Posts Tagged Jewish Philosophy
How the righteous have fallen
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Jewish Unity, Philosophy on May 5, 2013
Rabbi Yechezkel Fox was the heir-apparent to his father’s expanding kosher empire. But that path remained forever the road not taken. Instead, his quiet fishing expeditions and leisurely walks through the British countryside left his mind free to ponder the meaning of life and the nature of the universe. One day he told his traditional parents he was going to Israel to study in yeshiva. Like so many others, they thought he had gone mad.
He would spend the rest of his life pursuing his passion for learning Torah, teaching others and inspiring them to return to the traditions of their people.
Read my tribute here.
When violence seems the only answer
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Philosophy on April 19, 2013
Zebadiah Carter describes himself living in “an era when homicide kills more people than cancer and the favorite form of suicide is to take a rifle up some tower and keep shooting until the riot squad settles it.” In 1980, this remark by the main character in a Robert Heinlein novel sounded like the science fiction that it was. Now it echoes like a prophecy.
Random acts of mass violence in the United States still horrify us but no longer shock us. We’ve heard too many stories, seen too many pictures. And too many of them are depressingly the same.
Read the whole article here.
The Midpoint of the World
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, History, Philosophy, Politics on March 6, 2013
What would you ask of a time traveler from a hundred years ago? And if you traveled a hundred years into the future, what would you want to tell the people you found there? Perhaps it would sound something like this:
What did you do to handle the overpopulations we predicted? How did you protect the seashores? What did you do to keep the ozone layer intact, the energy supplies, the trees? Have you eliminated ignorance, brutality, greed?
There might be no better way to discover unexamined truths about ourselves then by composing a letter to our grandchildren’s grandchildren. This was certainly on the mind of award-winning essayist Roger Rosenblatt a quarter century ago when he penned his deeply thoughtful Letter to 2086.
Read the whole article here.
Hat tip: David Rich
Who’s holding all the cards?
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Philosophy on March 12, 2012
Why did Qatar pay $250 million for a second-tier masterpiece?
Into the Void
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Holidays, Philosophy on October 5, 2011
Suspended between Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur, some reflections on our relationship with the Almighty and with others.
Spiritual Impressionism
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Philosophy on August 9, 2011
Exile has defined most of the history of Jewish people, always as a response to our failure to value our relationship with the Almighty. When we turn our backs on Him (or on one another), He responds by allowing us to experience the consequences of separation through the loneliness of exile.
New Subscription Link
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on August 2, 2011
Please check out the new subscription link at the top of the right hand sidebar. New articles are posted, on average, every week or two, so you won’t get flooded with more emails.
My articles on Jewish World Review, Aish.com, and other outlets examine current events and contemporary issues through the lens of classical Judasim, as well as Torah philosophy and ethics.
For those who are already subscribed to my Yahoo group email letter, I will be phasing that out over the next few weeks. If you would like to continue receiving articles, add the new subscription by clicking the sidebar link.
Thanks for your readership and interest.
Magic Eye
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Philosophy on July 24, 2011
This was my first encounter with random-dot autostereograms, what many of us are more familiar with as Magic Eye® images. And every time I came across another one I tried again, staring without focusing, looking for a picture that refused to emerge.
Leiby Kletzky and the Three Weeks
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Philosophy on July 19, 2011
For Leiby’s parents, we offer no explanations, no platitudes, no philosophy. We can only try to imagine their pain and, in some small way, let them know that we mourn and weep together with them. Their sorrow is our sorrow. Their grief is our grief.
Mistaking Identity
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Education and Parenting, Philosophy on July 13, 2011
Consider the Egalia preschool in Stockholm, Sweden, where staff avoid such culturally loaded words as “him” and “her,” addressing the children as “friends” rather than “boys and girls.” According to the AP, “breaking down gender roles is a core mission in [Sweden’s] national curriculum,” and many preschools have hired “gender pedagogues” to devise strategies for eliminating “stereotypes.”
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