You wouldn’t think that the Jewish tradition was big on transmigration of souls — but it is. I’m not even sure this concept is taught much anymore in more mainstream non-Orthodox and Hassidic circles. But what do I know? I’ve not set foot in a shul for a very long time. And even then,…
Month: May 2011
daily kaddish: for blaze
My friend Jaryn has another new kitty angel.
daily kaddish: for qaddafi’s son, et al
NATO airstrikes killed Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren on Saturday night. I find the rebels’ stance (stances—let’s be realistic) compelling, but it’s not clear to me that Qaddafi’s dictatorship is the worst thing Libya has known.
What is clear to me is that there’s an awful lot of dying going on, and I don’t hear any music in that.
daily kaddish: Osama Bin Laden
Mira’s Kaddish for Osama Bin Laden is an example of why I’m so proud to be her collaborator. With her words echoing in my brain, and her “bismilleh” Kaddish text echoing in my headphones, I attempted to play a Kaddish for this whole sorry scene. I don’t think it’s coincidental that I was hitting clams and playing notes out of tune the whole way through.
a kaddish for Osama bin Laden
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم The goal of building (or rebuilding) an Islamic State is something as yet under-appreciated in the West. Do we in the West ask what kind of State is it? Or do we just assume it’s the oppressive, misogynistic monolith that we have dubbed it? Do we even ask ourselves if there…
daily kaddish: other kinds of loss
We grieve all kinds of losses that have causes other than death—people move away, break up, have fallings out, become senile, descend into mental illness, become incapacitated by injury or illness, and on and on. Some of these are perhaps harder than death itself.
voices in the volvo
There’s something I really don’t like about finishing things. Good at starting. Good at ongoing. Good at thinking about. Finishing: very depressing. So. I had just finished organizing the entire program for a SWAA conference one year, along with two colleagues. SWAA would be the Southwestern Anthropological Association. And we planned some real conference treats….