This morning I woke up at the ung-dly hour of 5 something AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I decided to see if there was anything new and interesting to watch online and that’s when I came across this.

They do not believe in peace talks. They do not want to share the land. They are well armed and are carrying out increasingly violent attacks, even targeting innocent civilians. They are members of Israel’s militant far right, and they are threatening to become Israel’s next big problem.

Read more about this documentary on the PBS webpage.

I’m far from being the most informed person when it comes to the many complicated nuances involved in the Israeli/Palestinian situation. However I just don’t understand how the extremists in this video can see themselves as being any different than Palestinian extremists. Murder is murder and misappropriation of G-D is insanely wrong regardless of whether you call him Allah or Hashem. Don’t get me wrong I think that much of what is done at the hands of Palestinian extremists is horrible but watching this documentary it’s clear that the bullshit flows both ways.

Anyhow I was disturbed by this documentary but it was very informative and I highly recommend checking it out.

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

Part six

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I just wanted to throw together a quick video syncing everyone who took the time out of their busy day to wish me a happy birthday.

Thanks so very much for adding to the specialness of this day.

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I just stumbled across this on Youtube and thought its was kind of cool, so I’m sharing it here. I don’t know when it originally aired but like I said, I thought it was kind of cool.  

Enjoy!

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I just came across the following in my RSS feed and although I haven’t listened to it yet myself it certainly looks interesting. I suspect those of you who are interested in global warming, eco-Kashrut, sustainable living and organic foods may also find this interesting.

Enjoy!

PS I almost bought the audio version of this book last month.

The Ethics of Eating (July 19, 2007)

In Public Radio

Author Barbara Kingsolver describes an adventure her family undertook to spend one year eating primarily what they could grow or raise themselves. As a citizen and mother more than an expert, she turned her life towards questions many of us are asking. What can climate change and sustainability really have to do my family’s daily routines? Where does the food we eat come from? And why do we resist when the healthiest choices can be a delight?

• Link
• Enclosure

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TG on YouTube has arrived! Will the miracles ever cease? Seriously through this is my first attempt Video Blogging, so it’s rough  but the book is good, honest! Anyhow check it out and let me know what you think!

Here are a few links for those of you interested in learning more about Mordecai M. Kaplan ( I referred to his theology in the video as Kaplanian) or his view of Judaism as an Evolving Religious Civilization.

Lastly anyone who’s interested in purchasing a copy of “Olive Trees & Honey” by Gil Marks can do so by clicking here.

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Last weekend ABC’s (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program “The Spirit of Things” aired an interesting show looking at some of the schisms, opportunities and misunderstandings that exist within the Jewish/Christian dialogue.  I am listing to it now and thus far, it’s quite good.

Below is the show synopsis and a couple links for those of you who would like to listen to it for your selves!

SUMMARY: Since the parting of the ways 2000 years ago, are Christians and Jews any closer to bridging the gap of understanding and friendship? After a history of being persecuted by Christians, Jews feel they are still the object of antisemitism. Meanwhile Christians preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to an unredeemed world. How can these two traditions overcome the sibling rivalry and work for a better world? New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine, and others from the International Council of Christians and Jews conference in Sydney point the way.

       1) Link  2) Enclosure

One thing that has really grabbed me was the interview with Amy-Jill Levine, a biblical scholar from Vanderbilt . I have a an excellent series of lectures by here on some of the great figures of the “Old Testament”. I had always assumed that she was a Christian theologian because that lecture series I have, used the term “Old Testament” instead of Torah in the title. I just thought that no Jew would do that. But nope she is in fact an accomplished (Modern Orthodox) Jewish academic.

One of her main points seems to be that we Jew’s need to develop a better understanding of who Jesus was and why he is so important to our Christians neighbors. More or less suggesting that we Jews a have been lazy especially since the Holocaust in terms of Judeo/Christian understanding. She goes on to to suggest many Jews seem to believe that Christians need to apologize and learn about us and our Judaism but we need do nothing but accept the apologies. To her this is not only a mistake but inappropriate. If you want to know why, well then you will have to listen for yourselves! 

