Badass Bible Verses

Been trying to get myself back into the blogging habit. The upcoming Holy Days were providing much inspiration, but clearly no where near as much as this:

The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses

I particularly love their commentary on Deuteronomy 25:11-12.

I'm inspired to respond comment on each of these verses individually; we'll see if I can fit it in around Rosh Hashana choir practice and being a newlywed.

Hanukkah Stubs

Cleaning out my notebook.  Ideas to develop more fully later:

1. What do people really mean by "Freedom of Religion"? Religious freedom vs. Freedom of MY religion.
2. Israel (Macabbees): Palestein = Assyrian Greeks: Israel (Modern)
3. Was the Macabbee war really the first war for religious freedom?
4. How much are the origins of our holy days romanticized, ala the US Founding Fathers?
5. We as modern, secular, integrated Jews are the ones "Seduced by the alien culture" that Macabbees opposed.

Religious Evolution

“Religions are natural phenomena; they’re just as natural as cows. They’ve evolved over millennia, they have a biological base – just like the aurochs – they have become domesticated, and human beings have been redesigning their religions for thousands of years.”

Dan Dennett
TED 2006

Not a lot to say about this quotation; it's pretty self-explanatory. He didn't develop this theme as much as I was hoping he would in his presentation, but it caught my imagination.

Praising God and Breaking Stuff

Just a stub for now:

What is it about destruction in Jewish ritual?

-Breaking the glass at a wedding
-Breaking the middle matzah
-Breaking fasts at many points during the year
-Bris

Dig farther back and there's animal sacrifice; a burnt sacrifice not only takes the life but also destroys the flesh.