One social aspect of witchcraft can now more readily be understood. The emphasis in the sources on women’s involvement in sorcery cannot be ignored; even if reduced to more modest proportions, the references are still[…]
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Month: October 2014
“Sorcery as practiced by women constituted insurrection against the social structure no less than sorcery practiced by men”
Whereas the biblical period had prophetesses, charismatic women in positions of influence and power, this means of attaining power was no longer feasible for women in the talmudic period. Prophecy had disappeared altogether and religious[…]
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Hillel professionals “did not go into Jewish education to win a Kafkaesque “color war” mapped onto complex geopolitical realities”
Our colleagues working at Hillels around the country are talented, and they are driven to do their work by a passion for the big questions of identity, belonging and meaning. They did not go into[…]
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“Three core business principles that have become a religion in Silicon Valley”
The regulatory woes seem to be never ending for the newest wave of tech start-ups — the on-demand apps that connect people who need something (a driver, a house cleaner, a grocery shopper) with people[…]
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“Spontaneous creativity which is significant and of lasting value almost always demands hard work…”
Spontaneous creativity which is significant and of lasting value almost always demands hard work, professionals who can mentor and guide that work, and some institutional culture which can house it. While popular culture idolizes the[…]
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“Only by abdicating his role can the charismatic rabbi who has violated sexual boundaries begin the work of teshuvah”
When we support a charismatic teacher in the belief that he alone is needed to be a teacher of Torah, we support the very hubris that allowed that teacher to confuse himself for the object[…]
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“…an estimated 70 percent of Modern Orthodox college students are enrolled in secular institutions of higher learning, and the impact of their experience there cannot be ignored”
One thing is certain: an estimated 70 percent of Modern Orthodox college students are enrolled in secular institutions of higher learning, and the impact of their experience there cannot be ignored. True, many of the[…]
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“…’The Sopranos’ and ‘Mad Men’ heralded the end of male authority; we’ve also witnessed the erosion of traditional adulthood in any form…”
Not only have shows like “The Sopranos” and “Mad Men” heralded the end of male authority; we’ve also witnessed the erosion of traditional adulthood in any form, at least as it used to be portrayed[…]
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“Revelation, far from being meant as a hallucinatory prophecy, is actually a coded account of events that were happening at the time John was writing”
Revelation, far from being meant as a hallucinatory prophecy, is actually a coded account of events that were happening at the time John was writing. It’s essentially a political cartoon about the crisis in the[…]
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“There is no longer a public self, even a rhetorical one. There are only lots of people protecting their privacy…”
In the twentieth century, the golden age of public relations, publicity, meaning the attention of the press, came to be something that many private citizens sought out and even paid for. This has led, in[…]
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