Jewish links, assortment

[chanaleh]

I swear, someday soon I will write more actual content, but probably not until such time as I have functioning internets in my house. (Rather, it appears the internets themselves are functioning, but my new wireless card is not. Well, cycon is supposed to come to my rescue for a bit tonight, so we'll see if that helps!) But in the meantime, anyway...

Quick PSA that Honorable Menschen's next FREE Friends & Family concert is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, Dec. 13, 5pm at tremontstshul. (If you want an email reminder, sign up for our mailing list! :-) One of the new songs we're working on is "Reiach Tapuach", which I am totally loving; it's in 7/8 -- at least our arrangement is -- and the text, although modern, plays strongly on the language and imagery of Song of Songs. Yeah.

I happened to stumble across a new site called Tablet Magazine, subtitled (or sloganed) "A New Read on Jewish Life". Here's a sample article that caught my fancy: "A People Obsessed: Jews, geeks, and a haftorah of repetition and reason":
"Getting ready for Halloween, searching for an extra-large Ghostbuster outfit and something that could pass for a realistic proton pack, I found myself thinking about how the two major components of my identity -- Jew and nerd -- fit into remarkably similar patterns. For starters, both groups spend an inordinate amount of time picking apart canonical texts..."
http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/19519/a-people-obsessed/

"The Jewish Way to Party": sources on drinking and gladness (don't ask why I was looking this up, but I'm sure it had to do with some concept I want to write about myself at a later date):
http://www.templeohebshalom.org/ser67.htm

Apparently the roster of Jewish congregations in Cambridge also includes a Humanistic one: Kahal B'raira. Among the offerings on their website is a list of blessings with the concept of God taken out. I... just... eek. I am all for the notion of appreciation/reverence for mystery even after one rejects the existence of a sentient divinity, but... it pains me. Hmmm.

I think I'll stick with this model: The Say-A-Blessing Keychain!
http://www.popjudaica.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25&zenid=a76227d180d313adb203c77340ad8c6e

Comments

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

As someone who is probably closest in views to the Humanistic Judaism side of things, please to not be calling people like me Christians. I am NOT a Christian and never will be.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Yyyyeah. "Christian" is far from synonymous with "not Jewish". Even when you want to make a point of asserting that Humanistic Judaism != Judaism in a religious sense... calling it "Christian" makes it smack to me of avodah zarah, whereas this contrast is sort of at the opposite end of the spectrum!

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

apologies.

It will not change my views, I just will cease posting any of them.

[besamim.livejournal.com]

I don't believe hammercock is asking you to do a turnaround and accept Humanistic Judaism as valid. What she is asking is that you not call it something it is not. Think of it from the other side of the coin: would a believing Christian think it accurate to be labelled a "secular humanist?"

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. I mean, I do have some hot buttons about this kind of judgment, admittedly, and I will not go on about them here, but right now I'm simply asking not to be mislabeled. It's not unlike equating pagans with Satanists, for instance. Whatever you think of either group, it is grossly inaccurate to draw the equivalence.