Lucian Freud

"Double Portrait" (1986)

Vida

Blackbird's Song

Rabbi Joseph Soleveitchik

 Remembering Rabbi Joseph Soleveitchik:

 A conversation among four of the Rav's students

Netanyahu

Remarks at the UN General Assembly (2016)

Menachem Kellner

"Must a Jew Believe Anything?"

"Sand Storm" de Lamis Ammar

Trailer

Leonard Cohen

"You Want It Darker"

If You are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If You are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If Thine is the Glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame

Magnified, Sanctified, be Thy Holy Name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the help that never came
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord

There's a lover in the story
But the story's still the same
There's a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it's written in the scriptures
And it's not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame

They're lining up the prisoners
And the guards are taking aim
I struggled with some demons
They were middle class and tame
I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord

Magnified, Sanctified, be Thy Holy Name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the love that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame

If You are the dealer, let me out of the game
If You are the healer, I'm broken and lame
If Thine is the Glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord

Hineni
Hineni, hineni
Hineni 

Vida

Yiddish

"There Is A Tree That Stands", read by Itzik Manger (late 50's)

Irvin Yalom

"Yalom's Cure"

Amuletos

Amulet for spiritual protection of a newborn (1851)

Resiliência

"Jewish Resiliance", Susannah Heschel

Lucian Freud

"Evacuee Boy" (1942)

When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name. You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, "I acknowledge this day before the LORD your God that I have entered the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to assign us."

The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

You shall them recite as follows before the LORD your God: "My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. We cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. The LORD freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, O LORD, have given me."   

Deuteronomy 26, 1-10

(JPS)

Vida

  

A koala soaked by floodwaters sits on a fence post to escape the deluge in the town of Stirling, South Australia

Marc Shapiro

Interview by Rabbi Korobkin

"Bakashot"

Ades synagogue, 40 years ago (1/ 2)

Ades synagogue, 40 years ago (2/ 2)

The Bakashot (שירת הבקשות) are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Jewish community of Aleppo and other congregations for centuries each week on Shabbat (Sabbath) morning from midnight until dawn. Usually they are recited during the weeks of winter, when the nights are much longer. The duration of the services is usually about four hours. The Ades Synagogue, Jerusalem, is the center of this practice today.

Salomão

"The Judgment of Solomon", William Blake (1800)

Freud

"Freud's Impossible Life", Adam Phillips (audio)

Bob Dylan

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"

Vida

 

A captive Hawaiian crow uses a stick to extract food from a wooden log. 

The crow, which is extinct in the wild, is the latest addition to an elite list of animals that use tools.

Revelação

Slifka Center Symposium featuring Drs. Richard Hidary, Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, Christine Hayes, and Ben Sommer, 
on Hayes' book "What's Divine About Divine Law? Early Perspectives" 
and Sommer's book "Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition".

Modigliani

"Woman with red hair" (1915)

"O Cemitério de Praga"

"The Prague Cemetery", Umberto Eco

Páscoa

"How did Passover become Easter?", Allan Nadler

Mark Podwal

 "All This Has Come Upon Us"

Vida

An elephant clan in northern Kenya

Médio Oriente

"Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: The disappearing religions of the Middle East", Gerard Russell

Bob Dylan

"Tangled Up in Blue"

Early one morning the sun was shining
I was laying in bed
Wond'ring if she'd changed it all
If her hair was still red
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough
And I was standing on the side of the road
Rain falling on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues getting through
Tangled up in Blue

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split it up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walking away
I heard her say over my shoulder
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue"
Tangled up in Blue

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Working for a while on a fishing boat
Right outside of Delacroix
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind and I just grew
Tangled up in Blue

She was working in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer
I just kept looking at her side of her face
In the spotlight so clear
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I was just about to do the same
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered something underneath my breath
She studied the lines on my face
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe
Tangled up in Blue

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello" she said
"You look like the silent type"
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the fifteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in Blue

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs
There was music in the café at night
And revolution in the air
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in Blue

