31 de dezembro de 2015

28 de dezembro de 2015

Shai Held


"The Fourth Cardinal Sin" (humiliating someone publicly)


מה יתרון לאדם
בכל עמלו שיעמל תחת השמש

What real value is there for a man
In all the gains he makes beneath the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:3
(JPS)

Marrocos



“Ki Hem Hayyenu Shema'y israel Birkat Ge'ulah“ (כי הם חיינו - שמע ישראל - ברכת גאולה)

Charlotte Salomon


 
 Gouache from "Life? or Theater?", Charlotte Salomon (1940-42)

25 de dezembro de 2015

Feliz Natal!


"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow", Frank Sinatra
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn, Music by Julie Styne

22 de dezembro de 2015

Rabbi Haim Louk


“Tzur Shehechyani“,  Rabbi Haim Louk & Tom Cohen


The people Israel is not racially or ethnically different from the peoples abutting them, anymore than Abraham is racially or ethnically different from his unchosen brothers, or Jacob/ Israel from his unchosen twin, Esau. The origin of the difference lies in a mysterious and gracious - and, to some, infuriatingly arbitrary - gift of God: it is motivated by his love for them.

"The Love of God", Jon D. Levenson, p.46

Vida


Schmidt's Red-tailed Monkey

Charlotte Salomon


"Kristallnacht", Charlotte Salomon (1940/ 42)

20 de dezembro de 2015


You make him rule over the work of Your hands.
All things You set under his feet.

Psalm 8:7

Sinagoga Portuguesa de Amsterdão




Left: Max Nebig; right: David Nabarro, the son of Salomon Nunes Nabarro, cantor of the Portuguese Jewish Congregation, photographed by Leonard Freed (1959)

Vida


 
A pair of giant humpback whales feed on huge shoal of herring off the coast of northern Norway

Charlotte Salomon


 
Charlotte Salomon painting in the garden of the Villa L'Ermitage, Villefranche-sur-Mer (1939)

19 de dezembro de 2015


One day the divine beings presented themselves before the LORD. The Adversary came along with them to present himself before the LORD. The LORD said to the Adversary, "Where have you been?" The Adversary answered the LORD, "I have been roaming all over the earth." The LORD said to the Adversary, "Have you noticed My servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. He still keeps his integrity; so you have incited Me against him to destroy him for no good reason." The Adversary answered the LORD, "Skin for skin - all that a man has he will give up for his life. But lay a hand on his bones and his flesh, and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face." So the LORD said to the Adversary, "See, he is in your power; only spare his life." The Adversary departed from the presence of the LORD and inflicted a severe inflammation on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. He took a potsherd to scratch himself as he sat in ashes. His wife said to him, "You still keep your integrity! Blaspheme God and die!" But he said to her, "You talk as any shameless woman might talk! Should we accept only good from God and not accept evil?" For all that, Job said nothing sinful.

Job 2: 1-10
(JPS)


 
 "Prayer on the mountain" from the series "The God Seekers", Reuven Rubin (1923)

Maimónides


 "Why Read Maimonides Today?" (1/2)
 "Why Read Maimonides Today?" (2/2)

Moisés


"Moses Elects the 70 Elders", Jacob de Wit (1737)

17 de dezembro de 2015


The war raged on and I sat by the sea and saw deep into the heart of humankind.
  
Charlotte Salomon, 1942
 

Asmahan


 
"Merry nights in Vienna" (اسمهان اغنية ليالي الانس)

Vida



A two-week-old baby pangolin clings to mum's tail at Taipei Zoo in Taiwan. 
The tiny Chinese pangolin, which has large scales covering most of its body, was rescued from poachers and is now looked after by zoo staff.

Alberto Nisman



"Who killed Alberto Nisman?" (BBC) 

Absalão


 
The death of Absalom, hanging from a tree by his hair (14th-century German miniature)

16 de dezembro de 2015

Arca da Aliança


 
The consecration of the Hebrew commonwealth with the Ark unveiled at the centre, 
from Calmet’s “Historical, critical, geographical, chronological, and etymological dictionary of the Holy Bible” (1732)


Nation will not take up sword against nation,
Nor will they train for war any more.
Every man will sit under his own vine
And under his own fig tree,
And no one will make them afraid,
For the Lord Almighty has spoken.
For all the peoples walk
Each in the name of its god,
But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
For ever and ever.

