Movies, Star Wars “Star Wars is seemingly self-aware of its role as the new religious storyteller” Author Drew Kaplan Date 23 February 2016 Star Wars is seemingly self-aware of its role as the new religious storyteller. The...
Haredim/Haredi-ism “This past year we were told that it was Agudath Israel of America’s 93rd convention. … How is this possible if Agudath Israel in America was not formed until 1939?” Author Drew Kaplan Date 22 February 2016 This past year we were told that it was Agudath Israel of America’s 93rd...
Politics in America “America’s most skilled political entertainer is putting on the greatest show we’ve ever seen” Author Drew Kaplan Date 22 February 2016 It is undeniably enjoyable to watch Trump. He’s red-faced, discursive, funny, angry, strange, unpredictable,...
Literature “Landscape matters: Britain’s antique countryside…lends itself to fairy-tale invention. … America’s mighty vistas, by contrast, are less cozy, less human-scaled, and less haunted” Author Drew Kaplan Date 21 February 2016 Landscape matters: Britain’s antique countryside, strewn with moldering castles and cozy farms, lends itself...
Races in America “…from 1970 to the present,… Black Americans are much more likely to stay in place and much less likely than whites to engage in…moves significant enough to change circumstances and opportunities” Author Drew Kaplan Date 21 February 2016 For crucial periods of this country’s history, African-Americans were far more likely than whites...
Literature “It turns out that fantasy – the established domain of British children’s literature – is critical to childhood development” Author Drew Kaplan Date 19 February 2016 It turns out that fantasy – the established domain of British children’s literature –...
Alcoholic Drinks, America, Beer “The most surprising thing about the nineteenth-century temperance movement is that it seems to have worked: in the course of the century, hard-liquor consumption plummeted” Author Drew Kaplan Date 18 February 2016 The most surprising thing about the nineteenth-century temperance movement is that it seems to...
Movies, Star Wars “Disney owns the three biggest storytelling platforms in the world. … They push our wonder buttons, but like all good stories, they are also fountains of potential interpretation” Author Drew Kaplan Date 18 February 2016 Disney owns the three biggest storytelling platforms in the world. They own Star Wars,...
War “What if an occupation arises, not from an act of aggression, but following a defensive war in which a state defending its territory occupies neighboring lands?” Author Drew Kaplan Date 17 February 2016 Annexation has often been seen, quite naturally, as linked to aggression. Many international lawyers...
Halakhah, Haredim/Haredi-ism, Modern Orthodoxy “For Rabbi Gordimer, all poskim share the same ‘process’. Not only is this historically incorrect, it isn’t even ‘doctrine'” Author Drew Kaplan Date 17 February 2016 Rabbi Gordimer claims that there is no such thing as Modern Orthodox pesak, and...