Еврей без ярлыков
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Srulik" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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03:34 pm
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Жизнь продолжается. Баш.ру
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11:47 am
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8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation
Author Mark Bauerlein aims to provoke in his new book, "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future" (Tarcher/Penguin). Do you agree? Take a look at eight reasons the Emory University English professor gives to ''not trust anyone under 30''...
Reason 6. They don't store the information
"For digital immigrants, people who are 40 years old who spent their college time in the library acquiring information, the Internet is really a miraculous source of knowledge,'' Bauerlein says. "Digital natives, however, go to the Internet not to store knowledge in their minds, but to retrieve material and pass it along. The Internet is just a delivery system.''
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09:15 am
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Иерусалим - град святой
Получил удовольствие.
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01:20 am
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Talner Rebbe (R' Yitzhak Twerski) on Textual Variants
A more serious cause of misunderstanding and needless criticism for which Maimonides was an exposed, unprotected target and which Rabad had no reason to spare, was the fact that they did not use uniform texts. In the absence of a Masoretic-like text of the Talmud — such as that contemplated by R. Gershom of Mayence at the beginning of the eleventh century — there were basic textual divergences in their books which inevitably resulted in divergences of interpretation. Just as a number of disparate Amoraic explanations found in the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds stem from the fact that the Mishnah used in Palestinian schools was not identical in all respects with that current in the Babylonian academies, so divergences of text continued throughout the Middle Ages to give rise to interpretative discrepancies. Medieval rabbis were cognizant of this fact and repeatedly attributed seemingly irreconcilable differences to their origin in heterogenous texts. Questions might often resolve themselves into a matter of discretion and insight in selecting the best text — and much ingenuity was expended on textual variants — but the prevalence of disparate readings was a reality necessarily taken into consideration by all critics.
Rabad also knew that many statements in the Mishneh Torah with which he took issue were based upon divergent texts. In most of these cases he acknowledges, objectively and without rancor or criticism, the underlying divergences without even arbitrating between them. There was no reason for one to condemn another for facts beyond his immediate control; as a result, Rabad merely notes these facts: “our books have a different version”; “we have a different reading here”; “in our books [it reads]”; “this version is not found in our books nor in the Halakot of the Master”; “his version is unlike our version.” On occasion Rabad even provides Maimonides a way out of criticism by suggesting that “perhaps he found [such a reading] in his version.” In one case where Rabad rejects a Maimonidean view he is fair enough to stipulate: “if he found his version of the text like this, fine [for we cannot dispute it]; if, however, this view is his own inference, we do not listen to what he says.” Elsewhere, after expressing his amazement at a statement which seems to run counter to the basic opinion of the Mishnah, Rabad concludes candidly: “I subsequently investigated the versions of this text and found that they vary and I found one version which coincides with his statement.” Finally, the admissibility of two variant readings — implicit in such hassagot — is sometimes openly defended by Rabad. When Maimonides rejects one of two versions as completely erroneous while bolstering the other by the authority of ancient manuscripts, Rabad notes: “It is true that there are various versions in this matter, but I was able to affirm both of them.”
Y. Twerski, "Rabad of Posquiers", pp. 149-150
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03:40 pm
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Don Quixote - Talmudist and Mucho Mas
[...] the model for the converso literature is King Solomon's “Golden apples in a silver mesh, this is a word spoken on its two circles” (Prov. 25:11). This is not the “metaphor” where significance is transferred from “its real place to its intimate place.” Rather, it involves the passage from a level of consciousness available to the general public (silver), to another level only accessible to a privileged public. There are two dimensions to this type of metaphor. First, both faces must be valuable; the inner one, however, must be more valuable than the outer face. Second, a principal function of the outer face is to point to the privileged public the course leading to the inner face. The aim of converso literature is to expose to the privileged public the “real” in contrast to the “evident” Spain. No one has accomplished this better than Cervantes in Don Quijote.
