#Adin Steinsaltz

[david-goldrock]

In times like these, I think about quotes

"We live in the best of all possible worlds"

Said Leibniz. and I love that for him, but I can't believe it too

"We live in the worst of all possible worlds"

Said Schopenhauer, but just like the previous, I find this claim to be absurd on its face

And so I am left to agree with Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

"We live in a world that is the worst of all possible worlds in which there is yet hope"

[challahbeloved]

I went to the Jewish bookstore today. Here are some titles I didn’t buy, but if you’ve read them, I’d like to know whether you recommend them or not.

In Forest Fields: a unique guide to personal prayer

Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought by David Biale

On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz: 25 Years of Pre-Dawn Car Trips, Mind-Blowing Encounters and Inspiring Conversations with a Man of Wisdom by Arthur Kurzweil

Stop Look Listen: Celebrating Shabbos Through a Spiritual Lens by Nehemia Polen

On Being Free by Adin Steinsaltz

My Grandmother’s Candlesticks: Judaism and Feminism, A Multigenerational Memoir by Diane Schulder Abrams

Festivals of Faith: CONNECT and GROW with the JEWISH YEAR by DISCOVERING Is ESSENCE by Rabbi Moshe Wolfson

Why We Tremble

Inside Teshuvah by Miriam Millhauser Castle

Opening the Gates of Teshuva: A Contemporary Commentary on Rabbeinu Yonah’s Shaarei Teshuva by Rabbi Asher Baruch Wegbreit

Knocking on the Gates of Teshuvah: Comments and Insights Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah by Rabbi A. Levin

Life After Teshuvah: Five, Ten, and Twenty Years Later

Vegetarianism, Ecology, and Business Ethics: Three Essays of Judaic Insights into Contemporary Concerns by Daniel Sperber

[balioc]

BALIOC'S READING LIST, 2023 EDITION

This list counts only published books, consumed in published-book format, that I read for the first time and finished. No rereads, nothing abandoned halfway through, no Internet detritus of any kind, etc. Also no children’s picture books.

(There were so many children's picture books.)

Hand of the Sun King, J. T. Greathouse

Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Circus of Dr. Lao, Charles G. Finney

When the Angels Left the Old Country, Sacha Lamb

Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us, Rachel Aviv

Elder Race, Adrian Tchaikovsky

Yamada Monogatari: Troubled Spirits, Richard Parks

Victory City, Salman Rushdie

Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America, Richard Rorty

Cage of Souls, Adrian Tchaikovsky

A Morbid Taste for Bones, Ellis Peters

One Corpse Too Many, Ellis Peters

Priest of Bones, Peter McLean

Priest of Lies, Peter McLean

Demon Summoner: Apprentice, Greg Walters

By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions, Richard Cohen

Tsalmoth, Steven Brust

Priest of Gallows, Peter McLean

Priest of Crowns, Peter McLean

Waybound, Will Wight

Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata

The Tatami Galaxy, Tomihiko Morimi

These Violent Delights, Chloe Gong

Death in Venice, Thomas Mann

Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life, Rory Sutherland

The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton

Storming Heaven, Miles Cameron

Against Worldbuilding, and Other Provocations: Essays on History, Narrative and Game Design, Alexis Kennedy

From Ritual to Romance, Jessie L. Weston

To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

Rats and Gargoyles, Mary Gentle

Labyrinth's Heart, M. A. Carrick

Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin

The Long, Long Goodbye of "The Last Bookstore," Mizuki Nomura

The Last Sun, K. D. Edwards

The Hanged Man, K. D. Edwards

The Hourglass Throne, K. D. Edwards

Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi

The Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Belief, Adin Steinsaltz

The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee

The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius

The Star-Child, Oscar Wilde

Monk's Hood, Ellis Peters

St. Peter's Fair, Ellis Peters

The Leper of St. Giles, Ellis Peters

The Virgin in the Ice, Ellis Peters

The Nutcracker, E. T. A. Hoffman and Alexandre Dumas

The Sanctuary Sparrow, Ellis Peters

Child of God, Cormac McCarthy

The Devil's Novice, Ellis Peters

Dead Man's Ransom, Cormac McCarthy

Plausible works of improving nonfiction consumed in 2023: 10

["plausible" and "improving" are being defined very liberally here]

Balioc's Choice Award, Fiction Division: The Circus of Dr. Lao, Charles G. Finney

>>>> Honorable Mention: Rats and Gargoyles, Mary Gentle

[This seems like the correct place to point out that, for the Balioc's Choice Awards, I consider only works that were first published with the last 100 years. Otherwise it would just be "surprise, old classics are often classics for a reason."]

