Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2009, the, and, friday, june, saturday, in, thursday, sunday, wednesday, of, monday, august, holocaust, 02, 15, tuesday, may, april, march, february, january, to, jews, memory, 11, november, 12, october, 18, september, 09, 22, 21, july, 31, 06, 29, 17, blog, subscribe, midrash, way, jewish, my, looks, for, levinas, women, dreaming, without, strangled, sleep, december, 30, 27, 08, 28, 23, 10, 04, 14, 07, 19, about, me, archive, places, visit, followers, search, this, homeostasis, myth, silence, white, noise, disaster, un, mediated, forgiveness, scent, violet, holiness, temporary, when, vanity, becomes, terror, don, know, zizek, on, israel, lesson, idiotic, pop, psychology, tarantino, vs, where, feet, will, not, walk, academia, atheism, questioning, scream, infinite, how, much, earth, is, flesh, multiplicity, secret, text, yo, judío, borges, jew, mirror, love, affair, continues, dynamic, duo, hitler, obama, spinoza, transfusion, diversity, night, terrors, god, wrestling, match, france, ucla, talk, discovering, agnon, his, doubters, skeptics, jesus, problem, thou, shalt, argue, with, kosher, adventures, fake, memoir, contest, films, second, generation, voices, midrashic, impulse, redeeming, perpetrator, voice, cfp, humor, american, literature, at, mla, victimizing, agamben, camps, de, fying, non,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (739), and (328), that (198), this (126), share (109), for (98), but (85), with (83), are (75), not (65), about (60), was (60), one (54), who (50), they (49), what (48), his (47), when (45), there (45), 2009 (43), #holocaust (41), monica (40), all (39), can (39), have (38), posted (37), comments (36), pinterest (36), facebook (36), blogthis (36), email (36), jewish (35), people (32), which (32), more (31), from (30), levinas (29), our (29), god (27), them (27), you (27), their (27), know (26), think (25), out (25), see (25), because (25), some (24), even (24), into (24), her (24), how (23), way (23), don (23), like (23), something (23), night (22), will (22), had (22), only (22), has (22), other (21), where (21), love (20), she (20), here (20), may (19), were (19), just (18), film (18), these (18), say (18), than (17), time (17), now (17), american (16), march (16), really (16), little (16), june (15), jews (15), agamben (15), forgiveness (15), new (15), question (15), own (15), life (15), world (15), over (15), would (15), august (14), scream (14), book (14), also (14), many (14), right (14), reading (14), such (14), back (14), another (14), been (14), never (14), being (13), april (13), january (13), february (13), much (13), context (13), perhaps (13), then (13), always (13), novel (12), november (12), kosher (12), talk (12), midrash (12), hitler (12), course (12), work (12), rather (12), become (12), experience (12), conference (12), most (12), want (12), society (11), july (11), september (11), second (11), tarantino (11), israel (11), someone (11), seen (11), again (11), find (11), those (11), enough (11), cannot (11), december (10), camps (10), literature (10), things (10), does (10), through (10), still (10), post (10), yet (10), said (10), before (10), its (10), found (10), everything (10), man (10), questions (10), words (10), writes (10), trauma (9), thought (9), two (9), october (9), women (9), problem (9), agnon (9), spinoza (9), obama (9), infinite (9), terror (9), temporary (9), white (9), writers (9), comes (9), comment (9), makes (9), idea (9), made (9), truth (9), believe (9), thing (9), thinking (9), why (9), least (9), responsibility (9), often (9), both (8), non (8), looks (8), well (8), michaels (8), need (8), after (8), different (8), example (8), make (8), friday (8), while (8), read (8), point (8), human (8), any (8), did (8), nothing (8), woman (8), good (8), must (8), young (8), sivan (8), ethical (8), quite (8), last (8), myself (8), very (8), each (8), nation (8), posts (7), blog (7), language (7), memory (7), voice (7), films (7), voices (7), ucla (7), jew (7), feet (7), silence (7), judaism (7), books (7), called (7), look (7), texts (7), him (7), suggests (7), told (7), asked (7), discussion (7), others (7), case (7), speak (7), person (7), get (7), down (7), old (7), off (7), number (7), christian (7), hear (7), answer (7), absence (7), sunday (7), call (7), first (7), place (7), sacred (7), space (7), online (7), blanchot (7), sense (7), reality (7), wonder (7), forgive (7), midrashic (6), impulse (6), jesus (6), terrors (6), multiplicity (6), walk (6), zizek (6), holiness (6), violet (6), homeostasis (6), class (6), representation (6), ethics (6), going (6), heard (6), essay (6), whether (6), written (6), far (6), tonight (6), yes (6), during (6), thursday (6), fact (6), today (6), should (6), okay (6), saying (6), understand (6), saturday (6), year (6), too (6), reason (6), used (6), brief (6), asking (6), order (6), keep (6), could (6), took (6), kept (6), somehow (6), religion (6), rabbi (6), ever (6), years (6), talmudic (6), ago (6), bear (6), remember (6), agnostic (6), dress (6), atom (5), north (5), black (5), places (5), humor (5), generation (5), argue (5), france (5), borges (5), becomes (5), noise (5), disaster (5), stories (5), pieces (5), three (5), teaching (5), couple (5), plan (5), works (5), simply (5), give (5), come (5), especially (5), argument (5), exception (5), power (5), regarding (5), end (5), given (5), might (5), working (5), possible (5), means (5), big (5), looking (5), however (5), without (5), perpetrators (5), tradition (5), narrative (5), same (5), actually (5), important (5), exactly (5), boy (5), suppose (5), event (5), mean (5), wednesday (5), long (5), day (5), until (5), charoset (5), passover (5), true (5), faith (5), moment (5), learn (5), few (5), compelling (5), already (5), use (5), outside (5), word (5), help (5), bible (5), torah (5), light (5), between (5), dreaming (5), character (5), nature (5), saw (5), revelation (5), present (5), build (5), anything (5), spaces (5), children (5), sukkah (5), jack (5), side (4), guy (4), com (4), media (4), goldberg (4), perpetrator (4), match (4), diversity (4), secret (4), text (4), academia (4), scent (4), mediated (4), critical (4), create (4), literary (4), response (4), winter (4), fiction (4), anne (4), ask (4), typically (4), sure (4), around (4), essays (4), primary (4), group (4), impulses (4), kind (4), fugitive (4), emmanuel (4), historical (4), monday (4), great (4), doing (4), muselmann (4), apparently (4), camp (4), becoming (4), structures (4), became (4), based (4), era (4), forget (4), suicide (4), take (4), themselves (4), fighting (4), freedom (4), feel (4), modern (4), part (4), evil (4), awareness (4), missing (4), spoke (4), witness (4), feels (4), necessary (4), creating (4), situation (4), story (4), usually (4), write (4), main (4), friend (4), eyes (4), week (4), students (4), past (4), close (4), toward (4), kreutzer (4), return (4), talmud (4), personal (4), relationship (4), either (4), altogether (4), difficult (4), title (4), began (4), loved (4), realities (4), alive (4), sleep (4), creepy (4), wasn (4), heart (4), maurice (4), itself (4), crowded (4), else (4), darkness (4), measure (4), passage (4), your (4), jabes (4), though (4), leibovitz (4), magical (4), closet (4), sweetness (4), atrocities (4), future (4), subscribe (3), perverse (3), egalitarianism (3), philosophy (3), third (3), hebrew (3), jewcy (3), cfp (3), mla (3), redeeming (3), doubters (3), skeptics (3), wrestling (3), transfusion (3), dynamic (3), continues (3), judío (3), mirror (3), idiotic (3), pop (3), psychology (3), vanity (3), myth (3), 2010 (3), view (3), profile (3), christianity (3), school (3), wine (3), wrote (3), contemporary (3), published (3), education (3), forward (3), states (3), home (3), days (3), including (3), lanzmann (3), decide (3), include (3), using (3), best (3), men (3), concerned (3), seek (3), authentic (3), final (3), remnants (3), giorgio (3), wwii (3), defiance (3), lecture (3), guest (3), lecturer (3), ideas (3), bare (3), reduced (3), extreme (3), lives (3), state (3), making (3), muselmanner (3), degree (3), political (3), live (3), schiavo (3), unable (3), choices (3), gets (3), exceptional (3), circumstances (3), let (3), norm (3), hand (3), various (3), reasons (3), allowing (3), physical (3), bombers (3), silly (3), against (3), helped (3), committee (3), panel (3), papers (3), tuesday (3), listening (3), times (3), victim (3), witnesses (3), claim (3), nazis (3), nor (3), survivor (3), admit (3), certain (3), directly (3), every (3), set (3), opposed (3), moments (3), within (3), child (3), mention (3), explored (3), bit (3), certainly (3), understanding (3), whole (3), knew (3), pushing (3), large (3), taught (3), loves (3), alone (3), collection (3), issue (3), wonders (3), along (3), isn (3), seeing (3), matter (3), recently (3), bouskila (3), term (3), next (3), sirel (3), submission (3), paper (3), articles (3), beyond (3), etc (3), felt (3), sometimes (3), traumatic (3), living (3), newest (3), truly (3), mother (3), source (3), nights (3), deep (3), room (3), above (3), stared (3), probably (3), upon (3), image (3), seems (3), larouche (3), imagined (3), face (3), healthcare (3), forgotten (3), happens (3), reveals (3), invisible (3), periods (3), contains (3), brings (3), interested (3), convinced (3), jewishness (3), piece (3), art (3), perfect (3), meaning (3), original (3), novels (3), behind (3), interesting (3), says (3), longer (3), knowledge (3), ours (3), legs (3), existence (3), paradoxes (3), failure (3), cinema (3), morality (3), alternative (3), kieslowski (3), murder (3), scene (3), history (3), basterds (3), agnostics (3), care (3), labels (3), door (3), discovered (3), hanging (3), window (3), control (3), holiday (3), sweet (3), collective (3), delillo (3), search (2), chair (2), links (2), jeffrey (2), wearing (2), journal (2), fying (2), victimizing (2), fake (2), memoir (2), contest (2), adventures (2), thou (2), shalt (2), discovering (2), duo (2), affair (2), earth (2), flesh (2), questioning (2), atheism (2), lesson (2), writer (2), professor (2), lmu (2), purdue (2), representations (2), narratives (2), theory (2), criticism (2), los (2), angeles (2), review (2), city (2), older (2), organize (2), primo (2), levi (2), poetry (2), paul (2), claude (2), arrange (2), realized (2), try (2), didn (2), occur (2), considered (2), maybe (2), wrong (2), perspective (2), blindspot (2), shoah (2), solution (2), under (2), drowned (2), saved (2), auschwitz (2), instead (2), attempt (2), resistance (2), interview (2), reader (2), knows (2), teach (2), points (2), excited (2), testimony (2), introduced (2), paradigm (2), concentration (2), suggest (2), inmates (2), begins (2), real (2), suggested (2), beings (2), epitome (2), laws (2), guantanamo (2), bay (2), change (2), instance (2), fine (2), examine (2), comparison (2), bothers (2), figures (2), able (2), fully (2), getting (2), jassim (2), female (2), deaths (2), bad (2), involved (2), cause (2), shame (2), sarah (2), palin (2), rape (2), victims (2), suddenly (2), committed (2), persuade (2), association (2), lit (2), philadelphia (2), late (2), whose (2), deal (2), please (2), eichmann (2), trial (2), responsible (2), inspired (2), banality (2), provocative (2), together (2), footage (2), talked (2), calls (2), went (2), tendency (2), redeem (2), sides (2), nazi (2), conspicuously (2), somewhat (2), aware (2), considerations (2), testimonies (2), neither (2), challenge (2), address (2), specialist (2), jerusalem (2), project (2), audience (2), field (2), watched (2), son (2), age (2), german (2), tragedy (2), gave (2), learned (2), single (2), talking (2), legacy (2), seder (2), mine (2), wait (2), collect (2), food (2), cook (2), nobody (2), finally (2), santa (2), lots (2), left (2), shelves (2), traditions (2), satisfied (2), study (2), debate (2), unresolved (2), intellect (2), patronizing (2), smile (2), resonates (2), hate (2), dialogue (2), doctorow (2), younger (2), attended (2), kadish (2), named (2), sent (2), synagogue (2), notes (2), finds (2), recall (2), lost (2), ourselves (2), spiritual (2), teachings (2), religious (2), cares (2), holy (2), daughters (2), doesn (2), list (2), emotional (2), emotion (2), characterizes (2), theme (2), quandries (2), grappling (2), shows (2), suspicious (2), subject (2), scrutiny (2), fall (2), once (2), respect (2), below (2), due (2), short (2), author (2), talks (2), minutes (2), french (2), international (2), société (2), internationale (2), recherches (2), usa (2), researchers (2), article (2), prayer (2), evolving (2), situate (2), heidegger (2), rozensweig (2), philosophers (2), readings (2), writings (2), attempts (2), sages (2), eaten (2), innovative (2), sharp (2), difficile (2), liberté (2), variety (2), information (2), culture (2), events (2), issues (2), ostriker (2), dealing (2), wants (2), wrestled (2), open (2), wife (2), whom (2), marks (2), fights (2), held (2), stay (2), diverse (2), awake (2), corner (2), intellectual (2), awoke (2), opposite (2), magic (2), sat (2), bed (2), started (2), screaming (2), screamed (2), twice (2), frightened (2), killing (2), daily (2), mad (2), walked (2), street (2), promenade (2), following (2), college (2), spectacle (2), continue (2), whatever (2), genocide (2), tell (2), tomorrow (2), couldn (2), explicitly (2), photos (2), run (2), oblivion (2), rest (2), disappearance (2), revealed (2), cease (2), incessant (2), consistently (2), hallucination (2), images (2), illuminated (2), textures (2), put (2), ear (2), feeling (2), stavans (2), phenomenon (2), emerge (2), middle (2), opened (2), presentation (2), shadows (2), offer (2), finished (2), silent (2), precisely (2), ways (2), according (2), avery (2), period (2), remarks (2), simulation (2), vault (2), pages (2), shouldn (2), answers (2), sentence (2), forever (2), century (2), split (2), tread (2), hope (2), yearning (2), anyway (2), haven (2), movie (2), maker (2), metaphor (2), literal (2), imagination (2), melville (2), endless (2), worry (2), complexities (2), approaches (2), top (2), moral (2), inglourious (2), ozeri (2), dating (2), knowing (2), agnosticism (2), unknown (2), ultimate (2), met (2), coming (2), plenty (2), hiding (2), oneself (2), easy (2), translated (2), label (2), hated (2), known (2), package (2), overly (2), dark (2), blessed (2), screams (2), looked (2), morning (2), watching (2), happened (2), sort (2), stop (2), classroom (2), seemed (2), special (2), bedrooms (2), meals (2), square (2), senior (2), crushed (2), throughout (2), betrayal (2), consider (2), heel (2), crushes (2), scissors (2), doll (2), cut (2), sister (2), artistic (2), blindspots (2), gladney (2), studies (2), moves (2), product (2), process (2), constant (2), dream (2), strangled (2), skip (2), followers, effects, wishydig, ducks, celestial, soma, apples, rhetoricat, impermissible, mxrk, luke, ford, jewschool, atlantic, fractal, ontology, fido, yak, comics, postcards, bedlam, detective, masks, strangledsleep, twitter, osborne, visit, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, archive, complete, storyteller, former, pepperdine, expertise, multi, ethnic, literatures, immigrant, graduate, cornell, adore, traveling, shoes, newsweek, republic, chronicle, higher, studio, california, united, newer, limits, useless, suffering, david, grossman, aryeh, lev, stollman, michael, chabon, celan, discussing, listing, planned, dominick, lacapra, backgrounds, ethnicities, approaching, topic, bunch, obligation, targeted, genocidal, monopoly, theoretization, imply, euphrates, planning, director, interestingly, scott, affirms, stereotypes, sees, insufficiently, zwick, stumbling, material, disagreed, minor, particularly, central, uses, reached, reducing, potential, outcome, current, arena, dictate, bases, rules, regulations, terri, provides, biopoliticization, vegetative, breathing, object, heated, debates, necessarily, politicization, created, connect, uncomfortable, suggestion, treatment, treated, prisoners, access, legal, rhetoric, administration, regard, war, 911, allow, placed, ultimately, guess, function, manifestation, comfortable, implicit, fear, mental, breaking, intentional, homo, sacer, contention, pretty, highly, analysis, samira, ahmed, iraqi, confessed, recruiting, sending, pointless, causes, agree, bombing, needless, takes, level, recruiters, blow, violates, dehumanizes, sends, guise, obliterating, herself, witch, northern, hemisphere, insistence, pay, kits, criticizing, worse, indecencies, parts, prison, associated, press, interrogators, nearby, organise, rapes, stepped, escape, arrested, iraq, executive, circulated, wry, tribute, blacher, cohen, dealt, aspect, send, abstracts, ann, shapiro, shapirar, aol, yesterday, eyal, leo, hurwitz, filming, filmmaker, hannah, arendt, fair, controversy, phrases, editing, putting, clips, actual, silencing, reduce, scholars, continuation, relying, ill, atrocity, reference, albeit, dismissive, manner, importance, tried, nuremberg, trials, goering, demonstrated, remorse, offered, apology, namely, survive, dead, mutilated, bodies, dominant, monsters, heinous, crimes, showing, seem, average, surely, goal, underscore, complexity, buy, nuances, demand, blogging, summary, educated, hard, explain, soldier, charge, befriends, fence, near, dons, prisoner, attire, sneaks, dire, consequences, puts, spin, artists, represent, respecting, unknowability, liked, depicted, gates, minimal, entire, primarily, remains, untainted, senseless, illogical, barbaric, listened, public, basically, denounced, numerous, expectations, representing, mentioned, negatively, leads, quarter, usurp, authority, ongoing, authorities, striped, pajamas, kidding, speechless, sick, weeks, invited, pesach, orthodox, bring, entree, minute, goods, everywhere, normally, jump, chance, possibly, drive, wilshire, foods, sold, potato, latkes, pointing, matzo, bottle, glatt, market, boulevard, madness, mayhem, shoving, prepared, entrees, traveled, pico, robertson, area, restaurants, markets, 4pm, closed, sweaty, iranian, yarmulke, decided, pleased, wanting, happiness, satisfaction, paired, partner, counsel, court, judge, instructed, skills, rabbis, arguments, surround, realization, argued, heavens, laughed, surrounds, reminded, recalls, cheder, nursing, dementia, stricken, reveal, whereabouts, deed, previously, weekly, ritual, compose, expressing, dissatisfaction, sermons, encounters, awkward, prayers, recent, authors, aimee, bender, ellen, umansky, rachel, likely, stuff, tribe, edge, jay, michaelson, community, heal, oppression, differentiating, path, amazed, buddhism, hinduism, paganism, sufism, jittery, appreciation, master, thesis, christ, christians, enrich, humanized, embodied, saves, enlightened, everyone, impure, leprous, marginalized, follow, fellow, sons, paragraph, reconcile, background, believes, value, loving, neighbor, onto, hooked, levels, utilizes, explores, radically, ambivalence, anchored, dutifully, fable, goat, play, flipping, upside, intricately, telling, postmodern, respond, inventions, prior, tale, interrogation, trap, evolve, reminds, afar, eretz, yisrael, daniel, illness, smoker, lovers, haters, evident, session, realize, scholar, rabbinic, admire, abandon, accept, aree, teaming, organization, concerning, submissions, preferably, microsoft, files, electronically, dl2010, gmail, http, www, org, newsletter, dates, bio, bibliography, 