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Wherever I live, that is my ‘Homeland’ — a Response to Zionists on the Jewish and Christian Right

For the last several years I’ve become concerned with a movement on the right, an alliance between Christian Zionists in the U.S. and Israel’s Likud party-flavored right-nationalist Zionism. Something I heard Sarah Palin say back in 2009 in an interview with Barbara Walters raised my eyebrow and Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic was quick to . . . → Continue reading: Wherever I live, that is my ‘Homeland’ — a Response to Zionists on the Jewish and Christian Right

A Simplified Summary of Public Domain Status for Creative Works in US Copyright Law (excluding audio works)

A Simplified Summary of Public Domain Status for Creative Works in US Copyright Law (excluding audio works) – Aharon Varady (CC BY-SA)

Among the many things I do in my work for the Open Siddur Project, I create digital copies of works in the Public Domain. These copies then serve as the basis . . . → Continue reading: A Simplified Summary of Public Domain Status for Creative Works in US Copyright Law (excluding audio works)

Uncle Isak’s Story: A young man journeys down an endless road… (from Fanny & Alexander, 1982)

A story told by Isak Jacobi (Erland Josephson) in Ingmar Bergman’s FANNY & ALEXANDER (1982-1983). . . . → Continue reading: Uncle Isak’s Story: A young man journeys down an endless road… (from Fanny & Alexander, 1982)

Levi, the Leviathan

About ten years ago, at a Jews in the Woods gathering nearby the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Maryland, I offered my first shiur on biblical mythology and on the Leviathan and the Behemoth. (I subsequently wrote up some of what I talked about in several posts back here and here and here on the Omphalos, . . . → Continue reading: Levi, the Leviathan

גְמַ״ח | A Short Reflection on the Roots of the Federation and G’milut Ḥasadim

I was incredibly honored to have been invited by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati to speak this evening at their 120th Annual Meeting. Long-lived community bodies can seem to be just part of the landscape, as old as the mountains and somewhat inscrutable, so it seemed appropriate to me on the event of an . . . → Continue reading: גְמַ״ח | A Short Reflection on the Roots of the Federation and G’milut Ḥasadim

where grass can never be called straw

A poem for Nissan, and an everyday reminder. . . . → Continue reading: where grass can never be called straw

Community Identification

Some self-reflection on community identity spurred by a conversation on the Pew Survey (2013). . . . → Continue reading: Community Identification

Mechon Hadar is Open

From 2009-2010, I was a fellow of Yeshivat Hadar in the pilot year of its first year-long program of study. A couple months ago, Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, Dean of Students at Yeshivat Hadar, asked me if I would consider reviewing Mechon Hadar’s new website. At the Hadar reunion earlier this year, Jason had provided a . . . → Continue reading: Mechon Hadar is Open

Pinḥas Haiku Iterations

Haikus offered in commentary to Parashat Pinḥas 2011-2014, originally for Avi Strausberg’s Torah Haiku project. . . . → Continue reading: Pinḥas Haiku Iterations

Teach me your Open Source Torah, on one foot

American Jewish World Service does important work, so when a site they built for educators and learners to access Jewish sourcetexts on social justice and other important activities disappeared overnight due to what appeared to be a domain registration lapse, I was motivated to write an essay on how organizations can appreciate their websites as more than “proprietary and Copyrighted marketing assets to better leverage their brand.” eJewishPhilanthropy, a well-read blog popular among Jewish professionals published it this morning. Here’s a snippet: . . . → Continue reading: Teach me your Open Source Torah, on one foot