For the benefit of the neurotypicals in our lives Miriam and I made videos of our typical body language in which the other narrated. Miriam is full of love for everyone and will put a knife through me if I do not eat my vegetables. Read More »

Haaretz has an article on Dror Bondi, who is writing his doctoral dissertation on Rabbi Abraham Heschel, on the challenges of applying Heschel’s philosophy to the Israeli scene with its rigid lines of Haredi vs. Read More »

Aspergers are often accused of suffering from “mind blindness” and lacking a “theory of mind,” a notion that other people think differently. I see this as a more general problem with the human mind. Read More »

(Part I, II, III) To turn to Rabbi Boteach’s treatment of Christianity. Considering that this is a book that is about reconciling Jews and Christians, one would expect Rabbi Boteach to take a positive view of Jewish-Christian relations. Read More »

(Part I, II) To get back to Rabbi Boteach’s view of the Romans, for an author asking readers to show some charity to Jews, Rabbi Boteach’s attacks on the Romans are particularly shrill. In fact I would go so far as to say that Rabbi Boteach’s statements against Rome compare to that of the most vitriolic Christian denunciations of Jews as deicides. Read More »

(Part I) First, it is important to emphasize that there really is nothing original in Rabbi Boteach’s book. There is a curious phenomenon when it comes to Jesus of a collective amnesia on the part of those selling material on Jesus to the general public as to what has been written before. Read More »

This past Thursday night, Miriam and I went to a book launching event for Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s Kosher Jesus. For those of you not following the issue, the often controversial Rabbi Boteach has managed to generate a firestorm of criticism for writing a positive book about Jesus. Read More »

Sabbatai Sevi has a nice Jewish beard, a massive biography by Gershom Scholem to smite unbelievers and a hip kabbalist prophet for a sidekick. Antichrist has a nice pair of Jewish horns and controls the White House. Sabbatai is really sneaky in how he converts to Islam to spiritually undermine it. Read More »

So for the year 2011, between kindle, ipod and traditional print, I read or listened to about 100 books. Here are my nominations for the best books. Some of these books are recent, others are not. I would be curious to hear from readers any thoughts on these particular books or favorite books from their past year of reading. Read More »

Sorry for not having posted anything these past few months. I have been really busy getting married and all. There has also been my dissertation. Over the past six months I have written over one hundred pages. Read More »

In this month’s edition of Ami magazine, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein has an article, “Modern Orthodoxy at a Crossroads,” on the challenge posed to Orthodoxy by Rabbi Avi Weiss and his attempt to ordain women. Read More »

Clarissa recently put up some pointers for the study of history, things to remember and questions to ask: Things to remember when reading, watching or researching history: a. There can never be a fully objective account of history b. Don’t read accounts of history to find out what happened. Read them to discover what their author says happened c. Read More »

While I continue to work for Kline Books as their Judaica Cataloger and the writer for Tipsy, I am starting a second enterprise as a tutor for grade school and high school students with Asperger syndrome/autism. Read More »

I mentioned previously that I have been blogging less because of my new-found social life. There was another reason for this. In July I started working as the Judaica book-cataloger for Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller in Panorama City north of Los Angeles. Read More »

In South Pasadena, where Miriam and I are living, there is not much in the way of Orthodox life. We have a Chabad house 3.5 miles away where we pray. It is a small, but very diverse group of people. They have been very good to Miriam in the past and are now very accepting of me. I am happy to be part of this family. Read More »

Miriam and I are having an engagement party on August 14th. If any of my readers from the Los Angeles area wish to come feel free to contact me and ask. Read More »

(Part I) So how did I propose to my one and only dream Jewish Asperger girl? Well, like in most relationships I suspect, she really proposed to me while allowing me the pretense of going through the motions of asking her to maintain the facade of my manly control in this relationship. Read More »

For starters I would like to apologize for the lack of posts this past month. Things have been happening in my life that I could not talk about with my readers. Now that things are official I am very pleased to share everything you. This past February I received a call from my aunt. Read More »

I was just shown a pamphlet for a women’s baalat tshuvah (newly religious) yeshiva called Shirat Devorah. I have never been to the place, I am not affiliated with it nor do I even know anyone who is. Perhaps it is a wonderful program, but some things in the pamphlet struck me as troubling. Read More »

A decade ago, when I spent my post high school year in Israel, I attended Yeshiva Ohr Hadarom, headed by Rabbi Shalom Hammer. He is a good speaker and a decent person, though we failed to get along due to a personality clash and intellectual differences. Read More »