Skip to content

Excerpted

Excerpts of Interest

Month: March 2014

“The surreal juxtaposition is what gives many soldiers trouble adjusting back to civilian life”

31 March 201429 March 2014 Drew KaplanWar

One day you’re in a sniper hole with your crosshairs on a man, the next you’re at home seeing things like that in movies and trying to decide what to have for lunch. The surreal[…]

Continue reading …

Koheleth’s The very strangeness…in its literary and religious context in the Bible is part of its fascination”

31 March 201429 March 2014 Drew KaplanBible

The very strangeness of the work in its literary and religious context in the Bible is part of its fascination.  The author’s mood of doubt and pessimism is one into which many reflective persons fall[…]

Continue reading …

“American culture rides forward on stories about sudden fame and bold ascent…TED is a display case for such stories”

30 March 201429 March 2014 Drew KaplanEntertainment

American culture rides forward on stories about sudden fame and bold ascent – the singer who invents a new style of celebrity, the unknown actor rising with a quirky TV show, the kid who shapes[…]

Continue reading …

“the best way to reach Jews who do not feel at home in Judaism is to do compelling Jewish work in public”

30 March 201429 March 2014 Drew KaplanJewish

I have always believed that the best way to reach Jews who do not feel at home in Judaism is to do compelling Jewish work in public: to contextualize Judaism within the marketplace of ideas;[…]

Continue reading …

“Shabbat, as seen through the Mishnah, does not prescribe actions”

28 March 201420 March 2014 Drew KaplanShabbat

Shabbat as framed by the opening mishnah of Tractate Shabbat is not something that is “done”; it is a space within which everything that is done is Shabbat. Certain things must not be done. There[…]

Continue reading …

Both autism and psychopathy entail a lack of empathy. Psychologists, though, distinguish between….

27 March 201420 March 2014 Drew KaplanUncategorized

Both autism and psychopathy entail a lack of empathy. Psychologists, though, distinguish between the “cognitive empathy” deficits of autism (difficulty understanding what emotions are, trouble interpreting other people’s nonverbal signs) and the “emotional empathy” deficits[…]

Continue reading …

Edgar Bronfman preferred “a serious discussion of texts to song and prayer”

27 March 201420 March 2014 Drew KaplanJews

For myself, prayer and spirituality are not the primary way I connect with Judaism.  In my own Jewish practice, I prefer a serious discussion of texts to song and prayer and find my strongest connection[…]

Continue reading …

How one reads Shavit’s chapter on Lydda is a Rorschach test of one’s Israel politics

26 March 201417 June 2015 Drew KaplanIsrael

One chapter has garnered more attention than others.  It is the one serialized in the New Yorker in October 2013, on the expulsion by the nascent Israeli army of the Arab residents of the city[…]

Continue reading …

“Judaism has a great deal to offer even those who consider themselves secular”

26 March 201420 March 2014 Drew KaplanJudaism

Judaism has a great deal to offer even those who consider themselves secular. It emphasizes practice over belief. We are allowed to doubt even the existence of God and commanded to ask questions. Even a[…]

Continue reading …

The more Adam hated himself, the more he hated everyone else: killing others and suicide were both crucial

25 March 201420 March 2014 Drew KaplanUncategorized

Adam Lanza … committed three distinct atrocities: he killed his mother; he killed himself; he killed children and adults he’d never met before. Two of these acts are explicable; the third, incomprehensible. There are many[…]

Continue reading …

Posts navigation

Older posts
  • About

Archives

  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Oblique by Themeisle.