News Roundup: 11/3/11
Unpious.com Staff Writer2011News & Media
credit: Story Accents
Sparking the ambitions of every kiruv/celebrity-hungry chabadnik, Oprah visited a mikveh and a family in Crown Heights (and a family in Borough Park), for a segment on her new show.
Nosson Slifkin, the Charedi rabbi and author who had his books banned because they suggested a non-literal reading of various Talmudic statements, has defined a new and growing phenomenon: Post-Charediism. In an Op-Ed in the Jerusalem Post, Slifkin bemoans the fundamentalization of Orthodox society, and offers a brief historical overview of its development. While we wouldn’t quite call Slifkin “unpious,” we certainly applaud his efforts to at least approach Jewish belief and practice with a rational veneer.
The Case of the Missing Women of Jerusalem. A group concerned with the disappearance of women from advertisements on Jerusalem billboards is seeking redress to the gender imbalance on the city’s commerce-hawking devices. According to members of the group, advertisers fear the wrath of its ultra-Orthodox customers, and cited, as one example, products whose advertisements in other parts of the country feature full-bodied women, but in Jerusalem are displayed with only a female hand or a purse. The group intends to hang 100 posters of women across the city in order to — as one member of the group put it — “return the city space to its natural state and turn the appearance of women into something boring.”
A few days ago, an Arab sheik was seen carrying a suitcase and walking down a Chelsea street. Just as he passed a chasid, the sheik’s suitcase flew open, spewing condoms across the sidewalk. The New York Times caught a snapshot of the chasid and the sheik scrambling to pick up the condoms – and offers a little background information. As it turns out, it isn’t quite the Jewish-Arab kumbaya moment we were hoping for. (Hint: clip-on payess.)
In other inter-religious hijinks, a Jerusalem court dismissed charges against a priest who had punched a yeshiva student in the face. The priest was reacting to the yeshiva student spitting in his direction. The yeshiva student insisted he spat because he had a medical condition of excess phlegm. The judge was not impressed, noting that the student had not needed to spit once during the court proceedings.
The New York Times profiles Rabbi Yael Buechler who – get this – teaches parsha to her sixth grade students via manicure. No wonder frum communities won’t ordain women – Rabbi Moshe Eisenberg, the parsha teacher at our school, could never compete with that shit.
Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is hoping a famous zombie can revive his dying campaign, with a visit to the Ohel.
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News Roundups appear every Thursday (or when our News Roundup writer gets around to it, whichever comes first). Send news tips to unpious.editor@gmail.com.
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19 Responses
With all due respect for both Unpious and Rabbi Skifkin (I don’t know too much about him but I respect what he stands for), I hope both succeed at their respective missions, but I think that an Unpious endorsement of Rabbi Slifkin can only undermine him and his goals by giving more fodder for his adversaries.
Who knows what really goes on inside a person’s head? I remember reading Slifkin’s book, “The Challenge of Creation,” and thinking to myself ‘Hmmm…something just doesn’t add up with this guy…He says he’s Orthodox, but his writing sounds closer to that of an agnostic.’ I know I definitely wouldn’t be surprised to find out that there are rabbis out there who are closet atheists and/or agnostics…So as I said, Who knows? lol…
Did anyone else notice the banner ad for Jewish Theological Seminary on here? I don’t know what to think of it. How does that tie in with Slifkin’s endorsement?
http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/ is such an awesome blog! I’ve just been learning LOADS of stuff with these Unpious News Roundups. It’ such a massive time suck, but well worth it
Kafhakela — Slifkin is free to disendorse our endorsement.
Speaking of which… Gabriella — thanks for endorsing our News Roundups!
Nate , After reading many of Rabbi Slifkin’s book’s hearing him speak etc I would be shocked if he was an agnostic. Regarding your point about Rabbis who don’t believe in G-d Rabbi Harry Maryles mentions this phenomenon on his blog here http://haemtza.blogspot.com/2011/04/atheist-posek.html.
Kahakela I noticed it and just dismissed as , ok unpious.com needs money so they have finally decided to advertise. But now that you mention it , I think it is a rather large advertisement , almost like a banner , also it is an interesting advertisement to choose to be the first and only one for now on unpious.com .
Velvel and Kaf — We’ve had ads on Unpious many times before. I guess they just hadn’t been noticed.
Also, not sure why people find an ad for JTS here unusual. I actually find it rather fitting. Why would it not be?
Shulem, I hadn’t noticed the ad either. I often don’t notice ads, yay for me! But yay for you for putting JTS up there. Very fitting. You go!
Oh, and Velvel — Harry Maryles seems kinda late to discovering it. The guy he mentions, Mis-nagid, had a blog back in 2004, and he wasn’t the only one like him.
I suppose you’re young, so you haven’t been around when closet-heretics started popping up all over the place, but it’s a well-known phenomenon by now.
There were many blogs by doubters and skeptics and out-and-out atheists. They all got it out of their system, and then disappeared. And they all seemed to converge onto one blog — in its various reincarnations — of XGH, who now blogs under “Modern Orthoprax” and — shocker! — revealed himself after many years to be Natan Slifkin’s brother.
Gabriella, how could you do this to me? :). I clicked on your link. Great. Just what I need is another blog time sink. I have worked so hard to curb the addiction.
I agree. Wonderful stuff. Intoxicating. And like a good disciplined person, I will pry myself away from it now and get it with my work and upcoming meetings today. And I implore my teenage daughter, who has found her way onto this site (I’m to blame. I let it slip) to do the same.
Shabbat Shalom, y’all! Git Shabbos.
First of all, to all you potential advertisers out there, of course we all notice the ads! In fact, it’s the first thing we notice! So don’t believe it when people say they haven’t noticed the ads on here…
My point wasn’t so much the fact that Unpious accepted and published JTS’s ad, because as others have mentioned, their money is as green as anyone’s. I would even think an ad from Agudah should be good if they want to pay.
I just think it an interesting choice on the part of JTS. Does this mean that they are trying to boost their ranks by attracting OTDs? Or does it simply mean that potential applicants to JTS would likely be found reading this site? I don’t what it mean, but I’m pretty certain that it says something.
J wrote: “Gabriella…I clicked on your link…I agree. Wonderful stuff. Intoxicating….”
LOL J, what a pair of nerds we are!
This monday there will be a post that will shatter the Jewish world. It is directed at ex chassidim and ex yeshivash drop outs and will offer a novel way to deal with the situation.
Kaf — Ads on this site are often placed via an affiliate program, not the advertisers themselves. So don’t read much into any of this.
Well, whenever anyone on this site suggests that halachic-but-not-chassidish Judaism is an option, everyone flips out and gets all offended and says how condescending such a suggestion is. So, it just surprised me to see that kind of Judaism advertised here.
Why doesn’t shulom have this sinah that alot of other freiyers have ¿?
Aree , almost for entertainment purposes , what is the sinah that the “freiyers” have?
VB: I know what Aree means. I don’t know about the sinah that “freiyers” have (although he may be referring to a bitterness which is to be expected from someone who has suffered at the hands of the community as a price for his freedom), but as far as I can tell, Shulem Deen definitely has a highly unbiased, thought out and balanced view on the heimishe community, to such a degree that it is surprising given what we know about his background.
I think it is a testament to his intellectual honesty and clear, level headed thinking. He is my hero!
Yes Kafhakela I also appreciate Shulem’s honesty and pretty unbiased view, but my main or only question is the one which you also wonder, what sinah does “fryers” have , it seems like a pretty large generalization to me? By the way I really didn’t want to get into this , but Kafhakela you tempted me (: .