Balioc's Choice Award, Nonfiction Division: The Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Belief, Adin Steinsaltz

>>>> Honorable Mention: A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

The Roscommon Princess Award for Luminous Trembling Beauty in the Face of a Bleakly Mundane World: The Star-Child, Oscar Wilde

The Anguished Howl Award for Somehow Making Me Regret Reading a Book About a Demon Summoner in the Thirty Years' War: Demon Summoner: Apprentice, Greg Walters

The Tamsyn Muir Award for Demonstrating that Popularity Really, Really, Really is Not the Same Thing as Quality: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

The G. K. Chesterton Award for Being G. K. Chesterton, I Mean, to Whom Else Could I Compare Him, For Someone So Avowedly Stodgy He is the Ballsiest Motherfucker I Have Ever Read: The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton

**********

...this year was much like the last several years, only somehow even more so. Not in a good way, I fear. My current lifestyle continues not to be super-conducive to reading, and writing a weekendlong LARP kind of knocked the wind out of me, both during and after. If it weren't for a massive silly-fun historical-mystery binge in December, my numbers here would be shameful. And you will notice that a whole lot of the things on that list are very short.

Most of the contemporary fiction was pretty much what I expected it to be. There were few real standouts. Things by good authors continued to be mostly good; things by shlocky authors continued to be shlock.

I should probably drive less for my various solitary recreational jaunts, just so that I can spend more of that time with a book. I should definitely read more old stuff, because old stuff continues to be the most reliably rewarding. (The cream of the cream of the old stuff, anyway, which is...what you read.)

I continue to be Extremely In the Market for recommendations of really good, deeply-informative nonfiction.

[fanzinhapoeta]

He was not a Talmudist in the conventional sense of the word [...] but he carried the cultured and educated Jewish environment of his childhood with him. He knew the Bible, read the religious philosophy of Martin Buber and the academic mysticism of Gershom Scholem, conversed with rabbis, studied Adin Steinsaltz's ground-breaking editions of the Talmud and was familiar with Daniel Matt's translation of the Zohar.

-- Harry Freedman, Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius

[theforcast068]

The Forecast Volume 1-Issue 2

Wednesday October 16th, 2024

Link to the PDF Copy

What Did Cloud Do?

Over the fall break the cumulonimbus and cloud.rimer Instagram accounts had fully disappeared. Many wondered, what happened to Cloud? Has she gone off the grid? Will she ever return? Well, Rimer states it was all a misunderstanding, “I was making a joke about buying and subsequently doing crack cocaine so Instagram removed that post and promptly suspended BOTH of my accounts.” When asked why she posted it in the first place Cloud responded, “it was just a joke between friends. I don’t take anything I post on this account seriously and I hope no one else does either. It is really just for the amusement of myself and my friends.” Rimer still believes the immediate suspension was unreasonable.

Keep reading below the line for more!

Who Decides When Jokes are too Far?

When you sign up for a site like Instagram you don’t usually set out to break the rules. Accounts are used for texting, posting funny animal pictures, documenting different events, promoting products, and many other things. But sometimes, jokes or silly posts, much like Cloud’s go “too far” and break the sites rules. Now, I am all for rules to keep sites safe for everyone, but is this really where we should draw the line?

Rimer claims, “It was clearly a joke. Who just texts that they’re going to be late because they’re... literally buying cocaine? Not people who have ever actually done cocaine.” Rimer adds, “Are people convinced to do drugs because another person... just mentions them? They’re hopeless at that point.��� I’ll end this with a simple message: don’t do drugs, and if you do, definitely don’t tell Instagram about it.

