Archive for category Jewish Knowledge

Have You Read About “The Jewish Annotated New Testament”?

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on November 28, 2011

JPS author and Brandeis professor, Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler has done the unexpected. Along with Vanderbilt professor, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Brettler edited the newest biblical sensation The Jewish Annotated New Testament. Entirely edited and annotated by Jews, the book includes essays from 50 Jewish scholars.

Articles in The New York Times and Brandeis Now both discuss the absolute newness of a Jewish text on the New Testament. Jews have always read and discussed the Old Testament, but Brettler and Levine thought it was time for something different. Brandeis Now quotes Brettler as saying that, “’[He] wanted more Jews to read the New Testament and understand the majority religion in America…It also is important for Jews to know their history, and the New Testament is important to that, since the first Christians were Jews.’”

Response to the book has been wildly diverse, ranging from excitement to rejection. The Times speaks specifically about protectve Jewish mothers who may not wish for their children to read the anti-Semitism in the New Testament. Dr. Brettler mentions his recommending the book to a mother for her son. Her response was simply, “’If he wants it, he can buy it for himself.’”

I must admit that my mother informed me of The Jewish Annotated New Testament before I read it about it in The Times or even on Jewcy. From an academic perspective, I’m completely intrigued. Like Dr. Levine, I too grew up in a largely Catholic area and always wanted to know more of their New Testament. The words “New Testament” were almost dirty in my Jewish world growing up, associated with anti-Semitism and non-Jewish stories. Today, however, my parents more than encourage me to explore non-Jewish texts for educational or personal purposes, and I see no reason why The Jewish Annotated New Testament should be any differently approached.

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A Woody Allen Thanksgiving

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on November 22, 2011

thirteen.org

I want to thank PBS for airing the Woody Allen documentary on television this week. The documentary is three hours in length and part of PBS’ American Masters series. Often I find myself rambling at holiday meals. I stuff my face (my parents are by far the world’s best cooks), think of ways to lovingly tease my brother (I’ll never grow out of the habit), and ponder conversation topics that will solicit the most participation. I already know I’m going to use this Woody Allen documentary as cannon fodder come Thursday, so I’ll share a little with you all as practice.

The first night of the documentary focused a lot on how Woody Allen became the household name he is today. He talks about starting out as a writer, having no intentions of acting. He also had no intentions of being a comedian who performed before an audience. He wanted to be the guy behind the scenes. But people who met him recognized his tremendously entertaining delivery of jokes and lines. Woody was pushed to grow, and thus today we have Woody the writer, actor, director, producer, and personality.

Something else Woody talked about that really struck me was perspective. He explained that early in his career he simply wrote from the male perspective. Not until Hannah and Her Sisters did he really start exploring the female experience. His most recent film, Midnight in Paris, toyed with the idea of perception more than some of his other films. Not only did Woody explore female and male experience, but also simply (and simultaneously complexly) the individual experience with the universe, time, and self-exploration.

Not everyone at my turkey day table will want to talk about Woody Allen, but I’m hoping the topic will be more riveting than the annual conversation about my future.

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Shoah Foundation Institute Update

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on November 16, 2011

Steven Spielberg created The Shoah Foundation in 1994 after he made Schindler’s List. The Foundation gathers and preserves interviews with Holocaust survivors. At this point, they have over 50,000 video interviews, in 32 languages, with survivors from 56 countries. Spielberg handed over the reins to the University of Southern California, but still sits on the board and makes major decisions. And this week a major decision was made.

The New York Times reported that the Shoah Foundation is now expanding to include testimonials from survivors of other genocides/mass slaughters from around the world. They have only just begun interviewing survivors from the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides, but are also planning to record accounts from Armenian survivors from the slaughter in Turkey.

The Times was careful to reassure readers that this expansion will not take away from the original purpose of The Shoah Foundation. Rather, the inclusion of other survivors will bolster their goal: to spread the message of ‘Never again’. By integrating testimonials of other survivors, they will reach new peoples and communities around the world.

