Presence

Hobbes and the Jews

Philosophy Bites' latest podcast interviews Quentin Skinner on Hobbes' view of the State. It's really interesting. I'm not really as adept a student of philosophy as I'd like, but it seems like Hobbes was, more or less, attempting to transition what had been traditionally a theological system of government into a humanized system. The idea of the absolute rule of the sovreign is very reminiscent of the narrative of Rosh HaShannah.

On a related note, Hobbes states in Leviathan: "Do not that to another, which thou wouldst not have done to thyself," which is notable as it follows Hillel's, rather than the Gospel's, formulation of the Golden Rule. There's also a book that explores the relationship between Maimonides, Hobbes and Nietzsche. The author is a frum Jew and a student of R. Soloveitchik.

Ann Coulter Does Not Offend Me

I don't see anything wrong with what Ann Coulter said; it's New Testament 101. I certainly don't think she's anti-semitic for saying it. Truth is, I think there's a lot to be learned about the Old Testament from the New Testament; it's basically a critique of Rabbinic Judaism.

It's too bad the host of the show didn't try to have a dialogue with Coulter, instead of just playing the anti-semite card, it could have been interesting.

Florida Jewish Charter School Ordered to Halt Hebrew Classes

From JPost, US school ordered to halt Hebrew classes. This is the Jewish Charter school blogged about previously. The article doesn't give a clear reason as to why the Hebrew classes were shut down, just that various outside groups were concerned with the religious character of the curriculum.

I'm guessing that the school was using Bible verses or Mishna text to teach Hebrew (which, by the way, can be pretty effective. I taught myself Hebrew by learning Kehati). Having grown up going to public school, I'm pretty sure I was never asked to read a religious text for English class. Then again, I grew up in very-liberal Maryland; I'm sure there are public schools in the US that still require/incorporate specific religious texts/prayers/etc. into the curriculum or daily life of the schools. Which is a huge double standard.

Hat tip to Uncle Uhvi.

Judaism and Harry Potter

R. Natan Slifkin's article in the Jewish Press, entitled Harry Potter's Fabulous Jewish Monsters examines the biblical, talmudic and midrashic sources for some of the creatures found in the Harry Potter novels.

Apart from Anthony Goldstein (a Ravenclaw, quite appropriately), one has to look carefully to find Judaism at Hogwarts. While much has been written on this subject, most is at the superficial level, using examples from the stories as starting points for discussions of quaint, and often jejune, simplistic Jewish moralisms.

The fundamental question to address is the main theme of the Potter books: that Love is the only force capable of withstanding the Will to Power. Despite the fact that the novels are not evangelical in nature, they are Christian in this respect. Judaism, on the other hand, would posit that Law would be the ideal vehicle through which not only the individual, but also the community, triumphs over the Power of Evil. Rowling is characteristically critical of governments as incapable of effectively combating true Evil. There is an interesting dichotomy between the personal and the communal, which, from my limited understanding, also seems to be a major point of contention between Judaism and Christianity.

Other connections to Judaism include the Philosopher's Stone (Nicholas Flamel's guide in creating the stone was purported to be the Book of Abraham, attributed the patriarch), and the obvious parallels between Nazi Germany and Voldemort's reign of terror.

Documentary on the Resurgence of Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century

Last night (edit: Monday night), PBS aired a documentary entitled "Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence." It was quite an interesting show; despite my familiarity with most of the major incidents, such as various prime ministers making public anti-semitic statements, the overall affect of their presentation in documentary form was quite disconcerting and shocking. The NY Times has a review of the program.

Many of the clips shown during the documentary were from MEMRI.org and MEMRITV.org. Search MEMRITV.org for al shatat, the name of a documentary in which a dying Baron Rothchild discusses the Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, and Hasidim kidnap and slaughter a Christian child in order to obtain blood for their matzah. Or read this transcript from an Iranian TV special on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Or, for giggles, read this transcript of an Iranian TV show that claims Tom and Jerry (yes, the cat and mouse) was created to bolster sympathy for Jews:

The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." Tom and Jerry was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was "dirty mice"...Tom and Jerry was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever... This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits.

It's amazing, unbelievable and terrifying.

MEMRITV is an amazing site; in my opinion, they should be uploading their videos to YouTube to increase public awareness.

In case you missed it, the documentary will be airing again tonight (Thursday night/Friday morning) at 2AM (if you have a TiVO...) on WETA 26 (in Baltimore) and on Sunday on WHUT 19 at 11PM.

New Blog: My Jack Abramoff Story

I stumbled across a new blog entitled My Jack Abramoff Story. The author opens with an introduction:

My name is Brian J. Mann and I was involved in The Jack Abramoff Scandal, and I'm going to be using this blog to tell you all about it.

