As we approach Pesach I know I am going to sing tunes I learnt from Shlomo Carlebach, the “singing rabbi”, the Jewish version of Bob Dylan, the Jewish voice of the hippy, love generation. He had an amazing talent for the simple, catchy tune and he has had a bigger influence on Jewish liturgical music, across the denominations, than anyone…
General Topics
Fitna
Geert Wilders is a right-wing Dutch politician, well known in his home country for his aggressive, outspoken, and controversial opinions. He has produced a short film called Fitna (the word translates as “struggle”, “civil war”, and variations on the theme of Jihad) in which he presents extracts from the Koran interlaced with clips of various Muslims calling their followers to…
“In Treatment”
In Treatment is the title of a highly addictive series on HBO television in the United States. It is about a psychotherapist, played by Gabriel Byrne. For anyone interested in psychotherapy it is compelling and I gather the whole fraternity (or to be more accurate, sorority, for there now seem to be far more women in the business) is hooked.…
Peter Lipton
A few months ago, a brilliant philosopher named Peter Lipton died suddenly at the age of 53. Outside of Cambridge University, where he was professor of philosophy of science and a major figure in the Reform Jewish community, he was not well known in wider Jewish circles. I contend that his contribution to the philosophy of religion directly, and to…
All Politics Stinks
All politics stinks. In London, Mayor Ken Livingstone has been distributing excessively overpaid jobs and freebies to his buddies and placemen. In the USA, politics functions on a national, federal level and is virtually duplicated at state level, so there is added room for monkey business. Wherever it is, the whole system is predicated on “You scratch my back and…
Merkaz HaRav Kook
The terrible massacre in Merkaz HaRav Kook last week plumbs new depths in depravity. Teenage kids sitting studying Torah, gunned down in the name of what? God? Allah? Palestine? Islam? Were they combatants? Were combatants making and firing rockets from within the yeshiva itself? Of course not. Then to see the celebrations in Gaza only confirms, even to my liberal…