So now I'm going back again
I got to get her somehow
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives
Don't know how it all got started
I don't what they're doing with their lives
But me I'm still on the road
Heading for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in Blue

 

Veneza

Details of the Jewish cemetery at Lido, Venice

Cabala

"The Divine Romance in the Zohar", Daniel Matt & Moshe Idel

Shoah

"The Development of the "Final Solution" (Yad Vashem)

Zygmunt Bauman

"Liquid Modernity revisited"

Vida

A male Asiatic cheetah (in captivity)

9/11

Veneza

 

Plan of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, architect Guido Costante Sullam (late 19th century)

Drake

"Hotline Bling"

"Demon" de Marcin Wrona

Trailer

Segundo Templo

Archeologists from the Jerusalem-based Temple Mount Sifting Project are confident that they have successfully restored a unique architectural element of the Second Temple. Namely, a series of regally decorated floor tiles that adorned the porticos atop the Temple Mount, and which likely featured prominently in the courtyards of the Second Temple during the period that King Herod ruled (37 to 4 BCE) in Jerusalem. Frankie Snyder, a member of the Temple Mount Sifting Project's team of researchers and an expert in the study of ancient Herodian style flooring, succeeded in restoring the ornate tile patterns “using geometric principles, and through similarities found in tile design used by Herod at other sites,” said Snyder, who has an academic background in mathematics and Judaic Studies. "This type of flooring, called 'opus sectile,’ Latin for ‘cut work,’ is very expensive and was considered to be far more prestigious than mosaic tiled floors. So far, we have succeeded in restoring seven potential designs of the majestic flooring that decorated the buildings of the Temple Mount," said Snyder, explaining that there were no opus sectile floors in Israel prior to the time of King Herod. “The tile segments were perfectly inlaid such that one could not even insert a sharp blade between them." To date, approximately 600 colored stone floor tile segments have been uncovered, with more than 100 of them definitively dated to the Herodian Second Temple period. This style of flooring is consistent with those found in Herod's palaces at Masada, Herodian, and Jericho among others, as well as in majestic palaces and villas in Italy, also attributed to the time of Herod. The tile segments, mostly imported from Rome, Asia Minor, Tunisia and Egypt, were created from polished multicolored stones cut in a variety of geometric shapes. A key characteristic of the Herodian tiles is their size, which corresponds to the Roman foot, approximately 29.6 cm. 

Rabbi Edward Feinstein

"Stories that Hurt, Stories that Heal", Rabbi Edward Feinstein

Vida

"Let You Multiply Like the Plants in the Fields", Mark Podwal (2001)

Joe Rosenthal

U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima (Feb. 23, 1945)

Mark R. Cohen

"Caravan Revolution: On merchants, trade and Jewish law in the Islamic period" 

Isaac Stern

"Chaconne", Bach

Polónia

 Number of Jews in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth per voivodeship in 1764

Zygmunt Bauman

"A Natural History of Evil"

Segundo Templo

Floor tiles found in holy site rubble said to be from Second Temple:

Over 100 marble fragments definitively identified as part of elaborate decoration from Herod’s temple

Vida

 

A multicoloured slug, a species of nudibranch, discovered in 2000 off the Western Australian coast

Yehuda Bauer

"The Holocaust Common Misunderstandings"

Nan Goldin

"Nan one month after being battered" (1984)

Idade Média

"Jewish-Muslim Coexistence in the Middle Ages", Mark Cohen

Mark Rothko

"Blue and gray", Mark Rothko (1962)

Saul Bellow

"The Life of Saul Bellow", Zachary Leader

Jesus da Nazaré

"The Jewish Jesus and the Sabbath", John P. Meier

Vida

A Gee’s golden langur

Job said in reply:

