On Potters and Potlings (or On turning forward with one’s head turned backwards)

A few weeks ago I was asked on the (Star) Trek Jews list what the Jewish concept of t’shuva means… here is what I wrote for someone who might know very little about Jewish thought and philosophy. I think I would have liked it to have more quotes from sources, TaNaKh, Talmud, and other scholars, [...]

Let the mountains sing together with joy!

According to one ancient Jewish tradition, the custom of not eating meat on Shavuot celebrates the vow God made with Noaḥ and his children on Mt. Ararat. Although the vow was witnessed by Noaḥ on Ararat, because Noaḥ’s descendants continued to eat the flesh of an animal with its blood, a suitable [...]

Metaphors Liberate Us

In an age when the possibility of living in the land of Israel is no longer an abstract yearning, at a time when Jerusalem is rebuilt (with a soon to be active light rail system!), and after nearly 2000 years without the physical presence of a Temple nor the daily ministrations of priesthood [...]

Reality and Hallucination: Towards a Talmudic Ontology of Consensus (by way of demons)

In his 1978 essay, “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later“, Philip K. Dick wrote, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” This ontology is challenged by a syndrome recently brought to my attention in a recent post on boingboing.net, “Hallucinations [...]

The Collected Calypsos, Sayings, and Songs of Bokonon

From Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Cat’s Cradle (1963). Found on the internet, and rearranged associatively.

On the Quest for Understanding

Tiger got to hunt, Bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, ‘Why, why, why?’ Tiger got to sleep, Bird got to land, Man got to tell himself he understand.

On Life

We do, [...]