His second post goes into a bit more detail. I have no idea if this is legit, but I thought it was interesting.

Bush's Legacy

I really don't know much about politics, which is why I don't write about it all that much. But I think what we saw from the election results is that Bush has done a pretty bad job at maintaining a positive image for the Republican party. In Maryland, we had a governor who was doing a good job, and we replaced him with a mediocre mayor (read SoccerDad's post for a good summary). This was more a vote against Bush and what he has come to represent than a vote about what is going on in Maryland. Unless George Walter Bush works a bit harder on cultivating a positive image, the Republican party is going to its work cut out come 2008.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog, with its normal complete obliviousness to what is going on the world.

Voting (without Da'as Torah)

I have no idea who most of the people running are, or what they stand for. Last election, I let da'as Torah vote for me, but I really didn't like the way that felt. I've become so jaded by the mass-marketing approach that all these candidates take that I've become overly skeptical. I'm not really a party guy, so this year, rather than just vote based on who sent me the most (or least) amount of junk mail, I abstained from voting in categories where I had no information on who was the better candidate. I guess that's a cop out in some ways, but I felt irresponsible voting when I had no information.

Just Vote

Elliott Cahan is voting for Bob Ehrlich, and has a great post detailing his experiences with the two candidates and why he feels Ehrlich deservers to be re-elected.

If you won't be here on November 7th, you can register for an absentee ballot. The deadline is Oct. 31.

Help Out the Guv

I received the following email from the Ehrlich Campagin:

Maryland Law requires that I report how much money we have raised as of August the 8th. Showing a strong campaign fundraising report at this time is critical. With less then a week remaining, we need to raise as much money as possible to show The Baltimore Sun we are a campaign with momentum.

There are 97 days until election day on November the 7th! The final sprint to Election Day has begun and I must expand my radio and television advertising, increase my travel around the state, and print more campaign literature and yard signs as I reach out to undecided voters.

These expenses are going to rapidly drain my campaign bank account.

I need your continued support now. Please make a contribution of $500, $250, $100 or even $50 to Bob Ehrlich for Maryland as soon as you can.

I realize there are many important causes to give to at this time in Israel, but we also need to look after the home front, and if you're going to support the Guv in the coming election, now is a good time. I matched my donation to the Guv with a donation to Israel.

From the Archives: Korach, Nietzsche and Democrary

A few years back, I wrote a post about Korach and Nietzsche. Therein, I mentioned that I would be writing up someone else's explanation of Korach in connection with the idea of democracy, but I seem to have never gotten round to it. It has been a while, and I don't recall what I had heard or who I had heard it from (it was likely R. Simcha Baer), but I do seem to have some latent thoughts linking Parshas Korach and democracy, as when a someone asked me about it, the idea came to mind.

Anyways, it would seem the two correlates in explaining the parsha (Nietzsche and democracy) would be somewhat complimentary. Although I think I wrote something to the contrary in the comments of my previous post, Nietzsche's philosophy is quite authoritarian, even a little bit fascist. The slave moralities of which he so despises are not only the systems promoted by the Judeo-Chrisitian religions, but the democratic forms of government that give power to the people and not to some elite cadre of ubermenschen.

So what we have is Korach leading a rebellion against an entrenched aristocracy by appealing to the masses' sense of the value of the individual by making democratic overtures. In truth, Korach has no intention of transfering any power to the individuals (cf. the midrash detailing the arguement between On ben Peles and his wife).

The truth is, in discussing these ideas with a few friends, I'm not sure if the best analogy would be democracy (rule by the people) or communism (classeless society). Either way, the focus is a bit different, as God is the one who is ostensibly deciding who offers the korbanos.

Brain flash: I do recall what I had previously heard from R. Simcha Baer, at least a little. Basically, the question could be asked, what was Korach thinking? Did he really think that God would choose him over Aharon? And what if he chose someone else? R. Baer's explanation, which I am not doing justice, was along the lines that Korach thought that he could establish a democratic system of election for the priesthood, and that by virtue of the fact that he held the popular vote, so to speak, God would have no choice but to accept his offering and install him as the Kohen Gadol. I am sure there were elegant proofs for this, but I do not remember them. But what you then have is basically democracy vs. theocracy (in a more literal sense).

"When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield."

The results are in for Baltimore City, District 5, and, as the only remaining member of the campaign awake and in this time zone, I'd like to unofficially concede defeat on behalf of the Cahan for City Council '04 Team. In the words of a former Vice President, "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." And so it is here.

