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jewish studies
Everybody is nice to me at LimmudLA. An organizer says: “I spent most of the conference talking to people in the halls. We get so suffocated by Jewish institutions wanting our time, money, and attention, that it kills desire.”

the jewish museum

“Yeah, this is my roomie Todd. “Yeah, this is my roomie Todd. He talks in his sleep. Saturday night, a friend walks out of an elevator.
One Orthodox guy I know deliberately walked around the LimmudLA bare-headed just to see what it felt like.
history of judaism
On Sunday morning, actor Ron Rifkin, 69, talks about his Jewish journeys. Raised Orthodox, sent to yeshivot, he’s never been to Israel. Ron Rifkin: “I come from an Orthodox, sort of Hasidic, background. I went to Yeshiva Torah V’Das. I was shomer shabbos. It was Hanukkah time. “I’m trying to figure out what part Judaism plays in my life. “The rabbi wouldn’t marry us unless she wore long sleeves. My wife came to shul every Shabbos. It was time for me to start my journey [out of Orthodox Judaism]. Very strict yeshivas. I thought, if my zayde could see me now… Luke: “Do you miss Orthodox community?”
“I called this rabbi in Queens to officiate. Ron: “Not really. We, the people in show business, are very open. “I have run into anti-Semitism from Jews. I’ve been told I’m too Jewish… Ron: “I get embarrassed by vulgarity, by people who are rude, by people who aren’t kind and respectful. Ron: “Not to judge anyone. If you never judge anyone, how then do you relate to evil? Jews react passionately to evil. Ron: “I’m talking about judging people’s spiritual beliefs. Luke: “We judge other people’s political beliefs, their competency with their work…”
People are dying. Luke: “Are there prominent people in America who you fear?”
Ron: “I fear intolerance.”
Sunday. 10 a.m. Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller and his sex therapist wife Doreen hold what they say is their first joint session in a quarter century. The room is jammed with about 150 Jews.
Doreen’s practice is filled with Orthodox Jews. Doreen introduced her to dildos. The wife learned to penetrate herself. Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller is in his twenty-seventh year at UCLA Hillel as director. Sexual Repression and Obsession in Traditional Jewish Practice: The Case of the Kitzur Shulhan Arukh
Rabbi Seidler-Feller: “When I was at yeshiva high school, the only source of information we had on sex was the kitzur Shulchan Aruch… You could talk openly with Rabbi Riskin.”
“Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried (author of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch) was Hungarian… I was surrounded by Hungarian Jews.”
Rabbi Chaim: “How can we as religious people deal with lust? The Rambam is the loser in the battle for the Jewish world. Sunday afternoon, Jewish Journal Editor Rob Eshman moderates a panel on Jews in Hollywood. Josh wondered why so few Jews in Hollywood support Israel.
Our lead character is not Jewish. I hear great reviews on Rabbi Elazar Muskin’s presentation at this time on the history of the yarmulke.
I attend her “Guerilla Girls of the Talmud” class Friday night. It’d be annoying if his points weren’t so smart.
I catch several sessions with the world’s sexiest grandmother, Professor Arna Poupko Fisher. Then Dr. Fisher was chareidi and married to a rabbi. If you do, you’ll take it seriously.
Here’s audio of his Saturday night talk on “What are Jews for?”
I learn:
There’s widespread laughter.
Monday morning. I catch Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller’s lecture on “A Jewish perspective on the relationship between Judaism and Islam.”
There were some good people there…”
Please don’t follow Daniel Pipes. If you follow Daniel Pipes, you are down the road of hopelessness.”
“You have to speak a language people can absorb. First of all, those Muslims, no one cares about them except Jews. We need Jews to be Zionists.”
If you can, reinterpret those texts.”
“Every religious tradition has baggage.”
“It has to be identified and reinterpreted if possible.”
History is important. It lived in the world. I chose the story where the [Talmudic] rabbis rejected God’s miracles. When I debate with Muslims, I talk about this. The rabbi reads an excerpt from the Koran calling Jews apes and swine.
“When you call people apes and swines, that’s a causus belli.”
It was there in Spain when Jews and Muslims got along well. History is not history in Islam. It’s the unfolding of God in the world and the Muslims are supposed to be on top, particularly in their world. If you read the literature, the Muslims say that 1967 was a sign that the Westernization of Islam was a cause of the decline of Islam and we have to cleanse Islam to return to an Islam that never existed.”
Rabbi: “Be careful with that. People are going to die for the One Truth.”
“[According to the Koran:] Jews have Torah and mitzvot because God is punishing them.”
“Why do they hate the rabbis? Because we choose to correct God’s word. Jews are arrogant. “What’s so attractive about Islam? There’s a humility in Islam. If you’re a practicing Muslim, there you are on the floor with everybody. One people is called Yisrael, meaning struggle with God. One people is called Ishmael, which means obediance, submission.”
Jews are individually arrogant and collectively humble.”
On the last session Monday, I catch the play “Modern Orthodox.” It is more modern than orthodox, filled with sex talk and steamy kissing, yet several parents, including Orthodox parents, have no problem with their small children taking in this deviant hump-filled performance.
Todd does not elaborate.
Around LAX, Todd confesses he’s nauseous.
A smaller number of people approach me because they like my blogging.
I loved it. Hey, read me!