500, abstract, presenting, english, notification, decision, scientific, publication, program, organized, conjunction, foundation, york, centre, raissa, partners, announced, host, participants, hundred, presentations, priority, proceedings, selected, editorial, funding, permits, financial, aid, available, particular, obligatory, step, analyzing, taken, aims, importantly, afresh, wonderment, probing, elicit, diachronic, synchronic, analyses, themes, phenomenology, purely, circumstantial, define, charts, conditions, distanced, interspersed, references, thinkers, influenced, claudel, hegel, weil, gordin, frequently, modernity, appeal, worm, tractates, precedence, psalms, concise, overarching, style, lyrical, rarely, strident, argumentative, blending, conviction, stupefaction, 1963, edition, 1976, mostaccessible, constitutes, xcellent, introduction, appeared, journals, arche, juive, esprit, evidences, reflects, 1950s, 1970s, closely, bound, strengths, tackles, sets, forth, reconditions, reconstruction, governed, aspirations, justice, renewal, signified, symbol, essais, sur, judaïsme, paris, nals, toulouse, alicia, suskin, apart, lifelong, fascination, magnificent, blindly, uncritically, obeyed, disclosure, lefty, feminist, poet, western, divine, converge, wrestle, grow, stronger, strongly, values, deplore, struggle, interpretation, shofar, reviewed, ethnically, nighttime, standing, kill, hallucinates, hang, unless, quaaludes, breakthrough, hours, fallen, asleep, tall, skinned, crouching, hovering, cross, dwight, howard, orlando, head, edging, calling, boyfriend, moved, couch, earlier, usual, grown, accustomed, killer, hallucinations, growing, learning, fluent, begin, foreign, hallucinating, races, tolerant, finish, dara, horn, develops, obsession, larger, commandment, rebecca, goldstein, harold, bloom, epicurus, lucretius, scarcely, distinguishable, indifferent, urged, americans, persuaded, personally, individually, blessing, george, bush, malaise, partly, productive, slaughters, streets, baghdad, betraying, sign, creepier, holding, weekend, 3rd, record, stirring, crazy, conspiracies, extremest, crackpot, cult, rate, kids, spouting, countless, philosophies, induced, stupor, advance, worthy, nowhere, stare, regurgitate, propaganda, fed, laugh, spit, reform, clear, lord, meantime, pics, dressed, suit, name, tag, prez, sporting, sharpy, drawn, mustache, lip, restrain, table, handing, guys, absolutely, stuffing, millions, innocent, gas, chambers, crematoria, stated, intends, signs, snapped, depicting, stating, continuing, health, indulge, crazies, arguing, gathered, universal, government, lyndon, lunch, performers, soap, box, preachers, craziest, neve, die, reach, death, dies, forgetfulness, forms, wound, wake, peacefully, content, accessible, unbearable, sadness, notion, nothingness, somethingness, represents, rumbling, seashell, defer, none, chaos, blame, ghosts, crowd, occupy, distract, immobilizing, stopping, oscillation, eternal, starting, ego, ight, disappears, appearance, months, connection, brave, unapologetic, pointed, measured, prose, trademark, desire, link, ancestry, lately, exploring, bernard, malamud, statement, mode, implied, conflation, connections, tapping, philosophical, cultural, articulation, giving, sinai, effrey, add, philo, semite, crisol, jorge, luis, ilan, treasures, golden, razor, toronto, hurts, 2am, accidentally, totality, contributions, uniquness, act, carries, inflection, lent, adopts, indispensable, produce, dimensions, meanings, unabashedly, appalled, viewpoint, listen, contribution, discover, engaging, disagreement, disguise, replica, meant, commemorate, achieves, effect, allows, insightful, considering, houseboat, nile, river, moored, towering, engineers

Text of the page (random words):