For more information, check out the Times article, the official website for The Shoah Foundation, or USC’S Shoah Foundation channel on YouTube.

 

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2nd Annual Global Jewish Day of Learning Happenings

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on November 11, 2011

Sunday the 13th marks the second annual Global Day of Jewish Learning. This year’s Day of Learning is focusing on the Sh’ma. Over on the day’s official website, there are tabs for basic “about” information, big questions, and of course, events around the globe. I want to take this space to point out a few particularly interesting events happening in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New York.

hazon.org

-  Looking for a place to take your kids for the day? Check out the Mandell Education Campus in Elkins Park for a really great art project!

-  Jewish Federation of Philadelphia’s calendar has their event’s location listed as TBA, but it provides a contact number for those interested.

-  Jewish Federation of Central Jersey is sponsoring an event with PJ Library author and poet Jacqueline Jules that is also geared towards young readers.

-  New York City is hosting a bunch of classes at Mechon Hadar lead by rabbis and educators representing almost 30 different institutions from around the city.

Happy learning!

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Beckett and the Jews

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on October 27, 2011

I wrote a paper for an Irish Literature class last year on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The paper was long and winding, but in no way tied to Judaism. Little did I know an article in today’s Forward would bring me back to my som of confusing paper.

The Forward published an article today called, “ Samuel Beckett’s Letters Reveal Roots of Resistance.” The article focuses on Beckett’s intentional and unintentional ties to the Jewish people before, during, and after World War II. Two volumes of Beckett’s letters were recently published, The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 2, 1941–1956 and Samuel Beckett’s German Diaries 1936-1937, both shedding light on Beckett’s ties to the Jews.

hrc.utexas.edu

The article interestingly suggests that, “Beckett and Joyce (both living in exile) identified intellectually with Jews as people of the Diaspora.” I think that Beckett may definitely have drawn similarities between himself and Jews because of the Diaspora, but also because Beckett had a real interest in human value and human control of life. Thinking about Pozzo and Lucky in Godot, I immediately draw ties to Nazis and Jews, and Beckett’s ability to not only write about the absurd relationship between master and subservient, but also how quickly the relationship can flip. Beckett had this great knack for recognizing competing perspectives on a single matter – i.e. master and subservient – that illuminate the undeniable connection between human beings.

I spent a lot of time in my very long paper discussing Beckett’s use of existentialism in Godot, and while I really never thought I would re-visit the idea in my life, here I am. To me, Beckett’s accidental connections to Jewish publishers in Paris, Jewish artists and authors, and a Jewish uncle-by-marriage had a lot less to do with his attraction to Jews, and more to do with his feeling for human beings as individuals free to explore and interact. Beckett saw people as they were- the Nazis as “appalling,” and seemingly common characters like Estragon, Vladimir, Pozzo, and Lucky as extremely complex and worthy of an entire play. He felt connected to human beings in general, whether it be by common experience, common tongue, common interests, or mere proximity. The Forward’s article on Beckett reminded me of how timeless Waiting for Godot is, and how impossibly wonderful Beckett was for being both brilliant and entirely human.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Celebrates 50 Years

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on October 19, 2011

To my extreme delight, last week’s New Yorker published an article celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Phantom Tollbooth, written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, both Jews. The Phantom Tollbooth was easily one of my favorite books growing up, and though I see it on my bookshelf every time I go to my parent’s house, it’s been quite a few years since I took the time to think about Milo.

Milo is a remarkable character in fiction because he is simply mild. Unlike other protagonists, Milo is not particularly passionate or brave. He’s marked as a character unaccustomed to strong feeling, and as Michael Chabon points out in a June New York Times article, Milo’s mild curiosity in the appearance of the tollbooth is unusual. Chabon writes that he himself was a mild-tempered kid, but that as he matured and grew out of his serene stage, he began making choices that were less and less Miloeqsue.

