The Dog Jumps-הכלב קופץ » Judaism

Spend Time Alone

Nathan — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:59:30 +0000

It is very good to have a special room set aside for Torah study and prayer. Such a room is especially beneficial for secluded meditation and conversation with G-d.

The Rebbe said that it is very good even just to sit in such a special room. The atmosphere itself is beneficial, even if you sit [...]

Random Rabbinic Rendezvous

Nathan — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:35:35 +0000

An interesting thing happened to me on my way home from work today. Eric, my coworker dropped me off, and across the street was Rabbi Schapiro, my local Chabad Rabbi and neighbor. In all the years we have lived across from one another, this is the first time we have run into each other on [...]

Tefillin: Use Them & Change Your Life

Nathan — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:32:57 +0000

I am going to try to describe this. A very secular friend of my father and I were once talking about Wilhelm Reich and his Orgone experiments. The conversation tipped towards how this managed to cure cancer and the like. I asked him if he thought orgone energy was a metaphor for the ability of [...]

Kares is Jewish Hell

Nathan — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:00:53 +0000

Kares is defined in the back of one of my books as excision; early death imposed for certain classes of transgressions. It occurred to me in the shower this morning (I often do my best thinking there!) that one of the reasons for a lack of a hell like concept in Judaism is that in [...]

Rabbi Tovia Singer

Nathan — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:04:13 +0000

Looks like I am not the only one thinking about Christians as polytheistic idol worshipers. Check out the lectures of Rabbi Tovia Signer.

Try to imagine the astonished reaction of a Jew (who has his monotheism intact) as he discovers from your question that missionaries use his cherished national creed, “Hear O Israel, the Lord [...]

Why Do Jews Make Their Own Languages?

Nathan — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:31:16 +0000

There once was a man from Belarus who decided to reinvent a language. This man, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, invented Modern Hebrew. Yeah that is pretty much it. He invented it. Some might say resurrect.

But see, while this is FREAKING amazing, it seems to be a not-too-uncommon practice amongst Jews. There are some 20+ recognized [...]

Cross Currents: Seamless Clothing

Nathan — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:07:42 +0000

It would seem there is an interesting nexus in Islamic tradition and in what our very own Moses was up to.

From a web page about participating the the Hajj: It is Haram (prohibited) for men to wear sewn or stitched clothes in Ihraam (state of participating in the Hajj).

What did Moses wear while [...]

Illegitimate Digestion of Millenniums of Philosophical Ideals

Nathan — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 04:01:59 +0000

3325

I am an expert at just about nothing. I know something about how to maintain a Ducati, run a saltwater fish tank, a bit about philosophy. I even was once pretty well versed in the state of the art in neurological research. There are also the computer systems I have built. But I always [...]

Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 01:32:36 +0000

Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasure – Rainier Maria Rilke

It seems strange to write a page like this on my blog as this whole entire thing is about my travels both physical and existential through life. I suppose I can try to give a brief overview of who [...]

Cuthean = Samaritan

Nathan — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:34:06 +0000

From a note in Beitzah 4b:

There non-Jewish residents of Cutha were brought by the Assyrian king, Shalmanesser, to settle the parts of the Eretz Yisrael left desolate by the exile of the 10 Tribes. Although they converted to Judaism, the validity of their conversion was the subject of considerable dispute. They reminded a sect [...]

Talmud Tidbit: The Jewish Version of an Oracle

Nathan — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 02:10:04 +0000

I want to share another fun tidbit from my reading yesterday. It has to do with consulting the Urim VeTumim. There are rules, this is Judaism, after all, there are always rules, about the proper method of consultation. However, the gist is there is a piece of parchment, given to Moses by G-d, with the [...]