t in the measured prose that was to become his trademark a deep desire to find the missing link in his ancestry the jew in the mirror lately i ve been really interested in this phenomenon okay so it s not really a phenomenon of non jewish philosophers and writers exploring their invisible imagined jewish side there s maurice blanchot of course whom i convinced j effrey goldberg to add to his philo semite 50 list and of course there s bernard malamud s all men are jews statement and now borges i always say that judaism is a mode of being please bear with my implied conflation of judaism and jewishness here but i wonder if these writers are getting at something else when they seek out their own personal connections to judaism and or jewishness i wonder if they are tapping into something that is beyond any philosophical literary or cultural articulation of jewishness then again i suppose they say that there was a certain number of non jewish people present at the giving of torah at sinai i love seeing these people emerge in contemporary society posted by monica at 3 30 am 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday june 15 2009 the love affair continues in the night one can die we reach oblivion but this other night is the death no one dies the forgetfulness which gets forgotten in the heart of oblivion it is memory without rest writes maurice blanchot in the context of his discussion on the various forms of night n ight the first night and the other night for blanchot when everything disappears in the night it is in reality the appearance of the disappearance at least this is what happens in the other night it s when absence shows up when the wound is revealed you can see where i m going with this back to trauma the absence and midrash the night that reveals the disappearance here the invisible is what one cannot cease to see it is the incessant making itself seen and now my own ego brings it back to me blanchot writes those who think they see ghosts are those who do not want to see the night they crowd it with the terror of little images they occupy and distract it by immobilizing it stopping the oscillation of eternal starting over i go through periods of time where i experience night terrors consistently where i wake up and experience a hallucination these nights are crowded with the terror of little images and then there are periods of time where i experience only the memory of the terror on these nights i fall peacefully into the revelation of absence quite content to see the incessant perhaps i have only myself to blame for the terrors with which i have crowded my night i want the invisible made accessible the absence illuminated but sometimes the night contains the unbearable textures of sadness i ve written about this before in some way about levinas s notion of the il y a the nothingness somethingness that represents the rumbling i hear when i put the old seashell up next to my ear i ll defer to someone else here i have a feeling none of this really makes sense but blanchot just does this to me the chaos that brings everything into order posted by monica at 12 31 am 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest friday june 12 2009 the dynamic duo hitler and obama i can t sleep and it s probably because i keep thinking of the creepy sign that these even creepier young people are holding last weekend we walked down to the 3rd street promenade in santa monica to have lunch there are always any number of street performers and soap box preachers to be found at the promenade but this was the craziest experience i ve ever had there i had neve r heard of lyndon larouche but apparently this guy has quite a record for stirring up crazy conspiracies he s an extremest crackpot with a political cult following it seems at any rate a large group of college age kids spouting off countless larouche inspired philosophies had gathered to speak out against obama s healthcare plan okay that s fine i have my issues with universal or government run healthcare too but that wasn t the problem the problem was that they were using the holocaust to create a spectacle that they imagined in their larouche induced stupor would somehow advance their worthy cause there were 8 different signs most of which i snapped photos of depicting obama as hitler and explicitly stating that obama is continuing the work that hitler began with his new health plan i usually don t indulge crazies arguing with them gets you nowhere they simply stare right through you and continue to regurgitate whatever propaganda they ve been fed no matter what you say but when i saw a young black man part of the group dressed in a suit wearing a name tag that said prez and sporting a sharpy drawn hitler mustache on his lip i couldn t restrain myself i walked up to the table to collect some of the literature and said to the young man handing it out yes you guys are absolutely right what obama is doing is exactly the same thing as stuffing millions of innocent people into gas chambers and crematoria and he told me that it is the same thing that obama has explicitly stated that he intends genocide do you laugh or do you spit in his face i mean really the issue is not whether or not