Indeed I know that it is so:
Man cannot win a suit against God.
If he insisted on a trial with Him,
He would not answer one charge in a thousand.
Wise of heart and mighty in power -
Who ever challenged Him and came out whole? -
Him who moves mountains without their knowing it,
Who overturns them in His anger;
Who shakes the earth from its place,
Till its pillars quake;
Who commands the sun not to shine;
Who seals up the stars;
Who by Himself spread out the heavens,
And trod on the back of the sea;
Who made the Bear and Orion,
Pleiades, and the chambers of the south wind;
Who performs great deeds which cannot be fathomed,
And wondrous things without number.
He passes me by - I do not see Him;
He goes by me, but I do not perceive Him.
He snatches away - who can stop Him?
Who can say to Him, "What are You doing?"
God does not restrain His anger;
Under Him Rahab's helpers sink down.
How then can I answer Him,
Or choose my arguments against Him?
Though I were in the right, I could not speak out,
But I would plead for mercy with my judge.
If I summoned Him and He responded,
I do not believe He would lend me His ear.
For He crushes me for a hair;
He wounds me much for no cause.
He does not let me catch my breath,
But sates me with bitterness.
If a trial of strength - He is the strong one;
If a trial in court - who will summon Him for me?
Though I were innocent,
My mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, He would prove me crooked.
I am blameless - I am distraught;
I am sick of life.
It is all one; therefore I say,
"He destroys the blameless and the guilty."
When suddenly a scourge brings death,
He mocks as the innocent fail.
The earth is handed over to the wicked one;
He covers the eyes of its judges.
If it is not He, then who?

My days fly swifter than a runner;
They flee without seeing hapiness;
They pass like reed-boats,
Like an eagle swooping onto its prey.
If I say, "I will forget my complaint;
Abandon my sorrow and be diverted,"
I remain in dread of all my suffering;
I know that You will not acquit me.
It will be I who am in the wrong;
Why then should I waste effort?
If I washed with soap,
Cleansed my hands with lye,
You would dip me in muck
Till my clothes would abhor me.
He is not a man, like me, that I can answer Him,
That we can go to law together.
No arbiter is between us
To lay his hand on us both.
If He would only take His rod away from me
And not let His terror frighten me,
Then I would speak out without fear of Him;
For I know myself not to be so. 

Job 9
(JPS)

Bob Dylan

"Subterranean Homesick Blues"

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doing it again
You better duck down the alleyway
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coonskin cap, in the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills but you only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D.A. look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But losers, cheaters
Six-time users
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders, watch the parkin' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't want to be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

 

Espinosa

"The reason for the herem", Steven Nadler

Mark Rothko

"No. 1" (1964)

Iraque

"History and Memory: The Jews of Iraq", Mark R. Cohen

Menasseh ben Israel

"Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel", Rembrandt, Amsterdam (1636)

Jews had been exiled from England in 1290 but in 1656, following an intercession by Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel of Amsterdam, Oliver Cromwell concluded that there was in fact no legal barrier to Jews living there. So for the first time since the thirteenth century Jews were able to worship openly.

Vida

 

  Three orcas dive through the Salish Sea in San Juan Island, Washington, United States, 

showing off their stunning aerial skills, with dorsal fin slaps and belly flops

Maimónides

"How Rambam Read the Rabbis and How Rabbis Read Rambam", Menahem Kellner

Gene Wilder ע״ה

Gene Wilder in "Young Frankenstein" (1974)

Bob Dylan

"Jokerman"

Standing on the waters casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist,
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

So swiftly the sun sets in the sky,
You rise up and say goodbye to no one
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don't show why
Shedding off one more layer of skin,
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

You're a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds,
Manipulator of crowds, you're a dream twister
You're going to Sodom and Gomorrah
But what do you care? Ain't nobody there would want to marry your sister
Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame,
You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers
In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed,
Michelangelo indeed could've carved out your features
Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space,
Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

Well, the rifleman's stalking the sick and the lame,
Preacherman seeks the same, who'll get there first is uncertain
Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks,
Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain,
False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin,
Only a matter of time 'til night comes steppin' in

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

It's a shadowy world, skies are slippery gray,
A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet
He'll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat,
Take the motherless children off the street
And place them at the feet of a harlot
Oh, Jokerman, you know what he wants,
Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any response

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

 

Mar Morto

“The Salt Bride,” the latest project by Israeli artist Sigalit Landau: It turns out an amazing thing happens to traditional black Hasidic dresses when submerged in the Dead Sea for three months: 
They turn white and start sparkling with encrusted salt crystals. 