NOTE: I just heard that Jesus wore “Tzitzit“. Nice!

Levine also briefly touches on how and why she wound up as a member of an Orthodox community, which is also interesting.

Oh, I wanted mention that she has written what promises to be a very interesting new book, titled “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus”. This is one, I’m sure to be reading in the not too distant future.

Anyhow, I haven’t even touched on the interfaith dialogue stuff but trust me it’s worth checking out!

Zed and Steg, if you guys end up listening to the show let me know what you think.

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Last Shabbos, after services Tamara and I invited our friend Jonathan over for a late afternoon lunch. I’m not sure exactly when but at some point either before or after the food, Tamara pulled out this book about the Holocaust by Michael Berenbaum entitled “A Promise to Remember: The Holocaust in the Words and Voices of its Survivors “. It’s a brilliantly put together book that is highly interactive. The book is filled with a variety of things that can be pulled out and looked at, like photographs, letters and other documents from the era. It’s an interesting, albeit disturbing read which I highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance, because it does do an incredible job of connecting the reader to the subject matter.

The photograph above is one I took of a handout from the book. I came across it looking through a section discussing the Einsatzgruppen. I found this photo extremely disturbing actually the translation (which you can read by clicking on the image), is what kicked me in the balls. I’m fairly secure in my sense of Jewishness these days but still not when it comes to the Shoah because I can’t even begin to imagine what living through something like that would be like. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, if there’s one thing that makes me question my worthiness as a convert its the Holocaust. I guess that somewhere in the back of my mind I’m always wondering, if I ever come, anywhere close to living up to what it is these people died for.

Anyhow, this post really isn’t about me. I just found the subject matter extremely penetrating and thought that maybe some of the other Jews by Choice (or anyone I guess) who read my blog, might as well.

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I’ve actually been meaning to do this for a few days now but I was just too wrapped up in other stuff.

Anyhow there’s a new blogger on the block and me likes what me sees. His name is Yair ben Avraham and his blog is called Northwood Jew. He is a Minnesota Jew By Choice who blogs about G-d, Judaism and life in his neck of the woods (get it, woods!!). He was nice enough to add me to his blogroll but more importantly we seem to share a lot of the same interests, Jewishly speaking. For example were both in to these Rabbi’s; Mordecai Kaplan, Joseph Telushkin and Rabbi David Cooper.

His blog is new, his posts are interesting and he’s just getting things started. I’m thinking that if you like my blog and the stuff I go on about you probably will like his stuff too.

So check it out.

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As a fatty myself, I thought this was kind a cool even if it was a Chabad Rabbi

I bet he could loose another thirty if he shaved the beard off

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Many of you probably don’t know this but I’ve been a huge fan of the chickpea most of my life, especially in tasty dishes like apple curried chickpeas, hummus or in a pasta dish. Anyhow last night I learned a couple of very interesting facts about chickpeas and their relationship to Jews and Judaism.

For example, apparently chickpeas were such a prevalent food among the Sephardic Jews living during the times of the Inquisition, that members of the Spanish Inquisition considered their use in cooking to be a sign of Jewish cuisine. Therefore people (whether actually Jewish or not) who were caught making things like chickpea stew, were subject to arrest based on the grounds that cooking with chickpeas meant that you were probably Jewish.

Another interesting fact I learned last night was that chickpeas which are easily grown in abundance were therefore considered to be a sign of fertility. Also their round shape symbolized the cycles of life and the year and therefore foods containing chickpeas were (are?) commonly served at events like birthdays. In fact (and I did not know this until last night) apparently chickpeas area a traditional Rosh Hashanah food because they represent, a wish for a well-rounded year to come.

Anyhow, I thought it was interesting!

PS feel free to share your Jewish chickpea stories and/or facts if you got them.

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