Much has been said about the possible converso ideology of Cervantes. For some, including the writer of these lines, the reason his application for a post in the Americas was rejected (1590) was his “tainted” lineage, hence making one think the unthinkable. The name “Quixote” – meaningless in Spanish – is luminous and compelling as qeshot (“truth”) – a biblical term popularized in the Sephardic liturgy, Berikh Shemeh. The pertinent paragraph reads as follows:
Neither we trust in the Son of God (i.e. Jesus) but in the God of Heaven who is a Qeshot God, his Torah is Qeshot, and his Prophets are Qeshot, and he abundantly makes Goodness and Qeshot. In him I trust! And to his glorious name I give praise.
If one were to regard “la Mancha,” lit., “the stain” – a place “whose name,” as we are told us in the opening line – “I do not wish to I remember” (I, 1), to be an allusion to a past not pure enough to pass the edicts of “pureza de sangre” for which Spain was famous rather than a pointless region in Castile – then the title of Cervantes's famous work acquires chilling precision. “Mr. Truth, Man of Tainted Past,” solemnly intones the existential dislocation peculiar to conversos (past and present). The image of a gentleman alienated to the point of madness, meandering in a hallucinatory world shielded by an armor, “to increase his own honor (honra) and for service to his nation” (I, 1), is a harrowing allegory of the converso in Spain.
The purpose of the present study is to examine a story in Don Quixote II, 45 together with a passage in the Talmud, B. Nedarim 25a. It will be seen that both accounts are interrelated, shedding light on each other. In particular, that Cervantes, with virtuosi skill, has peppered the story with trivia and clues designed to simultaneously conceal his source and expand it.
Full article here.
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03:17 pm
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Feds Raid Rubashkin, Meat Prices to Rise
ID fraud claims bring state's largest raid
By NIGEL DUARA, GRANT SCHULTE • and WILLIAM PETROSKI • nduara@dmreg.com •
May 13, 2008
Postville, Ia. - The largest workplace raid in Iowa history Monday resulted in the arrest of more than 300 people and reignited the debate over immigration.
As two law enforcement helicopters hovered overhead, dozens of federal agents descended on Agriprocessors Inc., the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse.
The 300 people arrested represent almost one-third of the plant's 968 workers, and federal officials said the number of arrests could increase. The number is three times as many as were arrested in a raid 18 months ago at the Swift plant in Marshalltown.
Click here for complete coverage, photos, video
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05:56 pm
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Вопрос накопился
Нередко приходится встречать (в ЖЖ и других местах) обсуждения тех или иных проблем еврейских религиозных общин. (Перечислять, думаю, не стоит.) Обычно кто-нибудь обязательно - и справедливо - отмечает, что принадлежность к некоей обшине не обязательно означает полное соответствие её идеалам, и что среди евреев тот же процент жуликов, мерзавцев и попросту слабых духом людей, что и среди других народов, и мы имеем на них право.
Всё правильно, однако встаёт следующий вопрос - если это так, то не указывает ли это на неудачу данной религии, или по крайней мере подхода к ней, практикуемого в данной обшине? Иными словами, если следование этому подходу не увеличивает процент прилично (в смысле бейн адам ле-хаверо) ведущих себя людей, то какая от него польза?
Если увеличивает, то это по крайней мере частичный ответ. Однако есть те, кто утверждает, что процент проблем в соблюдающих еврейских общинах сравним со светским обществом. Как они отвечают на такой вопрос?
Обсуждение, пожалуйста (по возможности), проводите здесь.
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04:27 pm
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Рекомендую, если кто не знает
Сей юзер публикует много интересной информации о иудаизме. Вот, например:
Книгу Иова удобно изучать, используя современный технический жаргон.