The final tally:

Baltimore City Council - District 5 - 22 of 22 Precincts Reporting
Cahan, Elliott - Rep - 1,557 - 9.43%
Spector, Rochelle (i) - Dem - 12,478 - 75.57%
Fitzgerald, Terrence - Grn - 2,477 - 15.00%

And so ends the dramatic campaign of Cahan for City Council. To be fair, 9% ain't too shabby, considering Elliott moved to Israel in September, and stopped campaigning around July. I am a bit embarrassed that we lost to the Green party.

Local elections are fascinating, and, if you really work at it, very much within the grasp of an unknown candidate. I think if we really stuck with it, we easily could have gotten 30-35% of the vote. Ah well, I'll have to put my political machinations on hold until the Braindrops '08 campaign gets going.

Da'as Torah

So, I voted. I'm very uncomfortable with the new machines. Baltimore County is using the Diebold Touch Screen machines, as pictured on the news. First off, the octogenarian who gave me my card spends three minutes looking for GRESHMAN before I calmly point out that it's GERSHMAN.

So I get to the machine, and it says, "Push your card in until the light turns green." So I put my card in, the machine makes all sorts of strange noises, the light turns yellow, spits out my card, and the screen displays a message, "Trouble reading SmartCard, please see assistant." So I get some assistance; I don't know what this guy did, but within 10 seconds he gave me a new card (I turned around to look back at the machine, and he handed me a card). I have no idea if this was a new card, or he cleaned my original one, or what. Anyway, I put this card in, and the ballot comes up, but the light is still yellow, and my assistant has moved on. Oh well. I hit some buttons, my card ejects, and I give it to the octogenarian judge, who, in an attempt to stick an "I Voted" sticker on my shirt as I breeze out the door, smacks me in the chin. In other words, par for the course for a day at the Pikesville Polls. All in all, I was at the polls for maybe seven minutes, tops.

I did little to no research on the "other" positions up for vote, mostly because it doesn't matter. Pipkin vs. Mikulski? Cardin vs. Whoever? Money for this, that and the other? Not a clue. So I did something that I'm normally opposed to. I surrendered to Da'as Torah. R. Nueberger, may he live and be well, published his list of likely choices (not endorsements, challilah v'chas; that would jeopardize Ner's tax-exempt status). Rather than take the time to inform myself as to the issues, wade through the mounds of mud slung up by both sides, I chose to surrender my intellect and judgement to Da'as Torah. I don't do this often, and I'll have to admit, it was oddly satisfying. Surrendering one's will, carrying out instruction from higher authority without need for thought or understanding left me in a peace and traquility, practically an anaesthetized state, not unlike the feeling one has immiedietly before a colonoscopy. It was liberating and horrifying at the same time. I understand the allure, yet am frightened by the prospect.

Barack the Blessed

Barack Obama, in his DNC address, mentioned that his first name is African for "blessed." It must, somehow, be related to the Hebrew "baruch" which means the same thing.

Global Media Conspiracy or Lost Tribe language derivative? You decide.

Come on over to our house, Hon!

The Barblog - Senator Barbara Mikulski's Typepad Blog (via TheBaltiblog).

Slate's FAQ on Gay Marriage

Slate has put together a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) of a legal nature on gay marriage. It's quite informative. One issue I would like to see addressed is the different levels of scrutiny given to preferred statuses and how that plays a role in the current debate (I think I used all the right legal jargon there). [via SupaMB's Side Blog]

A side note: I'm now subscribed to four different feeds from SupaMB (regular blog, geek blog, and their respective link blogs). I think it would be cool if I could subscribe to a single feed of all of SupaMB's content. It would be easy to do with Blogdigger Groups - just make a private, moderated group, add all four feeds, and link to the generated RSS feed from the homepage. Then I could get all SupaMB's content in a single feed.

Cahan for City Council!!!

Time for a link to another one of my side projects. A good friend of mine, Elliott Cahan, is running for Baltimore City Council, District 5. Elliott has assembled a crack team of strategists to help him fight the uphill battle of taking back Baltimore City for the people. I'm lucky enough to be one of them.

So naturally, me being the gigantic technological visionary that I am, I helped get the website going. Check out CahanforCityCouncil.com. Yep, it's powered by Blogger. The main reason is that, honestly, it's a whole lot simpler to maintain a site using blog software than by hand. I like the personal approach as well.

Check back to the site for Elliott's comments on all things Baltimore City (with a strong focus on District 5). In case you're a syndication/subsrciption fanatic, you can grab the site's Atom feed.

We'll see you on the campaign trail. YEEEEAAAGHHHH!

The walls of the world

A list of walls built between countries, and who to contact to protest, from Kesher Talk. Assuming you're protesting the wall that's being built in Israel. No double standards, after all.

I found this via JewSchool, which has a sydicated (RSS) feed that I subscribe to. I can't subscribe to Kesher Talk because they don't have a syndicated feed.