Lea > Recent Status Updates

one thing İ've learned from his letters, that İ hadn't quite been able to grasp from his biographies, is why Maimonides has such an appeal to me beyond his thought on religion, and his letters made it clear to me: because he was a bitchy old queen

What can İ say, İ love a good family epic

he really is being exceptionally racist in this one to the point where it's ruining the entire rest of his work for me

this has been such an enlightening read so far already. having been raised entirely without religion, the concept of prayer always eluded me, why do ppl do it, what is its purpose, what are you supposed to feel in the process, so it's nice to see it put in a way that makes sense

just finished the intro and already learned so much

it's been a conflicting read so far bc there's parts that are fascinating and insightful, and then there's parts where the reasoning is flawed bc he's trying to find common ground with the homophobes he's arguing against, which hurts to read, not as much in a "this is bad" way as in a "yeah, been there" way

one thing that's been really interesting so far is too see which cases are more and which less controversial, and it's not the ones İ would've thought. makes you rethink your own assumptions/gut feelings & gain new insights into halakhic thinking

there's definetely a lot in here that's still a bit too advanced for my knowledge, but that's part of what makes it interesting. maybe İ don't understand All the details of the hetter iska model and the intricacies of the sale of chametz yet but İ can come back to that at a later time, keeping myself challenged etc etc

OBSESSED with the Brisker method

Part II deals with the different ways in which Talmudic writing is layered and what the form of law means for the way it's read, both how it allows deeper debate while also risking flattening complex topics. Gives a feeling for how to arrange and rearrange the puzzle pieces.

Part I really turned my understanding of what Halakhah is, its functions and significance, from 2D to 3D

from Alexandria to Fostat we are not just following Maimonides' works on Mishnah and Talmud but also the political circumstances at the stations along his journey and his relation to them and how that reflects in his writing

very interesting so far, learning about his early life in Spain then Fez then Palestine then Egypt and the political circumstances of each place at the time, about his early thoughts on Aristotle, forced conversion, and talmudic thought. Also right away found a new book mentioned herein to add to my reading list, on the travels of rabbi Benjamin of Tudela

starting out rather racistly

interesting to follow his circular argumentation, to start at divine pathos, take a detour over related topics in other religions, anthropophacy, divine wrath, imitatio dei, and between each return to the topic of divine pathos as it relates to the prophets and judaism to deepen its understanding a little more each time

This chapter, we looked into what sort of relation between Gd and man prophetic thinking presupposes, one marked by divine pathos and concern, and compared this to other religions, looking into what this difference in relation means for a religion's general outlook and worldview.

after analysing the main points of key prophets we're getting into how prophetic thought relates to a specific conception of history and what that in turn means for our responsibility to treat each other justly

1, İ wasn't expecting the words of the prophets to still be so easily applicable to the present day, 2, İ wasn't expecting the chapter on Jeremiah to be quite so sexual

"Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and founds a city on iniquity", İ wonder if there is a current irl situation this could be applied to

finished section 2 on revelation, listening and learning so much

finished section 1.the words with which gd is described made methink,as none of them quite worked,but so Heschel said himself,words are always inadequate. My note from this chapter is that talking about gd is like shooting a burning arrow into the night,hoping that those following it will derive meaning from where it lands not from the spec of fire but bc they have seen the scenery by day before in another season.

these past few chapters have been resonating with my "not sure if gd exists but İ do know what he wants from me" outlook

dots and outlines are beginning to take shape

chapter 4 on Wonder allowed for interesting parallels to be drawn to translation,"a scientific theory[...]does not have to be repeated twice a day.[...]since there is a need for daily wonder, there is a need for daily worship." compared to translator's notes in poetry translations that repeat in ever new metaphors the old conceptions of translation rather than centering theory, not to explain but to keep wonder alive