Science & the Salem Witch Trials
From Jacques Barzun: ….What remains to be told is often regarded as the one unfortunate blot on the Pilgrim Fathers’ … Continue Reading Science & the Salem Witch Trials
To Criticize the Critic
I once heard an hour on the radio devoted to talking about two classical composers. Between the host, the guest … Continue Reading To Criticize the Critic
“The Uluburun Shipwreck” (poem)
The Uluburun Shipwreck Download Audio The cedar ship sank off the coast of Turkeywith pottery from Cyprus and jewelryfrom Egypt … Continue Reading “The Uluburun Shipwreck” (poem)
Thoughts for Shabbat: “I became aware of something sublime arising within”
A bit of thirteenth-century mysticism for your Friday night: Why do we utter letters and move them around? I, a … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: “I became aware of something sublime arising within”
The Reformation in a Nutshell
from Jacques Barzun’s Dawn to Decadence, 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life: In his Judgments on History, … Continue Reading The Reformation in a Nutshell
Thoughts for Shabbat: Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones
Ezekiel, chapter 38: 1The hand of the Lord came upon me. He took me out by the spirit of the … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones
First Person: Heloise Writes to Abelard
An amazing passage from a letter of Heloise to Abelard, those twelfth-century lovers who ended up in a nunnery and … Continue Reading First Person: Heloise Writes to Abelard
An Introduction to Orpheus (Greek)
from Jenny March, Cassell’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology, 572-574 ORPHEUS. The supreme singer and musician of Greek myth, so skilled … Continue Reading An Introduction to Orpheus (Greek)
Thoughts for Shabbat: The Parable of Bread & Interpretation
from the Zohar: There was a man who lived in the mountains. He knew nothing about those who lived in … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: The Parable of Bread & Interpretation
Thoughts for Shabbat: The Voice from the Whirlwind
It is typical that the most powerful and even beautiful religious poetry should also be the most difficult to deal … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: The Voice from the Whirlwind
Tao Te Ching #81: “True words are not beautiful, beautiful words are not true”
True words are not beautiful, beautiful words are not true. The good are not argumentative, the argumentative are not good. … Continue Reading Tao Te Ching #81: “True words are not beautiful, beautiful words are not true”
Thoughts for Shabbat: There must be cycles, there must be pauses
As usual, some of the best statements to come out of a particular religious tradition—in this case, Judaism—can, with a … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: There must be cycles, there must be pauses
Thoughts for Shabbat: Jews & Muslims on Pilgrimage Together in the 1300s
From Mark Cohen’s Under Crescent & Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages: An aspect of Jewish-gentile sociability under Islam … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: Jews & Muslims on Pilgrimage Together in the 1300s
Tao Te Ching #31: “Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them”
Read the rest of the Tao Te Ching here Fine weapons are implements of ill omen: people may despise them, … Continue Reading Tao Te Ching #31: “Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them”
Thoughts for Shabbat: Religious violence is an abomination
One of the recurring dangers of religion, indeed of civilization generally, is that they divide humanity into the saved and … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: Religious violence is an abomination
Thoughts for Shabbat: A Jewish Answer on Free Will
I was relieved to discover that, in general, Jewish thinkers and Jewish theology have not spilled nearly the reams of … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: A Jewish Answer on Free Will