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06:41 pm
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Talner Rebbe (R' Yitzhak Twerski) on Raba"d vs. Ram"o
For the sake of further characterization of this group of hassagot by means of comparison and contrast, mention should be made of the annotations (hagahot) of R. Moses Isserles on the Shulhan Aruk. Professor Louis Ginzberg, comparing the influence of the Mishneh Torah and the Shulhan Aruk as affected by the criticism of Rabad and Isserles respectively, has maintained that Rabad’s blunt criticism destroyed confidence in Maimonides, while Isserles’ annotations actually supplemented Karo’s code extensively, with the result that it was accepted in its corrected form. While Rabad’s critique is undoubtedly more personal than that of Isserles and stylistically harsher, it is perfectly clear that Rabad did not aim solely at sabotaging the Mishneh Torah. He did much to bolster it. As a matter of fact, together with such works as the Hagahot Maimuniyot of Franco-German provenance — which are an accurate counterpart of Isserles’ Hagahot — Rabad’s annotations may even be said to have helped supplement the Mishneh Torah, give it some local color, and bring it up-to-date. With regard to the “some-say” category of annotations in particular, there seems to be a basic difference between Rabad and Isserles; although the latter’s criticism may at first glance seem less obtrusive and more constructive, its effect was actually more damaging. For, while Isserles usually employs the “some-say” device to indicate the proper practice, prevalent custom, or most tenable theory over and against the view of Karo, Rabad uses it to present theoretical alternatives to Maimonides’ statements, to recall the other side of a standard controversy without deciding between them. Sometimes, to be sure, such an annotation intimates the proper course of action, but for the most part these hassagot are neutral. Consequently, Rabad’s strictures could often remain as companions to Maimonides’ statements, while Isserles’ annotations were designed to supersede Karo’s conclusions. [emphasis mine] They usually conclude reticently “and this is the custom” or “such is the common practice” — and custom played a key role in Isserles’ concepts of law — meaning in effect that Karo’s formulations, “holding fast to original authorities and material reasons,” were worthless. It is true that Isserles’ annotations merged formally with Karo’s text, but often only to repudiate it; Rabad’s “some-say” comments, on the other hand, are neither as exclusive nor as conclusive.
Y. Twerski, "Rabad of Posquiers", p.154-155
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02:21 pm
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A Dutch perspective on the US Elections
Found on the Web (where else?):
"We in Holland cannot figure out why you are even bothering to hold an election.
On one side, you have a bitch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, and a lawyer who is married to a bitch who is a lawyer.
On the other side, you have a true war hero married to a woman with a huge chest who owns a beer distributorship.
Is there a contest here?"
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10:01 am
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On p'shat and d'rash
The peshat of Talmudic literature, erroneously translated as “literal sense,” actually means a possible interpretation of the text, which emerges from “what is commonly accepted.” The peshat is possible thanks to logical and psychological factors, as well as to historical processes, which synchronically link the linguistic community, thus allowing the establishment of the obvious sense in a written text. For Maimonides the peshat is the linking sense of the Torá (=de-oraita) and as a consequence something that counts with the unanimous consent of the community of Israel. A synonymous expression of peshat prior to the Common Era is dabar she-ha-Tsadoqim modim bo, “something on which the Tsadoqites concur with;” in other words, that which is accepted by all, even the sectarians (Tsadoqites). In this precise sense, the peshat is a universal phenomenon: the sensus communis of all the linguistic community. This is essentially oral; it can never become a written text.
Without the sensus communis accompanied by rhetoric, one could impose but not convince. Thus, the derasha continues developing through all the rabbinic period (at the end of the 7th c.), until to relatively modern times. Without derasha, Israel could not have survived two thousand years of exile.
R. Dr. Jose Faur, "Rhetoric and Hermeneutics", 2001
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11:23 am
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President Obama: The Preview?
By JON KELLER
May 3, 2008; Page A9 "Sen. Obama and I are long-time friends and allies. We often share ideas about politics, policy and language."
-- Deval Patrick There may not be two politicians on the national stage more alike than Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Both went to Harvard Law, are African-American politicians with mass appeal, and use soaring rhetoric to promise a bold new postpartisan politics. But the two men differ in one critical area: Mr. Patrick has an executive record. And, unfortunately for the senator from Illinois, it reveals that the Patrick-Obama brand of politics isn't really new. It is, in fact, something akin to the failed liberalism of old, in a new vessel. Mr. Patrick, 52, was swept into office in a landslide in 2006. He won because Democrats were energized to capture the governor's mansion and because he presented himself as an historic candidate. Having never held elective office before – though he was assistant attorney general for the civil rights division in the Clinton administration – it was easy for him to claim that he wouldn't be beholden to special interests or outmoded orthodoxies. Baby boomers, eager to make a permanent mark on the political landscape, also found the idea of electing the state's first black governor appealing. What the Bay State got, however, is a pedestrian liberal governor who is remarkably quick to retreat in the face of pressure from the status quo. ( Read more... )Mr. Keller is political analyst for WBZ-TV in Boston and author of "The Bluest State" (St. Martins, 2007).