In a lot of ways I think that Milo’s curiosity is something I latched onto early in the novel as a kid. Chalk it up to my Jewish upbringing if you want to, but I was full of questions about the world, and still am. This spirit of inquiry is part of what I also think allowed Milo and Tock to survive generations of readers, and eventually reach “children’s literary classic” status, if you will.

In reading Juster and Feiffer’s comments in The New Yorker, I was again amazed by The Phantom Tollbooth when I learned that it was the child of an idea, a $5,000 grant, and a weekend vacation to Fire Island. As you celebrate the beginning of the new Torah cycle, consider also honoring the anniversary of The Phantom Tollbooth with a re-read!

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Why We Fast

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on October 3, 2011

The Philadelphia Jewish Voice’s blog posted a really great piece on the interactive online activity (for lack of a better word) called “Spent“. “Spent” allows participants to make financial decisions that millions of people are forced to make on a daily basis, but are often overlooked by others. I know that I do so every day. “Spent” placed me, the participant, in a position of unemployed single parent, eventually granting me a job in the form of waitress. Bills and obstacles quickly accumulated and forced me to make large decisions, like whether or not to enroll in a health care plan, and smaller ones, like spending $6 on a salad or $1 on a burger for lunch.

playspent.org

The Voice connects “Spent” to the Yom Kippur fast. They write that, “Part of the purpose of our fast on Yom Kippur is to better understand that misfortune of the poor , and develop empathy for them, so that we can be inspired to make a difference in this world.” Sticking with “Spent”, poor can be substituted with unemployed or underemployed. On this Yom Kippur I will think of the 90 or so students I work with each day, most of who do not eat breakfast. 90 bodies come through my class each day, dragging until lunch at 1PM, and then either eat a budget-cut version of a lunch, or a bag of chips and a soda purchased at the corner store. My lunch is one thing I do not overlook on a daily basis. In real life I find myself stuck between wheat bread and whole grain bread, but in “Spent” I knew healthy foods weren’t even an option with $200 left in my account. I went for the burger, or the bag of chips and soda, with the knowledge that the decision to pick a cheaper meal over a healthier one would become automatic over time as long as I always only had $200 dollars in my account.

JPS’ Jewish Voices, Jewish Choices: Body has a section that discusses our obligations as human beings and Jews to exercise and eat properly. “Spent” reminded me of my obligation to myself, but also the difficulty in holding others to the same standard when money just wont allow it. I plan to spend this Yom Kippur curbing my urge to complain about fasting, and instead thinking of ways in which I can encourage the students I work with to develop healthy and affordable eating habits.

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Let’s Talk Honey

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on September 26, 2011

Rosh Hashanah has me thinking about food. Tablet Magazine has some seriously tasty-sounding Persian holiday dishes, while The Jew and The Carrot went Turkish. Though I am a budding young culinary student (of my mother and the Joy of Cooking), I’m not quite at complex holiday meals yet. What I can share with you is my love and knowledge of honey.

Whether dipping apples or challah in honey, I’m happiest at the table when my mom or dad sets down the gooey golden honey in one of the glass dishes we’ve had for my entire life. From local honey to Shop Rite huggy bear honey, I love it all. Now, onto my honey list:

- If you live around the Philadelphia area, treat yourself to Two Gander Farm honey. Made locally (Pleasantville) from local bees (my jar is made by West Philly bees!), the farm’s honey varies in flavor and color. There are a bunch of farmers markets and retail locations to pick up the local honey.

- The Milk and Honey Market in West Philly stocks local honey and yummy foods to dip in the honey. They also lead some of the grooviest markets in the city at the Fair Food Farm Stand in Reading Terminal Market and Almanac Market in Northern Liberties

- David Graves, or “Beeman”, has seven hives in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan. Check out Graves’ website for a great article on his honeybees, and for information about purchasing his honey.

- New Jersey actually has a New Jersey Beekeepers Association. Their website lists a ton of local beekeepers in NJ, along with details on each of their honey products.

- JPS is located up the street from Philadelphia’s Trader Joes, so I’m pretty familiar with T Joe’s honey products. Both the Trader Joes Clover Honey and the Trader Joes 100% Desert Mesquite Honey are worthy, but I lean towards the Clover.

