thought the world was going to end in 2012, some Jews seem to have a different opinion for the next few years ahead of us. One kabbalist rabbi says that G-d will “erase China from the world this year.” Why China, rather than Israel’s traditional antagonists? Possibly because China is an emergent…

Read More...

the meaninglessness of my fast

By lcmoore September 17, 2010

There are no photos from those periods in my life, or the lives of my friends. The few photos come from before and after—the baby-fat and dimples proceeding, the still too-slender arms after. I’m under medical supervision while they root out an infection in my right lung, so fasting this year was a moot point….

Read More...

The Reading List: Paying those membership dues

By Ben Sales September 17, 2010

How much do you pay for the privilege of sitting in shul all day on Yom Kippur? How much do your Christian friends pay to go to their churches? It may be the same amount. In a surprising and insightful series of articles, former NV Editor Josh Nathan-Kazis looks at how much we give to our…

Read More...