A Commentary on Wes Anderson Films

Over the break I watched five Wes Anderson directed movies. Included were his top three movies (ranked by IMDB): The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and Moonrise Kingdom (2012). The others, ranked sixth and eighth respectively, were Rushmore (1998) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Below are my reviews of these movies, from my most to least favorite:

Moonrise Kingdom (2012). This movie reminded me of the movies I rewatched all the time as a kid about a group of children that have to work together against some greater evil while exploring their moral values and forming relationships. It was very sweet, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Loved the characters and it had a very interesting mode of storytelling. I was thoroughly entertained.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). This is a movie a lot of my friends rave about, while I don’t like it as much as they do, I understand the appeal now. It is a clear story with strong points, I liked it a lot.

The Life of Steve Zissou (2004). I’ll need to rewatch this before commenting.

Rushmore (1998). Every adult in this failed Max. Upsetting to say the least.

is Cloud Converting?

Sources have left anonymous tips saying that they’ve spotted Rimer leaving the Albion District Public Library with three books about Judaism and its practices.

The Torah: The Five Books of Moses

The Essential Talmud by Adin Steinsaltz

Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs, and Rituals by George Robinson

We don’t currently know whether Cloud is considering converting to Judaism or is simply doing research. When asked to comment Rimer declined and told our reporter to “mind your own business.”

This Weeks Top Pics

HOW TO CALM DOWN

Advice from Cloud Rimer

Put it into perspective. Realistically think about how large your problem really is. It might feel like it is going to be life altering, but it might not even be relevant after this week. This works well when I am being too dichotomous.

Think about the outcomes. This is one of my most trusted methods of calming myself. To do this you write a list of the worst possible outcome, the best outcome, and a couple middle-ground possibilities. Once you’ve written the outcomes you decide how you would feel about each and what your next step would be. At the end I usually feel much better about whatever I am worried about. This works well when I am blowing things out of proportion.

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. If your friend was having the issue that you are, what would you say to them? What would you do to help them out? If they were saying the things that you are, how would you respond to calm them down. This works well when I’m thinking irrationally.

Make sure all your basic needs have been met. I find that issues seem a lot bigger if I haven’t drank water, eaten, slept, or gone to the bathroom in a long time. So, if you think your problems might feel bigger than usual, think about the last time you had a nutritious meal or drank enough water.

The Games

Word Search 10/16/2024 and Friend Quiz 10/16/2024

[progressivejudaism]

May Rabbi Steinsaltz’s memory live on in our hearts, souls, and Bitei Midrash as a beautiful blessing.

[baldursgatekeeper]

Book Reflection | A Guide to Jewish Prayer

A Guide to Jewish Prayer by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz is a very comprehensive look at, as the title suggests, Jewish prayer. It has sections on the siddur (prayer book) and its history, the essence and meaning of prayer, individual and communal prayer, the differences in prayer between men and women, the different prayer rites across the world, the order of prayer services during the week and year, and a guide to the synagogue and its various members and ritual objects. As I mentioned in my previous reflection on To Be A Jew, it’s impossible to fit all of the information available about Judaism, or even the singular topic of prayer, into just one book, but A Guide To Jewish Prayer was certainly very detailed and specific, and covered a lot of ground.

One thing I liked about the book was that it didn’t just focus on the Ashkenazi experience, as a lot of books on Judaism tend to do, but also had plenty of detail on the Sephardic rite as well. It also had some, albeit less comprehensive, coverage of smaller prayer rites from around the world such as the Yemenite and Italkim rites. It did suffer from the problem that a lot of books on Judaism do in that it focused exclusively on the Orthodox experience. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem at all if it had been titled A Guide to Orthodox Jewish Prayer, but presents itself as a guide to all aspects and rites of Jewish prayer, while completely ignoring the rites of, and in fact not mentioning a single time, other branches of Judaism such as Conservative and Reform. It doesn’t fall into the trap that To Be A Jew does of dismissing as religiously illegitimate the other branches, simply by virtue of not mentioning them at all.

