MOST REVIEWS OF R. CRUMB’S “The Book of Genesis Illustrated” seem astonished that the man who kept us truckin’ through the ’60s could possibly give the Goode Booke such a serious rendering. But what astonishes me is that Crumb has…
Category: Torah
The Text(s), the tribe, the learning, the being. (With a bit of random spirituality mixed in.)
Minute Mitzvah: Mind That Credenza
And now, it’s time for another Monday Mitzvah. Today: Safeguard your home from accidents. IN ITS SIMPLE VERSION, THIS mitzvah calls for a roof-edge parapet to keep people from falling off. As those living outside a Mediterranean building-climate likely have…
Minute Mitzvah: Praise Wow
And now, another Monday Mitzvah with a side of motivation. Today: Hold God in awe. THIS ONE’S TRICKY FOR ATHEISTS, so in the interests of universality, let’s assume we’re not talking about the Cranky Old Man raining smites and frights…
Minute Mitzvah: Free At Last
FOR THOSE INTERESTED, WE AT Metaphorager.Net present another Monday Mitzvah (and its backstory). Today: Tell the Exodus story on Passover. “Remember that you were slaves in the Land of Egypt” is Torah’s most-repeated commandment. But if we get hung up…
Minute Mitzvah: You Are How You Eat
TUESDAY’S NOT TOO LATE FOR a Monday Mitzvah, unless you’d rather read something else. Today: Don’t eat what’s not kosher (literally, “proper, fit”). Let’s correct two misconceptions: 1. Kosher is hygenic. 2. Kosher is rational. The basic rules from Leviticus…
Minute Mitzvah: Watch Your Tongue
It’s Monday Mitzvah! If you’re not hip to Jewish ethnospirituality, feel free to pass. Today: Don’t oppress anyone with words. Like many of the mannerly mitzvot, this one seems easy — until you begin to ponder the meaning of “oppress.”…
Minute Mitzvah: Divine Assumption
And now, another Monday Mitzvah! If you’re not hip to things eth(n)ospiritual, feel free to skip. Today: Know, if even arguendo, that God is. TO A THEIST, THE IDEA of a Universe without God is a no-brainer; to an atheist,…
School’s Out
TODAY IS THE WORST DAY (or one of the worst days) in any given year: it’s the last day I’ll be teaching religious school, which means I won’t see “my kids” any more — and I’ll be slightly stupider without…
Minute Mitzvah: Take Saturday Off
Welcome to another Monday Mitzvah! If you’re not hip to things eth(n)ospiritual, feel free to skip this post. Today: Rest on Shabbat. For most of the past 166,400-odd weeks, Jews have celebrated Shabbat as part of the fabric of Creation.…
Minute Mitzvah: Keep Your Word
(N.B.: If you’re not hip to things eth(n)ospiritual, you may want to skip this post. Otherwise, feel free to comment.) FOR ME, THE SECRET TO Jewish living can be summed up in two Hebrew words: “Na’aseh v’nishmah (We will do,…
Four Points of Contact
“IT IS THE NATURE OF religious belief knowledge to be compelling only to the believer knower.” So said Rabbi Micha Berger some years ago on Usenet’s soc.culture.jewish.moderated, and I have yet to see a better argument for pluralism and against…
Leaving room for silence
Of all the apparent opposites which Judaism wrestles to reconcile — free will v. predestination, universalism v. particularism, applesauce v. sour cream — one of the most paradoxically fertile is words v. the Wordless. Maimonides, the great 12th century rabbi…