Aharon N. Varady « Aharon's Omphalos

We Rabbis Don’t Make Golems for the Money — We Do It Because It’s Awesome

This here meme I rolled this evening was inspired by a meme created by Steg sometime more than a decade ago and shared on the icanhascheezburger.com website. The timestamp on the image I saved dates to hoary 2012, but I have a feeling I saw it earlier than that, perhaps in 2010 or even in more eldritch years. . . . → Continue reading: We Rabbis Don’t Make Golems for the Money — We Do It Because It’s Awesome

Doycats of Doykeit

I’m here for Doykeit (also, Doykayt, Here-ness) and I’m here for cats, not only the living creatures but also the idea of cats who will make any place they rest their haunches appear to be their own, until they leave, as is there want. Who else lives in the here and now? I present the doycats, which were always here if made invisible by their veritable ubiquity. Asked to announce their presence, they prefer to curl up and rest, or to stare into corners regressing infinitely, or to peer defiantly at even more obscure sheydim. . . . → Continue reading: Doycats of Doykeit

Approbations

I received a very nice compliment, so I’m parking it here for just those times I might need to read it. . . . → Continue reading: Approbations

The Humanity Bureau (2017)

By coincidence, I just happened to be watching THE HUMANITY BUREAU (2017) last night. I say coincidence since I had no idea this low budget Nicholas Cage film was a fever dream for right-wing conspiracy types, so watching it, I felt like I was getting a glimpse of their thought world in the aftermath of last week’s real-life insurrection. . . . → Continue reading: The Humanity Bureau (2017)

Biden/Harris! 2020 בּײַדן/העריס

A political logo for the Biden/Harris 2020 campaign in the US General Election, using Yiddish orthography. . . . → Continue reading: Biden/Harris! 2020 בּײַדן/העריס

Escutcheon for a Sanctuary of the Jewish Imagination in the Land Beyond the River Sambatyon

An escutcheon (shield herald) for the landscape and lore of my imagination. . . . → Continue reading: Escutcheon for a Sanctuary of the Jewish Imagination in the Land Beyond the River Sambatyon

The Masoretic Text of the Pentateuch, color-coded according to its narrative layers as delineated by the Supplementary Hypothesis of Tzemaḥ Yoreh

Last night, I finished a year long project begun after Simḥat Torah in 2018, presenting the Masoretic Hebrew text of the parashot (weekly Torah readings) with English translation in a range of colors according to the way the narrative layers are parsed through the Supplementary hypothesis as read by Dr. Tzemah Yoreh, published in his Kernel to Canon series of books (2013-2017) and on his website, the Sources of Biblical Narrative. The version of the Masoretic text used is Dr. Seth Avi Kadish’s Miqra al pi ha-mesorah published at Hebrew Wikisource. . . . → Continue reading: The Masoretic Text of the Pentateuch, color-coded according to its narrative layers as delineated by the Supplementary Hypothesis of Tzemaḥ Yoreh

Adjusting inner margin (gutter) width in PDFs intended for bound printing

I sought without success for instructions on how to modify the gutter width, to adjust the inner margins of pages in a PDF so that they may be printed properly. So I had to figure it out myself. This is the solution I’ve devised for use with Adobe Acrobat Professional. . . . → Continue reading: Adjusting inner margin (gutter) width in PDFs intended for bound printing

Further thoughts on prayer as media and praxis

I would like to add to what many people are saying about the vacuous offering of “thoughts and prayers” after deliberate, predictable, and avoidable tragedies, without, I hope, sounding contrarian. Immersed as I’ve been for the last decade in prayer literature directing the Open Siddur Project, I want to say something in general about prayers, . . . → Continue reading: Further thoughts on prayer as media and praxis

Open-source Judaism and Charting the Course of the American Future, an essay for Kenissa: Community of Meaning Network

Rabbi Schwartz asked prospective participants in his “Kenissa: Community of Meaning Network” to respond to his chapter, and in particular how our initiatives are aligned with one (or more) of the four propositions he offers to heading off the crises facing the American Jewish community, and in what ways they advance an area of Jewish life or practice outside of those propositions. Here was my response as founding director of the Open Siddur Project and co-founder of Open-source Judaism. . . . → Continue reading: Open-source Judaism and Charting the Course of the American Future, an essay for Kenissa: Community of Meaning Network

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