One thing I should mention is that this book is very densely packed with specific and detailed information, and the author in fact states that it’s not necessarily designed to be read cover to cover, but to serve as a reference that you can dip into if you want to refresh yourself on various aspects of Jewish prayer. I did however read it cover to cover as I wanted to get all the information, and while it could at times be difficult to get through due to its density I think it was still a good reading experience and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about Jewish prayer. I’ll add the caveat I often do though that if you want a more holistic view of Jewish prayer that includes branches other than Orthodoxy then you’ll need to do some further reading.

Have you read any books about prayer, or in which prayer was a theme? What did you think of them?

[jewishbookworld]

On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz by Arthur Kurzweil

On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz by Arthur Kurzweil

25 Years of Pre-Dawn Car Trips, Mind-Blowing Encounters and Inspiring Conversations with a Man of Wisdom Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz was internationally regarded as one of the most brilliant and influential rabbis of our time. He was lauded by Time magazine as a “once-in-a-millennium scholar” and by Ted Koppel of Night Line as “one of the very few wise men that I’ve ever met.” Arthur Kurzweil —…

[eretzyisrael]

A prolific author, he wrote as many as 60 books on an array of topics, including commentaries on the Talmud, the Torah, Jewish mysticism, Chassidism and Jewish philosophy.

(August 7, 2020 / JNS) Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, one of Judaism’s exceptional modern-day commentators, died in Jerusalem after suffering from acute pneumonia. He was 83 years old.

Steinsaltz was born in Jerusalem on July 11, 1937. His scholarship was noted at an early age. He studied mathematics, chemistry and physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and after graduating began his career as an educator and a school principal in Jerusalem. It was also the beginning of his writing a great many varied Jewish books.

More: Here

[joemerl]

“When one person takes one step ahead, something good happens in our world. But when one million people take one step ahead, the whole world shakes.”

— Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz

[hanukkitty]

"Rabbi Adin Even Yisrael Steinsaltz, whose translation and groundbreaking commentary of the entire Babylonian Talmud and Bible has been lauded for making the ancient Jewish texts approachable, died Friday at the age of 83.

[...]

"But Steinsaltz’s crowning achievement was indisputably the 45-year project of democratizing the 1,500-year-old corpus of rabbinic Jewish law — a feat that saw Time magazine in 2001 declare him a “once-in-a-millennium” scholar. It earned him comparisons to the 11th-century French sage Rashi, whose commentary on most of the Talmud and Bible was unmatched in terms of the scope of texts it covered for 1,000 years."

ברוך דיין האמת.

[parabola-magazine]

"Thus year follows year in endless succession. 'What was will be again.' The individual may enjoy this endless repetition throughout his life without ever reaching any kind of reckoning. Every year will be for him just one more old year, the same old dream without end, the same vicious circle from which there is no escape. That is why the schofar is sounded, its simple ear-assaulting cry. Its wordless wailing (since no words are understood by all) consists of two broken blasts, a lamenting for what was, for what has been. This is followed by two warning notes, for what may still lie ahead to entrap and degrade, and culminates in two shouts of victory: the promise that, in spite of everything, there is a possibility that the coming year will be more than a mere repetition of its predecessor, that within the cycle of the seasons there is room for hope that the coming year may be truly 'new.'" —Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz on transforming repetition into renewal

Read the full article here.

Pictured: Marc Chagall (1887-1985), “The Shofar,” 1911

[girlactionfigure]

On 1st yahrzeit of Rav Adin Steinsaltz z"l, we remember a giant of the Jewish world whose wisdom, inspiration and teachings touched millions. Rav Steinsaltz's translations of the Tanach and Talmud have made these jewels of the Jewish world accessible to so many for generations to come. 

May his memory be a blessing יהי זברו ברוך 

Rabbi Benji

[spring-mornings]

Spesso la realtà dell’anima o i suoi messaggi si presentano alla persona non come una rivelazione, ma come un disturbo.

— Adin Steinsaltz

[retro-ramblings]

just picked up some books at my schools library!

(i’m not going to read them in this order it’s just the order i picked them up in)

The Essential Talmud by Adin Steinsaltz

What the Jews Believe by Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein

Understanding American Judaism II: Sectors of American Judaism edited by Jacob Neusner