It's' Everywhere

[debka_notion]

From my pleasure reading (THe Jew in the Lotus, Rodger Kamenetz, p.140)

"For example, the philosophy of Maimonides is extremely similar to Buddhist philosophy."

It really is everywhere. Maybe I was right, back in high school, that I really needed to play with Medieval Jewish texts, etc.

Comments

[doodah.livejournal.com]

Did you see the movie? It played here last year-ish...

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I did indeed. And I read the book a number of years earlier- but I hadn't noticed this particular sentence before, since it wasn't concurrent with my intro Hebrew High school class on Medieval Jewish Philosophy. But now- Maimonides is jumping out at me from everything, it seems- Liturgy readings, this book, Studying Sacred Texts class and reading...

What did you think of the movie?

[doodah.livejournal.com]

I don't really remember, honestly. I do remember being quite miffed at the rabbi who made jokes about KY Jelly in his lecture afterwards.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

He did? I didn't even notice such jokes. Or if I did, they must have sort of bounced off without much attention. What sort of jokes could he possibly have made?

[lordameth.livejournal.com]

I meant to see the movie... it sounds interesting.

As for the philosophy thing, that's one of the things I love about Judaism - it allows for such a beautiful range of philosophies and views to be incorporated within it; it's not just like one set strict dogma.

In the Fugu Plan, which I'm almost done reading, there was one part where they talk about suicide. I didn't know what the laws/traditions are regarding someone who's committed suicide, but apparently if one commits such an act, they can't be buried in a Jewish cemetary. I was just really interested in the way they explained it - something along the lines of that by committing suicide you're taking your fate out of God's hands; you're going against what He had planned for you, and therefore in essence saying that you don't believe in Him. I don't know if that's the widespread belief, or just the idea of this one particular rebbe, but interesting, no?

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Yeah- Judaism is wonderful because it persistently contradicts itself- and it's all ok. It really is one of the things that I love about this religion, although it seems to baffle everyone else.

Traditionally someone who commits suicide consciously cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetary- but rabbis have a custom of trying their best to rule that the person who committed suicide wasn't in zir right mind at the time, and therefore can't be blamed for it- and therefore can be buried with other Jews. Severe pain, depression, etc all are reasons to say someone wasn't sane at the time of suicide, generally. I'm not sure the reasoning exactly, but well- that's what I know.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Maybe you really do need to play with medieval Jewish texts!

(Then again, I am severely biased.)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Possibly so. Basically, I'm particularly interested in the evolution of Jewish ritual, especially Jewish women's ritual (right now, at least)- so I think I could work with a fairly large historical background... So really, I do have an excuse to play with medieval Jewish texts if they address women and/or ritual life... Shouldn't be too hard, no?