Category Archives: Jews and Judaism

At Last!

Okay, everybody, CALM DOWN. You can stop panicking now. I am delighted – no, relieved – to announce that we finally have a klezmer song about toxoplasmosis. Via JVoices: What is toxoplasmosis, you ask? Why, it’s the scary brain parasite … Continue reading

Posted in Jews and Judaism, Mind-blowing Miscellania and other Neat Stuff, Popular (and unpopular) culture | Comments Off  

Hitting that Dusty Trail

February’s up, and that seems as good a time as any to bring this guesting stint to a close. I want to thank everyone very much for reading, listening, reacting and commenting. I hope you found what I said interesting, … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Jews and Judaism, Palestine & Israel | Comments Off  

Talk about a goyishe kop!

I saw this on Feministe: CRESAPTOWN, Md. (AP) – You’ve heard of kosher salt? Now there’s a Christian variety. Retired barber Joe Godlewski says that when television chefs recommended kosher salt in recipes, he wondered, “What the heck’s the matter … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Jews and Judaism, Whatever | Comments Off  

Jews with Power versus Empowered Jews

It is beyond clear that in the United States, Jews have significant political influence. Many Jews occupy important levels of government, elected and appointed, and others are high profile opinion-influencers and policymakers in the media, in think tanks, and in … Continue reading

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Unimpressed.

I was curious about this book until I saw this little gem by the author on Jewcy: Whatever we say about women and men being equal now and tomorrow – I have three daughters who I want to see beat … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc, Gender and the Body, Jews and Judaism | Comments Off  

The Superseded Jew

This was originally to be Part IV of my anti-Semitism series. I’ve mostly been side-tracked from it — I don’t think the rest of it flows organically from discussions we’ve been having. This post, though, I think remains important on … Continue reading

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Quote du Jour

“Swear to God, if [Israelis] ever want a Gentile prime minister, my first order would be to deploy the IDF in a north-south line, facing east. My second order would be ‘forward march’ and the order to halt would not … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Jews and Judaism, Palestine & Israel | Comments Off  

Criticism as Punishment: Retribution, Utility, and Outrage

In the field of criminal law, there are two main philosophical schools on how society is allowed to punish offenders. The first is the retributive school — basically arguing that we can punish people solely based on how much they … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Jews and Judaism, Palestine & Israel, Prisons and Justice and Police | Comments Off  

Suheir Hammad, A Poet Whose Work You Should Probably Know

Given some of the discussion generated by Jake’s comment on David’s Breaking The Seals post, I thought people here might be interested to know about (if you don’t already) the work of Palestinian poet Suheir Hammad. I wrote about her … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-Semitism, International issues, Jews and Judaism, literature, Palestine & Israel | Comments Off  

Anti-Semitism: Getting Beyond the Hate

In his fabulous, must read book, “I’m Not a Racist, But…”: The Moral Quandary of Race, author Lawrence Blum establishes early on that he thinks the word “racist” is being asked to do too much. Is it just the most … Continue reading

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