- As said above, Shop Rite honey in the little plastic bear container is both delicious and adorable.

L’Shanah Tova to all!

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The Haimish Test

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on August 30, 2011

David Brooks wrote a little piece called, “The Haimish Line” for Monday’s Times. Tablet posted a comical reactionary piece on Tuesday, outlining guidelines for how to go about figuring out what is and what is not haimish. Brooks defines haimish as “a Yiddish word that suggests warmth, domesticity and unpretentious conviviality.” I would add that haimish does not necessarily signify uniqueness. This haimish business has me thinking about something I think about often: food.

I’m not sure I want to call myself a foodie, but I love food. And Philadelphia has a killer restaurant scene. Brooks claims that places considered haimish are not particularly fancy, but I think that really any kind of restaurant can be inviting and homey. I decided to put some of Philadelphia’s restaurants and eateries through what I call, “The Hamish Test.”

  1. Zahav- Do I feel warm? The staff is unfailingly kind, and the environment is really comfortable, so yes. Do I want to move in and eat the lamb every night? Yes. A+
  2. Maoz- Do I feel warm? Though the entirely green space leaves me a little overwhelmed, the people working and eating at Maoz are incredibly friendly and genuine, so yes. Do I want to move in? Not really, but I stop in for a Maoz Meal pretty often. B
  3. Q’Doba- Do I feel warm? Not exactly. Do I want to move in? Please, don’t make me. D
  4. Dos Segundos- Do I feel warm? Impossibly. Do I want to move in and consume fish or seitan tacos and amazing salsa every night? Yes, please!
  5. Starbucks- Do I feel warm? Only because of the overly caffeinated coffee that has made my heart race too fast. Do I want to move in? Nope. C
  6. Cake and the Beanstalk- Do I feel warm? Yes! This is my favorite local coffee/sweets shop. C&B has amazing homemade treats, great tunes, and a sunroom that overlooks the Locust Street garden. Do I want to move in? Have I not already? A+ (C&B is almost too haimish for its own good)

I could go on forever using my Haimish Test for Philadelphia food joints, but I’ll quit here. Wait, one more. Vietnam at 11th and Vine(ish) is my number one haimish spot. I spent almost as much time eating dinner at Vietnam as at my own home as a kid. The place has undergone countless changes, but I still feel warm and utterly at home when I stop in for a meal.

I agree with Brooks that the people I experience a place or meal with generally contribute to my overall feeling, therefore helping the spot to pass or fail my Haimish Test. What are the most haimish places or spaces in your life?

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Jews Reading H.P. Lovecraft

Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on August 24, 2011

Jewcy wrote about H.P. Lovecraft in celebration of his 120th birthday. Though the man was an incredible racist, Jewcy found him worthy of celebrating. I must admit that I too find him worthy of celebrating. I went through my four years of college as an English major without any interaction with Lovecraft, but I have eased my way into the Lovecraftian world in my short time as a post-graduate. I always got down with Edgar Allen Poe, and a little Wilkie Collins (different, but also a bit creepy at times), so Lovecraft was initially shocking for me. One of my fellow English majors in college wrote his thesis on a Lovecraft short story and was kind enough to recommend the best and most challenging of Lovecraft to me. Lovecraft presents a world unexplored because he creates creatures and places with words. Reading Lovecraft is a psychological journey, but also an opportunity to experience foreign (foreign as in purely literary) places. Are you intrigued yet?

pichaus.com

So why celebrate Lovecraft if he was an anti-Semite? Because his stories are absolutely sensational. And how better to honor someone who didn’t understand Jews than to encourage Jews to read his work? That being said, let the Lovecraft reading frenzy begin!

-       The Call of Cthulhu – Lovecraft’s best known story

-       The Outsider – my first Lovecraft read

-       The Dunwich Horror – too awesome

-       The Music of Erich Zann – my fellow English major’s thesis topic

-       More of his fiction

-       Lovecraft’s poetry

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