i like obama or his ideas regarding healthcare reform i think it s clear what the issue is here he then went on to tell me that i knew nothing about the holocaust good lord now those are fighting words i have so much more to say about this but it will have to wait until tomorrow s post in the meantime here are a couple more pics from the spectacle posted by monica at 1 41 am 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest thursday june 11 2009 spinoza transfusion i ve been reading a bit of spinoza as i finish an article on levinas and dara horn s novel in the image in the novel there is a character who develops an obsession with spinoza in the context of some much larger questions about the nature of god and commandment in a post holocaust world in a review of rebecca goldstein s betraying spinoza harold bloom writes as in epicurus and lucretius spinoza s god is scarcely distinguishable from nature and is altogether indifferent to us even to our intellectual love for him as urged upon us by spinoza many americans are persuaded that god loves each of them personally and individually is that our blessing in this era of george w bush or is it not the american malaise partly productive of the daily slaughters on the streets of baghdad a transfusion of spinoza into our religion mad nation could only be a good thing our nation religion mad no posted by monica at 6 44 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday june 10 2009 the diversity of night terrors my night terrors are becoming so much more ethnically diverse usually at least two nights each week i awake from a deep nighttime sleep to see a creepy white man standing either in the corner of my room or directly above me he s always about to kill me of course because nobody hallucinates about people who are there to hang out and have an intellectual discussion unless there are quaaludes involved but last night there was a diversity breakthrough i awoke about three hours after i had fallen asleep to see a very tall light skinned black man crouching down in the corner of my room opposite to the one where the creepy white guy is always hovering i think he was a cross between obama and dwight howard from the orlando magic i sat up on my bed stared at him and started screaming my head off while edging myself off of the bed and calling for my boyfriend who had moved to the couch because apparently i had already screamed twice earlier in the night no i wasn t more frightened because he was black i was more frightened than usual because i ve grown accustomed to the creepy white guy i just wasn t used to this new would be killer but i suppose it s a good thing that my hallucinations are growing more diverse i think it s probably something like what they say about learning a new language you know you are fluent when you begin dreaming in the foreign language i m hallucinating about people of all races killing me now i am truly tolerant posted by monica at 3 33 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest thursday june 04 2009 god looks for a wrestling match in an essay from her newest book for the love of god which i reviewed for shofar a while back alicia suskin ostriker writes open disclosure i write as a jew a woman a wife and mother a third generation lefty a feminist a poet and i write as a reader for whom words are primary even sacred realities the hebrew bible marks for me the point in western culture where human life human language and the human experience of the divine most fully converge i can learn from it i can wrestle with it it fights back and we both grow stronger it is both a primary source of my most strongly held values and a source of much that i deplore and struggle against i believe that the bible and god in the bible want to be wrestled with this is how they stay alive this is why the sages say there is always another interpretation for me apart from my lifelong fascination with torah ostriker s work is where it all began she is one of the most magnificent and compelling writers out there when it comes to dealing with the hebrew bible in the context of poetry story and philosophy i think i have always loved most the idea of wrestling with god of a god who truly wants to be wrestled with rather than blindly and uncritically obeyed posted by monica at 3 12 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday june 02 2009 levinas in france i m excited about this one our next north american levinas society conference will be in france and we ll be teaming up with another organization sirel below is the call for papers société internationale de recherches emmanuel levinas sirel paris north american levinas society nals usa international conference readings of difficult freedom july 5 9 2010 