Comments on: Yehuda Kurtzer Wins Bronfman Brandeis Competition

By: aaron

aaron — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:04:57 +0000

Safran Foer is God. If anybody can hook me up and get me a sit down with the author I’ll marry your children. (So long as we’re not related. Because that would be gross. Kinda hot, but gross.)

i love writing for this blog.

By: Friar Yid

Friar Yid — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:07:30 +0000

I was also bummed out at this news. The only ideas with any real substance to them seemed to be from Beery and Singer. Kurtzer’s proposal was poorly written (the intense amount of grad school speak was painful to read) and seems to contain little more than observations- and a willingness to make further observations- about the fact that “New Jewish Culture” isn’t that new, and that memory and authenticity can exist absent historical truth- which I’m not that convinced of, BTW. Wrapping it all up is the ever-popular “TEXT STUDY omg!” banner, which, while it may work for some, is also one of the most trite and repeated mantras in the community for the past several decades. I’m very happy that liberal Jews are getting something out of Talmud. But “text study” is not the “next big thing” in Judaism. Looking out your window and describing what you see (if not some things that have actually passed their zenith point) is not the same thing as coming up with a NEW way for Jews to think about themselves.

And I think it’s a bit absurd that out of the five finalists, Brandeis decides to give the 2-year professorship/book deal to the Harvard Grad Student. Because clearly academia and book writing wasn’t in his future, right?

And I for one found the Safran Foer quote excessively wanky. Not unlike the rest of his proposal.

By: aaron

aaron — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:40:57 +0000

thank you! I don’t know why these comments are so serious.

How are we going to get Ariel Beery elected to office? By commenting. We need action. I’m calling the shaman. I know he can help.

By: gweitz.ar

gweitz.ar — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:40:41 +0000

Thank you Aaron… funniest comment I’ve read this month…

By: WithLove

WithLove — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:50:00 +0000

I was extremely disappointed with the Brandeis/Bronfman choice. Does Kurtzer need this prize to write his book? He was going to write the book anyway. Did Diamant or Boteach need the prize either? Does anyone wonder what their ideas could be? Why not take someone with a revolutionary idea, something that would transform Judaism. A “Great Awakening” perhaps or a Baal Shem Tov for the next millenium.
Instead we get some intellectual prattle. Ideas that seem tired, accepted and worn out. This whole project lacks vision and risk.

Why not give steroids to Ball players or money to investment bankers?

Wow, this will really change and transform the Jewish world.

By: froylein

froylein — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:33:14 +0000

ck, Heinrich Graetz is one of the most important Jewish historians of all times, maybe even the most important Jewish historian. Among other works, he wrote a 13-volume history of the Jewish people as well as anthologies of Jewish folklore (= popular history). Save the Jews? Not sure about that, but proper histography is well-needed in order to “preserve” credibility, particularly as many lesser observant Jews conclude from the clashes between folklore and history that there might be something wrong with their religion while many more observant ones are inclined to forgo historical studies altogether for them not to interfere with folklore – a way of proceeding Islam, for instance, often harshly gets accused of. Kurtzer’s idea isn’t innovative in European terms as we’ve had a few outstanding religious Jewish historians and histographers such as Graetz or Julius H. Schoeps (likely the most important current Jewish historian), but that approach isn’t quite as widely spread across the Big Pond.
I’m sorry for Beery though, but at least he was one of the finalists, which per se has earned him credentials others may only dream of. When there’s only one winner to be declared, coming in second is unfortunate. I’m confident though that he’ll make his way one way or another.

By: Tzemach

Tzemach — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:28:33 +0000

one can read the proposal and think that Boston is different. Are you kidding me??? Its worse than in any other jewish town. This is an academic lingo that tries to hide the lack of ideas.

By: Tzemach

Tzemach — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:26:09 +0000

ck, who are you? drop me an email.

By: Maya Norton

Maya Norton — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:41:56 +0000

Thanks for the link, CK.

Shabbat Shalom,

Maya

The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy

By: avi p

avi p — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:00:10 +0000

His proposal seems to be mostly an observation, shared by almost anyone who has been alive the past decade, of a cross-denominational acknowledgment that there is profound and relevant wisdom in our tradition. Lacking in his proposal is any discussion of how the Jewish people should take “advantage” of this current “return” to our classic sources. Seems like all he did was to feame phenomenon like Limmud in the context of that word that federation people have wet-dreams over-memory. Somehow, even learning a page of Talmud can be somehow construed into Holocaust education. Good shabbos