http://www.jewpi.com Jewish Press International Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:52:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.jewpi.com/body-language-1328571968/ http://www.jewpi.com/body-language-1328571968/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:46:08 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/body-language-1328571968/ For the benefit of the neurotypicals in our lives Miriam and I made videos of our typical body language in which the other narrated. Miriam is full of love for everyone and will put a knife through me if I do not eat my vegetables. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/bringing-abraham-heschel-to-israel-1328571381/ http://www.jewpi.com/bringing-abraham-heschel-to-israel-1328571381/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:36:21 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/bringing-abraham-heschel-to-israel-1328571381/ Haaretz has an article on Dror Bondi, who is writing his doctoral dissertation on Rabbi Abraham Heschel, on the challenges of applying Heschel’s philosophy to the Israeli scene with its rigid lines of Haredi vs. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/the-bz-and-miriam-wedding-skit-1328512332/ http://www.jewpi.com/the-bz-and-miriam-wedding-skit-1328512332/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:12:12 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/the-bz-and-miriam-wedding-skit-1328512332/ Aspergers are often accused of suffering from “mind blindness” and lacking a “theory of mind,” a notion that other people think differently. I see this as a more general problem with the human mind. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-iv-1327993097/ http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-iv-1327993097/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:58:17 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-iv-1327993097/ (Part I, II, III) To turn to Rabbi Boteach’s treatment of Christianity. Considering that this is a book that is about reconciling Jews and Christians, one would expect Rabbi Boteach to take a positive view of Jewish-Christian relations. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-iii-1327862418/ http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-iii-1327862418/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:40:18 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-iii-1327862418/ (Part I, II) To get back to Rabbi Boteach’s view of the Romans, for an author asking readers to show some charity to Jews, Rabbi Boteach’s attacks on the Romans are particularly shrill. In fact I would go so far as to say that Rabbi Boteach’s statements against Rome compare to that of the most [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-ii-1327860490/ http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-ii-1327860490/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:08:10 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-ii-1327860490/ (Part I) First, it is important to emphasize that there really is nothing original in Rabbi Boteach’s book. There is a curious phenomenon when it comes to Jesus of a collective amnesia on the part of those selling material on Jesus to the general public as to what has been written before. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-i-1327823166/ http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-i-1327823166/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:46:06 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/kosher-jesus-lack-of-historical-context-part-i-1327823166/ This past Thursday night, Miriam and I went to a book launching event for Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s Kosher Jesus. For those of you not following the issue, the often controversial Rabbi Boteach has managed to generate a firestorm of criticism for writing a positive book about Jesus. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/what-messiah-do-i-look-best-as-1326484324/ http://www.jewpi.com/what-messiah-do-i-look-best-as-1326484324/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:52:04 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/what-messiah-do-i-look-best-as-1326484324/ Sabbatai Sevi has a nice Jewish beard, a massive biography by Gershom Scholem to smite unbelievers and a hip kabbalist prophet for a sidekick. Antichrist has a nice pair of Jewish horns and controls the White House. Sabbatai is really sneaky in how he converts to Islam to spiritually undermine it. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/2011-in-reading/ http://www.jewpi.com/2011-in-reading/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:12:07 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/2011-in-reading/ So for the year 2011, between kindle, ipod and traditional print, I read or listened to about 100 books. Here are my nominations for the best books. Some of these books are recent, others are not. I would be curious to hear from readers any thoughts on these particular books or favorite books from their [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/life-update-2/ http://www.jewpi.com/life-update-2/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:54:09 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/life-update-2/ Sorry for not having posted anything these past few months. I have been really busy getting married and all. There has also been my dissertation. Over the past six months I have written over one hundred pages. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/rampant-obesity-and-celebrating-ten-years-of-idolatry-ami-at-a-crossroads-part-i/ http://www.jewpi.com/rampant-obesity-and-celebrating-ten-years-of-idolatry-ami-at-a-crossroads-part-i/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:44:07 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/rampant-obesity-and-celebrating-ten-years-of-idolatry-ami-at-a-crossroads-part-i/ In this month’s edition of Ami magazine, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein has an article, “Modern Orthodoxy at a Crossroads,” on the challenge posed to Orthodoxy by Rabbi Avi Weiss and his attempt to ordain women. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/guidelines-for-studying-history/ http://www.jewpi.com/guidelines-for-studying-history/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:54:32 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/guidelines-for-studying-history/ Clarissa recently put up some pointers for the study of history, things to remember and questions to ask: Things to remember when reading, watching or researching history: a. There can never be a fully objective account of history b. Don’t read accounts of history to find out what happened. Read them to discover what their [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/aspergerautism-tutor/ http://www.jewpi.com/aspergerautism-tutor/#comments Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:50:20 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/aspergerautism-tutor/ While I continue to work for Kline Books as their Judaica Cataloger and the writer for Tipsy, I am starting a second enterprise as a tutor for grade school and high school students with Asperger syndrome/autism. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/tipsy-on-books-a-new-job-and-a-new-blog/ http://www.jewpi.com/tipsy-on-books-a-new-job-and-a-new-blog/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:28:17 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/tipsy-on-books-a-new-job-and-a-new-blog/ I mentioned previously that I have been blogging less because of my new-found social life. There was another reason for this. In July I started working as the Judaica book-cataloger for Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller in Panorama City north of Los Angeles. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/speaking-at-a-chabad-house-about-messianism-no-less/ http://www.jewpi.com/speaking-at-a-chabad-house-about-messianism-no-less/#comments Sat, 06 Aug 2011 01:38:08 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/speaking-at-a-chabad-house-about-messianism-no-less/ In South Pasadena, where Miriam and I are living, there is not much in the way of Orthodox life. We have a Chabad house 3.5 miles away where we pray. It is a small, but very diverse group of people. They have been very good to Miriam in the past and are now very accepting of [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/engagement-party/ http://www.jewpi.com/engagement-party/#comments Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:52:07 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/engagement-party/ Miriam and I are having an engagement party on August 14th. If any of my readers from the Los Angeles area wish to come feel free to contact me and ask. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/i-am-engaged-to-a-wonderful-jewish-asperger-girl-part-ii/ http://www.jewpi.com/i-am-engaged-to-a-wonderful-jewish-asperger-girl-part-ii/#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:14:09 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/i-am-engaged-to-a-wonderful-jewish-asperger-girl-part-ii/ (Part I) So how did I propose to my one and only dream Jewish Asperger girl? Well, like in most relationships I suspect, she really proposed to me while allowing me the pretense of going through the motions of asking her to maintain the facade of my manly control in this relationship. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/i-am-engaged-to-a-wonderful-jewish-asperger-girl-part-i/ http://www.jewpi.com/i-am-engaged-to-a-wonderful-jewish-asperger-girl-part-i/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 23:12:10 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/i-am-engaged-to-a-wonderful-jewish-asperger-girl-part-i/ For starters I would like to apologize for the lack of posts this past month. Things have been happening in my life that I could not talk about with my readers. Now that things are official I am very pleased to share everything you. This past February I received a call from my aunt. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/orthodox-feminism-or-back-to-the-1950s/ http://www.jewpi.com/orthodox-feminism-or-back-to-the-1950s/#comments Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:06:11 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/orthodox-feminism-or-back-to-the-1950s/ I was just shown a pamphlet for a women’s baalat tshuvah (newly religious) yeshiva called Shirat Devorah. I have never been to the place, I am not affiliated with it nor do I even know anyone who is. Perhaps it is a wonderful program, but some things in the pamphlet struck me as troubling. Read More [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/let-jewish-teenagers-go-into-monasetaries-and-soon-they-will-be-texting-on-shabbos/ http://www.jewpi.com/let-jewish-teenagers-go-into-monasetaries-and-soon-they-will-be-texting-on-shabbos/#comments Sat, 02 Jul 2011 03:24:05 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/let-jewish-teenagers-go-into-monasetaries-and-soon-they-will-be-texting-on-shabbos/ A decade ago, when I spent my post high school year in Israel, I attended Yeshiva Ohr Hadarom, headed by Rabbi Shalom Hammer. He is a good speaker and a decent person, though we failed to get along due to a personality clash and intellectual differences. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/autism-speaks-style-zionism-american-friends-of-tel-aviv-university-dream-of-eliminating-autism/ http://www.jewpi.com/autism-speaks-style-zionism-american-friends-of-tel-aviv-university-dream-of-eliminating-autism/#comments Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:42:10 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/autism-speaks-style-zionism-american-friends-of-tel-aviv-university-dream-of-eliminating-autism/ The American Friends of Tel Aviv offer scholarships for medical research and what do they think to offer as an example but the elimination of autism. It is not like we are lacking in real illnesses in need of a cure like cancer or anything. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/the-protestant-politics-of-michele-bachmann/ http://www.jewpi.com/the-protestant-politics-of-michele-bachmann/#comments Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:36:12 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/the-protestant-politics-of-michele-bachmann/ (Hat tip to Atlas Shrugs.) As it should surprise no one, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann takes a strongly right wing stance in favor of Israel and lashes out against President Obama. One can certainly discuss whether or not Ms. Bachmann’s policies would be good for Israel. What interests me here is how textbook Evangelical Protestant she [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/a-romantic-dish-of-graduate-cooking/ http://www.jewpi.com/a-romantic-dish-of-graduate-cooking/#comments Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:52:05 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/a-romantic-dish-of-graduate-cooking/ I am now in a dating relationship. For those of my readers who are Aspergers or members of an alien species, dating is a process in which the man, in this case yours truly, engages a certain female of interest in a ritual of semi-rational negotiation Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/evidence-of-civilization-in-los-angeles/ http://www.jewpi.com/evidence-of-civilization-in-los-angeles/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:54:14 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/evidence-of-civilization-in-los-angeles/ For the summer I am going to be in Los Angeles. There are certain social reasons for this, which I may choose to discourse in more detail at a later point depending on how things go. In the meantime I hope to be working on my dissertation and I may actually have a job as well. [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/100000-words/ http://www.jewpi.com/100000-words/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:46:06 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/100000-words/ According to Microsoft Word, I have just crossed the 100,000 word mark for my dissertation. Now granted some of that is from the bibliography and footnotes and large sections are little more than gibberish. That being said I still think it is a milestone worth celebrating (most probably with more work). Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/mary-e-brayton/ http://www.jewpi.com/mary-e-brayton/#comments Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:44:08 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/mary-e-brayton/ Bryn Mawr College, where I spent the weekend, is one of the leading women’s colleges in the country and has been so since its founding at the end of the nineteenth century. While examining my room I found a column of small plaques listing the various girls who had apparently dormed in the room. Read [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/presenting-at-the-institute-for-humane-studies-seminar/ http://www.jewpi.com/presenting-at-the-institute-for-humane-studies-seminar/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:26:08 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/presenting-at-the-institute-for-humane-studies-seminar/ Part of the IHS Scholarship and the Free Society seminar are breakout sessions in which graduate students get to present their own research. The purpose of this is to give presenters the opportunity to receive feedback from a diverse academic audience as well as gain practice in this very process. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/institute-for-humane-studies-seminar-scholarship-a-free-society/ http://www.jewpi.com/institute-for-humane-studies-seminar-scholarship-a-free-society/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:26:24 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/institute-for-humane-studies-seminar-scholarship-a-free-society/ So here I am at a seminar for the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) on Scholarship & a Free Society at Bryn Mawr College, a women’s college near Philadelphia. This school is absolutely gorgeous. IHS is a libertarian organization that conducts educational programs for college students. I am having a great time here. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/republican-primary-debates-i-have-produced-kids-so-i-am-qualified-to-be-president/ http://www.jewpi.com/republican-primary-debates-i-have-produced-kids-so-i-am-qualified-to-be-president/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:40:24 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/republican-primary-debates-i-have-produced-kids-so-i-am-qualified-to-be-president/ I am in middle of watching the Republican Primary Debates. I find it shocking sometimes, when watching Republican politicians, to take a step back and realize how far I have come in the past decade in how little these people speak to me. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/salman-rushdie-doing-television/ http://www.jewpi.com/salman-rushdie-doing-television/#comments Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:06:10 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/salman-rushdie-doing-television/ This past decade has seen an interesting shift in the question of can books survive in a culture increasingly dominated by visual media. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/piled-higher-and-deeper-movie/ http://www.jewpi.com/piled-higher-and-deeper-movie/#comments Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:31:22 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/piled-higher-and-deeper-movie/ My life as a graduate student; just replace science with history. Now off to grade some forty finals plus a bunch of essays on Candide. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/final-history-111-spring-2011/ http://www.jewpi.com/final-history-111-spring-2011/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:20:31 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/final-history-111-spring-2011/ My final was scheduled for Shavuot so I decided to simply give an online final. I just sent it out to my students. Here it is. Pick three of the following essay questions and write 2-3 page responses. Each question is worth 50 points. Feel free to make use of your notes and do research [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/why-nobody-wants-to-be-a-feminist-my-response-to-clarissa/ http://www.jewpi.com/why-nobody-wants-to-be-a-feminist-my-response-to-clarissa/#comments Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:54:04 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/why-nobody-wants-to-be-a-feminist-my-response-to-clarissa/ Clarissa did an excellent post a few days ago, Why Nobody Wants to be a Feminist where she challenges women to accept the full consequences of being liberated from patriarchy. Feminism has given women a lot in the last several decades. However, new rights always come accompanied with new responsibilities and obligations. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/john-constantine-on-israel-and-the-jews/ http://www.jewpi.com/john-constantine-on-israel-and-the-jews/#comments Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:06:06 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/john-constantine-on-israel-and-the-jews/ My roommate just showed me a piece from the Hellblazer comic. For those of you who are only familiar with the character of John Constantine from the Constantine movie with Keanu Reeves, the comic book version is a lot edgier. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/tzabi-the-israeli-duck-and-cover-turtle/ http://www.jewpi.com/tzabi-the-israeli-duck-and-cover-turtle/#comments Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:44:13 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/tzabi-the-israeli-duck-and-cover-turtle/ My friend Frank Blazich Jr., a fellow graduate student at Ohio State, is a specialist in American Cold War era civil defense. Right now he is working on a dissertation North Carolina’s civil defense program. (Why someone would be working on North Carolina history from Ohio is a separate story that you are free to [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-candide-and-the-innate-goodness-of-man-part-ii/ http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-candide-and-the-innate-goodness-of-man-part-ii/#comments Mon, 30 May 2011 02:04:08 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-candide-and-the-innate-goodness-of-man-part-ii/ (Part I) If medieval and early modern Christianity had a pessimistic view of human nature in which man is innately sinful and can only be kept in check by Church and State, we moderns tend to have a rather optimistic view of human nature that stresses man’s innate natural goodness. This too has consequences for both [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/americans-and-first-person-shooters/ http://www.jewpi.com/americans-and-first-person-shooters/#comments Fri, 27 May 2011 04:54:09 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/americans-and-first-person-shooters/ Extra Credits has a video blog post on why Americans are attracted to first person shooter (FPS) video games. His argument is that this is rooted within American culture and perceptions of violence. Americans tend to focus on the individual versus society. Guns are symbols of personal freedom. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-candide-and-the-innate-goodness-of-man-part-i/ http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-candide-and-the-innate-goodness-of-man-part-i/#comments Thu, 26 May 2011 15:26:20 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-candide-and-the-innate-goodness-of-man-part-i/ (Go to 2: 55 for Candide’s showdown with the villainous  Jew.) My last discussion of the early modern debate about human salvation proved surprisingly fitting for the last book we are doing, Voltaire’s Candide. Candide has the advantage of being short enough that we can go through it in two classes. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/a-quick-guide-to-christian-salvation-as-applied-to-early-modern-europe/ http://www.jewpi.com/a-quick-guide-to-christian-salvation-as-applied-to-early-modern-europe/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 20:58:06 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/a-quick-guide-to-christian-salvation-as-applied-to-early-modern-europe/ I often seem to find myself in the position of defender and explanator of Christianity, particularly when I teach. For me, educating my Christian students in what they are supposed to believe ranks above even Monty Python and classic films as unofficial purposes of my class. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/look-who-just-got-a-degree-in-history/ http://www.jewpi.com/look-who-just-got-a-degree-in-history/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 02:36:54 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/look-who-just-got-a-degree-in-history/ Pittsburgh Steeler safety Troy Polamalu just graduated USC with a degree in history of all things. So can I now use this as proof that earning even a B.A. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/fuzzy-aliens-learn-about-theory-of-mind/ http://www.jewpi.com/fuzzy-aliens-learn-about-theory-of-mind/#comments Sun, 22 May 2011 17:08:09 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/fuzzy-aliens-learn-about-theory-of-mind/ I found myself up early Sabbath morning so I read John Scalzi’s new novel Fuzzy Nation cover to cover. (It is not that long a book.) I find good science fiction the perfect ticket to feeling spiritual enough to actual pray. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/my-article-on-neil-gaiman-and-the-thor-movie/ http://www.jewpi.com/my-article-on-neil-gaiman-and-the-thor-movie/#comments Fri, 20 May 2011 21:52:06 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/my-article-on-neil-gaiman-and-the-thor-movie/ My friends over at Melt Magazine have put up another piece of mine; a review the recent Thor movie. As with most of my reviews, it is only incidently about the movie, which I use to discuss larger issues of interest. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/daniel-lasker-two-models-of-jewish-thought-rabbi-judah-halevi-and-maimonides/ http://www.jewpi.com/daniel-lasker-two-models-of-jewish-thought-rabbi-judah-halevi-and-maimonides/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 19:30:43 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/daniel-lasker-two-models-of-jewish-thought-rabbi-judah-halevi-and-maimonides/ Dr. Daniel Lasker gave a second lecture, while he was in Columbus, comparing Rabbi Judah Halevi to Maimondes. Here are my notes; as always, all mistakes are mine. There is a trend in academia to make everything applied that one should not just be sitting in an ivory tower. This is difficult for Jewish thought. [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/daniel-lasker-the-jewish-critique-of-christianity/ http://www.jewpi.com/daniel-lasker-the-jewish-critique-of-christianity/#comments Wed, 18 May 2011 17:54:21 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/daniel-lasker-the-jewish-critique-of-christianity/ Here is a lecture that Dr. Daniel Lasker gave at Ohio State last Friday on Jewish polemics against Christianity. He argues that Jews in the Middle Ages were more proactive in crafting anti-Christian polemics and that this genre was not simply a response to Christian polemics. I must admit that I am not yet convinced [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/victor-david-hanson-on-western-military-dynamism/ http://www.jewpi.com/victor-david-hanson-on-western-military-dynamism/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 01:26:10 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/victor-david-hanson-on-western-military-dynamism/ This past Thursday The Ohio State University hosted Victor David Hanson who spoke on “Western Military Dynamism and its Antidotes.” Hanson, in addition to being a conservative commentator, is one of the leading classicists of this generation. His presentation was a bit of both. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/have-a-heart-or-at-least-a-funnybone-for-organ-donation/ http://www.jewpi.com/have-a-heart-or-at-least-a-funnybone-for-organ-donation/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 18:07:07 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/have-a-heart-or-at-least-a-funnybone-for-organ-donation/ A former student of mine helped put this short video together for the Halachic Organ Donation Society, which urges Orthodox Jews to agree to donate their organs. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/nazis-in-space/ http://www.jewpi.com/nazis-in-space/#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 21:36:28 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/nazis-in-space/ Here is a trailer for a movie coming out next year called Iron Sky. I suspect that many of my readers will be offended, but to me this movie looks like pure genius. (Needless to say I have been let down by horrible movies with awesome trailers before.) So, with Nazis in space, I think [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/rishona-on-my-grandfather/ http://www.jewpi.com/rishona-on-my-grandfather/#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 21:26:04 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/rishona-on-my-grandfather/ My friend Rishona finally got her Orthodox conversion. I wish her best of luck. I am amazed at her willingness to put up with the kind of junk that she has. On her blog she posted a long piece on her conversion story. She passworded it, but was kind enough to allow me to put [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/rishona-campbell-on-my-grandfather/ http://www.jewpi.com/rishona-campbell-on-my-grandfather/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 05:14:08 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/rishona-campbell-on-my-grandfather/ My friend Rishona Campbell finally completed her Orthodox Jewish conversion. This took her a number of years. I amazed at her patience at the amount of junk she put up with, putting her life on hold for several years. I wish her best of luck as a Jew. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/seeing-the-big-picture/ http://www.jewpi.com/seeing-the-big-picture/#comments Wed, 11 May 2011 15:39:47 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/seeing-the-big-picture/ I remember seeing False Messiah’s post on the doctored photograph in Der Tzitung, a Yiddish newspaper, removing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a week ago and not thinking twice about it; this is the sort of thing I expect from a Haredi paper. Amusing and worth a chuckle at yes; making a big deal about it no. [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/uthman-dey-a-humanitarian-hero-for-al-nakba-day/ http://www.jewpi.com/uthman-dey-a-humanitarian-hero-for-al-nakba-day/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 16:14:21 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/uthman-dey-a-humanitarian-hero-for-al-nakba-day/ To all of my readers, I wish you a merry Al Nakba day. In honor of Al Nakba day and the founding of the State of Israel I wish to put in a word for Uthman Dey. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/religious-narrative-medieval-catholicism-communism-and-islam/ http://www.jewpi.com/religious-narrative-medieval-catholicism-communism-and-islam/#comments Sun, 08 May 2011 05:46:06 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/religious-narrative-medieval-catholicism-communism-and-islam/ One of the surprises of the modern world has been the continued persistence of organized religion. Despite several centuries of Enlightenment criticism, religion remains a powerful force within society. Certainly within the United States the vast majority of the population subscribes at least formally to some religion. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/hayek-vs-keynes/ http://www.jewpi.com/hayek-vs-keynes/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 19:24:07 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/hayek-vs-keynes/ So here we have a remarkably intelligent presentation of the economic debate between Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes as a rap song and a boxing match. Hayek is assisted by Ludwig van Mises, Keynes by Thomas Malthus. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/farewell-osama-bin-ladin-nice-knowing-you/ http://www.jewpi.com/farewell-osama-bin-ladin-nice-knowing-you/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 14:54:11 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/farewell-osama-bin-ladin-nice-knowing-you/ As I am sure by now my readers are aware American, forces have stormed Osama bin Laden’s “evil fortress of doom,” which, it turns out, was not some cave but an urban compound. I was hoping for bin Laden to go down with a pair of Gatling guns Wolfenstein boss style. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/at-the-calvin-college-symposium-on-religion-and-politics/ http://www.jewpi.com/at-the-calvin-college-symposium-on-religion-and-politics/#comments Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:06:09 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/at-the-calvin-college-symposium-on-religion-and-politics/ I am writing to all my readers from Grand Rapids MI (my first overnight stay in the “State up North”) where I am attending a symposium on religion and politics hosted by Calvin College’s Paul B. Henry Institute. So to get some random thoughts in before Shabbos: I got a ride up to the conference with [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-how-to-start-your-own-religion-part-ii/ http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-how-to-start-your-own-religion-part-ii/#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:46:09 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-how-to-start-your-own-religion-part-ii/ (Part I) Having decided to begin my long and difficult task of telling over my divine revelation to the world from the comfort of a Starbucks, I must first recruit for myself followers. Such a task requires a charismatic personality. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-under-the-black-flag/ http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-under-the-black-flag/#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:42:06 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/history-111-under-the-black-flag/ For our next book the class picked Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly. The golden age of piracy crosses over into the eighteenth century, my cut off line for 111, and largely was acted out in the Caribbean and along the North American coast. Read [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/ayn-rand-as-inverse-marxism/ http://www.jewpi.com/ayn-rand-as-inverse-marxism/#comments Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:16:05 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/ayn-rand-as-inverse-marxism/ Over on Newsweek, Jonathan Chait attacks Rep. Paul Ryan for “waging war on the weak” with his budget plan and for his allegiance to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. As Chait summerizes Rand: [She] was a kind of politicized L. Ron Hubbard—a novelist-philosopher who inspired a cult of acolytes who deem her the greatest human being [...]]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/george-r-r-martin-on-fantasy-and-historical-fiction/ http://www.jewpi.com/george-r-r-martin-on-fantasy-and-historical-fiction/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:54:07 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/george-r-r-martin-on-fantasy-and-historical-fiction/ James Poniewozik of Time blog has a long interview with fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, whose Game of Thrones is now being made into an HBO show. Martin discusses his view of J. R. R. Tolkien, balancing his respect for him with not slavishly imitating him. Read More »]]> 0 http://www.jewpi.com/sucker-punch-too-smart-for-its-own-good/ http://www.jewpi.com/sucker-punch-too-smart-for-its-own-good/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:44:10 +0000 admin http://www.jewpi.com/sucker-punch-too-smart-for-its-own-good/ A few weeks ago I attended a free screening of the movie Sucker Punch. As luck would have it I ended up sitting right behind Kevin Grimm the editor of Melt, a local free magazine, who was hosting the event. Read More »]]> 0