Grécia

 

The Athena Giustiniani, a Roman copy of a Greek statue of Pallas Athena with her serpent, Erichthonius

"Fiddler On The Roof"

"Sunrise Sunset"

Vida

  

A group of baby spotted hyenas emerge from their den in Liuwa Plain national park, Zambia

Modigliani

"Nu Couché au Coussin Bleu" (1916)

Ludwig Wittgenstein

"A Wonderful Life"

David Oistrakh

"Chaconne",  T. A. Vitali

Iluminismo

"The Enlightenment and the Public Sphere" (Yale)

^{משלי ו:כ} נְצֹ֣ר בְּ֭נִי מִצְוַ֣ת אָבִ֑יךָ וְאַל תִּ֝טֹּ֗שׁ תּוֹרַ֥ת אִמֶּֽךָ:
^ו:כא קָשְׁרֵ֣ם עַל לִבְּךָ֣ תָמִ֑יד עָ֝נְדֵ֗ם עַל גַּרְגְּרֹתֶֽךָ:
^ו:כב בְּהִתְהַלֶּכְךָ׀ תַּנְחֶ֬ה אֹתָ֗ךְ בְּ֭שָׁכְבְּךָ תִּשְׁמֹ֣ר עָלֶ֑יךָ וַ֝הֲקִיצ֗וֹתָ הִ֣יא תְשִׂיחֶֽךָ:

Proverbs 6:20:   Keep, my son, your father's precepts, forsake not your mother's teaching.
Proverbs 6:21:   Bind them always upon your heart, tie them about your throat. 
Proverbs 6:22:   When you walk about it will guide you, when you lie down it will watch over you, when you wake up it will converse with you.   
  

Palestina

"Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the West Bank",

Danny Ayalon

"The Truth about Israel", Danny Ayalon

Vida

  

A rare pygmy elephant with tusks growing downwards instead of up 

to give it a look like a sabre-toothed tiger has been found in Borneo island, Malaysia

Estados Unidos da América

 “A Portrait of Jewish Americans”, Pew Research Center (2013)

Abraham Sutzkever

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Rabbi Edward Feinstein

Censura

Three versions of the frontispiece of Rabbi Menahem Abraham Rapa Porto’s "Minchah Belulah": 

Left: The original coat of arms, Verona, 1594. 

Middle: With the mermaids clothed, Bnei Brak, 1989. 

Right: With the mermaids transformed into men, Bnei Brak, 2010.

(The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

To see more: click Here.

Síria

A picture drawn by a Syrian child

Ludwig Wittgenstein

 John Searle on Ludwig Wittgenstein (1987)

Vida

  A blue shark surfaces near Santa Maria in the Azores

Itzhak Perlman

"Tati un Mama Tants" ("Mom and Dad's Dance")

Amy-Jill Levine

"From Donation to Diatribe: How Anti-Jewish Interpretation Cashes Out"

Casamento

 

This rare ketubbah celebrates the symbolic union between God, the bridegroom, and the People of Israel, the bride. 

This spiritual wedding takes place on the holiday of Shavuot, and the witnesses are the Heavens and the Earth. Italy (17th-18th century)

Susan Neiman

"Past Evils, Present Problems"

Gracia Nasi

Medal of Gracia Nasi's niece, Beatrice (Ferrara, Italy, 1558)

Fyvush Finkel ע״ה

 Fyvush Finkel's last interview

Vida

  Three swans swim the Landwehr channel in Berlin

Coração

Sigmund Freud

"Freud's Helplessness", Adam Phillips

Chaim Soutine

"Eva" (1928)

Daniel Matt

"Wheat and The Four Levels of Torah Study"

Escravos

"The Atlantic Slave Trade" (Anthony Hazard)

Yehuda Amichai

 "Celebration of Yehuda Amichai"

Vida

400 year old Greenland shark is the oldest vertebrate animal