Micah 4:3-5

David


"David: The Divided Heart", Rabbi David Wolpe

"Colliding Dreams" de Joseph Dorman e Oren Rudavsky




Trailer

12 de dezembro de 2015

Criação


 
Raphael, "The Creation of Eve from Adam" (1500)


One day, as his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the she-asses were grazing alongside them when Sabeans attacked them and carried them off, and put the boys to the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you." This one was still speaking when another came and said, "God's fire fell from heaven, took hold of the sheep and the boys, and burned them up; I alone have escaped to tell you." This one was still speaking when another came and said, "A Chaldean formation of three columns made a raid on the camels and carried them off and put the boys to the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you." This one was still speaking when another came and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother when suddenly a mighty wind came from the wilderness. It struck the four corners of the house so that it collapsed upon the young people and they died; I alone have escaped to tell you."
When Job arose, tore his robe, cut off his hair, and threw himself on the ground and worshiped. He said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD has given, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
For all that, Job did not sin nor did he cast reproach on God.

Job 1:13-22   
(JPS)

Israel



"Israel: The World's Most Moral Army" 

Yom Kippur


"The Day of Atonement", Jacob Kramer (1919)

10 de dezembro de 2015

Berlim


"Klosterstrasse", Eduard Gärtner (1830)


Then the word of the LORD came to him. He said to him, "Why are you here, Elijah?" He replied, "I am moved by zeal for the LORD, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life." Come out, " He called, "and stand on the mountain before the LORD for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and mighty wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD.
But the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake.
But the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire.
But the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire came a still, small voice. [קוֹל דְמָמָה דַקָה]
When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

1 Kings 19: 9-13

Vida


 
Northern Gannet, resting in the rain, Bonaventure Island, Quebec

Feliz Chanukah!


 "The Ultimate Sufganiyot", Joan Nathan

7 de dezembro de 2015

Tamar


“Judah and Tamar” Aert de Gelder (c. 1681)

Aert de Gelder, “Judah and Tamar” (c. 1681)
Aert de Gelder, “Judah and Tamar” (c. 1681)

Iémen


The Musical Tradition of Yemeni Jews

Árvores



Zalman olive tree, one of the oldest trees in Israel, located in the northern Galilee region, 
with its deeply gnarled fat trunk and its spreading bouquet of fruit-laden branches. 
Estimated to be 1,000's of years old.

Isidor Kaufmann


"Reading Rabbi in the Courts of the Temple", Isidor Kaufmann

6 de dezembro de 2015


I will betroth you forever;
I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice,
In love and mercy,
I will betroth you to Me with faithfulness;
And you shall know the LORD.

Hosea 2: 21-22

Thomas Nagel


 Dewey Lecture (2015)

Vida



Six-week-old white Bengal tigers are covered with blankets to keep them warm at a zoo in the Black Sea resort of Yalta

Ketubah


Rotterdam (1648)

5 de dezembro de 2015

Moshe Halbertal


"Three Concepts of Human Dignity"

Sicília


 
 The night sky lights up over the east coast of Sicily as Mount Etna’s Voragine crater erupts for the first time in two years

Hineni


"Hineni" (הנני מוכן ומזומן), Chaim Adler

Israel



A seal impression of King Hezekiah, unearthed in the Ophel excavations at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount, 
conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology

3 de dezembro de 2015

Líbano



"Jews of Lebanon" (BBC)


One day the divine beings presented themselves before the LORD, and the Adversary [satan] came along with them. The LORD said to the Adversary, "Where have you been?" The Adversary answered the LORD, "I have been roaming all over the earth." The LORD said to the Adversary, "Have you noticed My servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil!" The Adversary answered the LORD, "Does Job not have good reason to fear God? Why, it is You who have fenced him round, him and his household and all that he has. You have blessed his efforts so that his possessions spread out in the land. But lay Your hand upon all that he has and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face. The LORD replied to the Adversary, "See, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on him". The Adversary departed from the presence of the LORD.

Job 1: 6-12
(JPS)   

Vida



Cóccix



2 de dezembro de 2015

Yom Kippur


"Jom Kippur", Leopold Pilichowski (1906)


Why was man created last? In order to say, if he is worthy, all creation was made for you; but if he is unworthy, he is told, even a gnat preceded you.

Bereshit Raba 8:1; Sanhedrin 38a

BDS



"BDS Movement Debate", Oxford Union Society

In this debate, Professor Alan Dershowitz (proposition) goes head-to-head with Peter Tatchell (opposition) to debate the motion: 
Is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) against Israel wrong?
  

Mosquito



Diagram of a Gnat from Robert Hooke's Micrographia (1665)