Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
The Rabbinical Assembly is what I like to refer to as the collective bargaining representative for rabbis affiliated with Judaism's conservative movement. But it also the ultimate authority on interpretation of Jewish law in the conservative movement (my personal affiliation). Notwithstanding the express and unambiguous language of what much of the world refers to as the Old Testament, the RA has unanimously approved same-sex marriages. Indeed, some of you may have had the experience of fasting on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism, and returning to synagogue for the final services late in the day, tired, hungry and thirsty, only to hear the Torah reader begin afternoon services with a litany of all kinds of sexual no-nos, including same-sex stuff (and all kinds of other "stuff").
How can that be? The answer is that there is more to Judaism and most religions than can be gleaned from literal parsing of what is found in the Bible. When it comes to religious beliefs, I believe that all of us, believers and non-believers, must take care not to do what too many "Islamaphobes", for example, are doing to foment hatred of Islam by referring to this or that provision of the Quran.
Comments
Bslev, Again I am posting a comment which somewhat changes the subject. That said, I found this very interesting and maybe on topic if we consider the story you linked to as about an evolutionary, progressive move by Jewish religious authorities. The essay I link below is about Jewish culture and its historical development and evolution.
With my limited knowledge of early history in general and my very limited knowledge of Jewish history and culture in particular, I am accepting the article as being an accurate account. The essay describes how Muslims saved the Jews. If it is accurate it is probably old news to you but others may find it interesting as I did. Of course, if it is inaccurate you will probably let me know and I will be glad to have found out. Cheers.
http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/comment/68082/so-what-did-muslim...
by A Guy Called LULU on Sat, 06/02/2012 - 11:42am
Interesting article, thanks. Yes, the cradle of much of Jewish culture was in what is now present-day Iraq and Iran, and Alexandria further east in Egypt. In or about 1920, Jews still constituted about one-third of the population of Baghdad. In 1948 there were still 150,000 Jewish residents in Baghdad.
Perhaps even more interesting and thought-provoking are the number of unrecognized muslims who saved their Jewish brothers and sisters during the Holocaust in the last century. Here's a book about that very subject that I got as a Father's Day present two years ago.
by Bruce Levine on Sat, 06/02/2012 - 1:15pm