Tags: politics
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09:24 am
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Israel's 60-Year Test
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05:25 pm
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Что читать детям
Не первая, понятно, дискуссия на эту тему (что давать читать детям в соблюдающих семьях).
Но эта ваще рулит.
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03:17 pm
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Ай да ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) aphar, ай да сукин сын! (с)
Вот любит он вешать отрезвляющую информацию - http://aphar.livejournal.com/58463.html
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01:51 am
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Таки похоже на правду
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02:59 pm
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On the Usefulness of Boundaries (Book Review)
Hook-Up or Shut Up By HARVEY C. MANSFIELD
April 29, 2008; Page A11
Sex and the Soul
By Donna Freitas
(Oxford, 328 pages, $24.95) However high-minded their courses may sound – "Mirror of Princes," say, or "The Political Philosophy of Aristotle" – college students today enter a low hook-up culture when they leave the classroom. In case you don't know, a hook-up is a brief sexual encounter between two partners who don't necessarily know each other before and who don't necessarily want to know each other after. And it's free. The sort of transient sex that once was available to men only for money can now be had, without paying, from college women – as long as the man is a fellow student and minimally artful about his approach. If he is thwarted in one overture, he may try another with a reasonable prospect of success. No doubt lurid anecdote and popular myth cause us to exaggerate the actual frequency of campus hook-ups: Most college students do not share in these delights. But most students also believe that "everyone does it," even if the individual student, for some reason, cannot locate a partner. Thus an active minority sets the tone and makes hooking up a "culture." When there are no sexual boundaries, either official or informal, the standard becomes the extreme, and all students feel the pressure to appear more promiscuous than they are. The traditional double standard of sexual conduct – more restrictive for women than for men – has been replaced by the single standard of the predatory male. In "Sex and the Soul," Donna Freitas, an assistant professor of religion at Boston University, acutely describes this "liberated" campus culture and wisely analyzes its effects. She is especially concerned to measure conduct and expectation against the inner life of students, including their religious feeling or "spiritual" selves. Over and over again she finds a conflict that does not resolve itself happily. http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120943338777251553.html
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02:38 pm
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Хы, эт да! :-)
| | | | БГ нам уже все сказал| Твое имя | ymarkov | | Глядя на тебе, БГ обычно произносит: | Даже ночь бывает светлой к утру | | Чуть погодя, он добавляет: | не прячь от Бога глаза, а то как он найдет нас? | | Будучи нетрезв, БГ называет тебя: | Бессмертная сестра Хо | | Под вечер БГ любит спросить тебя: | Что может быть глупее, чем ждать? | | И посвящает тебе: | "Пси" |
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09:27 am
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Парадокс, мля!
Despite the fact there are more than 200 million guns in circulation, there is a certain tranquility and civility about American life.
[...]
A British man I met in Colorado recently told me he used to live in Kent but he moved to the American state of New Jersey and will not go home because it is, as he put it, "a gentler environment for bringing the kids up." This is New Jersey. Home of the Sopranos.
Brits arriving in New York, hoping to avoid being slaughtered on day one of their shopping mission to Manhattan are, by day two, beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. By day three they have had had the scales lifted from their eyes. I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place, the lack of the violent undercurrent so ubiquitous in British cities, even British market towns. "It seems so nice here," they quaver.
Well, it is! Ten or 20 years ago, it was a different story, but things have changed. And this is Manhattan. Wait till you get to London Texas, or Glasgow Montana, or Oxford Mississippi or Virgin Utah, for that matter, where every household is required by local ordinance to possess a gun.
Folks will have guns in all of these places and if you break into their homes they will probably kill you. They will occasionally kill each other in anger or by mistake, but you never feel as unsafe as you can feel in south London.
It is a paradox. Along with the guns there is a tranquillity and civility about American life of which most British people can only dream.
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04:23 pm
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Вспомнил про bash.org.ru
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