“…the tendency among women to practice witchcraft served as a means of expressing the feminine desire for power”
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 substantial. The attribution of witchcraft to women derives from the very essence of the traditional society, its social institutions and […]continued…
“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 leadership had passed to the sages and was based on the teaching of the oral law, which was forbidden to […]continued…
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 Jewish education to win a Kafkaesque “color war” mapped onto complex geopolitical realities; they went into this line of work […]continued…
“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 who want to do the job. … Why have these companies run into so many problems? Part of the reason […]continued…
“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 myth of the creative genius who comes from “nowhere,” in reality, that genius had teachers and a tradition which they […]continued…
“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 of love. Only by abdicating his role can the charismatic rabbi who has violated sexual boundaries begin the work of […]continued…
“…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 parents and grandparents of current students also attended secular colleges, but it can be postulated that academic values and assumptions […]continued…
“…’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 in the formerly tried-and-true genres of the urban cop show, the living-room or workplace sitcom and the prime-time soap opera. […]continued…
“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 Jesus movement in the late first century, with Jerusalem fallen and the Temple destroyed and the Saviour, despite his promises, […]continued…
“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 our own time, to the paradox of an American culture obsessed, at once, with being seen and with being hidden, […]continued…