toulouse france call for papers first published in 1963 with a second edition in 1976 difficile liberté essais sur le judaïsme is considered levinas mostaccessible book and constitutes an e xcellent introduction to his work this collection of essays which appeared in a variety of journals l arche information juive l esprit evidences etc reflects the society culture and philosophy of france from the 1950s to the 1970s these essays are closely bound to traumatic events of the time but levinas and this is one of the strengths of the book tackles these issues directly he sets forth the reconditions for the reconstruction of a world governed by aspirations for justice and a renewal of judaism as signified by the living symbol of israel difficile liberté should not be seen purely as a collection of circumstantial writings levinas attempts to define post holocaust judaism and charts the conditions and the need for jewish thought and education in an authentic but distanced dialogue with modern i e christian society these considerations are often interspersed with references to writers and thinkers who influenced levinas such as claudel heidegger hegel spinoza s weil gordin and rozensweig but more frequently to sacred texts the bible and the writings of the sages of israel which levinas felt were so critical to study can it be said that levinas modernity may be found in his appeal to jews to return to those old worm eaten tractates the jew of the talmud should take precedence over the jew of the psalms these articles are still innovative sharp concise and overarching the style is sometimes lyrical levinas rarely wrote in such a strident argumentative way blending conviction and stupefaction beyond the obligatory step of analyzing the title taken from the last few words of the article education and prayer this conference aims not only to place the essays in difficult freedom in their historical context and within levinas evolving thought but more importantly to examine them afresh with the wonderment and probing they still elicit today diachronic and synchronic analyses of the articles in difficult freedom will help situate them with respect to levinas other works themes could be explored such as the holocaust israel phenomenology ethics links to heidegger rozensweig french philosophers and writers talmudic readings levinas relationship to christianity etc this international conference is organized by the société internationale de recherches emmanuel levinas sirel and by the north american levinas society purdue usa in conjunction with the levinas ethical legacy foundation new york the centre raissa et emmanuel levinas jerusalem and other partners to be announced the conference will host participants from all over the world with more than a hundred presentations priority will be given to students and young researchers the proceedings will be published articles selected by the editorial committee if funding permits some financial aid may be made available in particular to young researchers submission due dates 1 on or before july 14 2009 submission of title and a short author bio bibliography 2 on or before september 30 2009 submission of a 500 word abstract presenting the paper talks will be 20 minutes in french or in english 3 on or before november 15 2009 author notification based on the decision of the scientific committee 4 february 2010 publication of conference program questions concerning this conference and all submissions should be sent preferably as microsoft word files electronically to dl2010 gmail com http www levinas society org society newsletter 4 1 may posted by monica at 1 54 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest friday may 29 2009 levinas and midrash and the discussion continues over at perverse egalitarianism posted by monica at 12 52 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday may 17 2009 my ucla talk my ucla talk literature the holocaust and the midrashic impulse can now be heard online you can even hear my post illness smoker s voice there were lots of lovers and haters in the audience which is evident in the question answer session i never really thought of my work as being so provocative until this talk but i realize now that typically people either love or hate what i m doing one female scholar of rabbinic midrash who i actually respect and admire quite a bit told me i should abandon the idea of midrash altogether if there s one thing i ve learned it s that it will be very difficult to persuade some people to accept the use of a sacred term midrash outside of its sacred context i don t aree with this woman but it s certainly something to think about posted by monica at 7 10 pm 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to fa...