Rabbi Daniel Brenner

Double Word Score Intermediary objects –tablets, scrolls, books,It’s all code,chicken scratches, really,God as text, as word, as story, as law,language is a cousin once-removed, Meditate on these words,Really meaning go beyond the words,Place them upon your heart,Meaning tuck them somewhere inaccessible,Write them on your doorposts and gates,Then paint over them with smooth strokes in a latex semi-gloss,Teach them on the way,Open up the sunroof and throw them out the window. It is not the words,That is what the masters always…

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So last night I was with a crowd of other Jewish professionals at the Jewish Center, the Orthodox shul that once was led by Mordecai Kaplan. That, I admit, is not blog-worthy. What is worth noting, though, is that the event was a lecture by Cardinal Egan. A bishop preaching from the pulpit in an Orthodox shul – I can hear Mel Brooks in my head “What is this? the inquistion?” I hate to to say it, but the forced…

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I once saw Weird Al Yankovich, the Polish American king of pop satire, in an elevator in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Many years back, he spoofed the song “pretty fly for a White guy” with his “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi” replete with fake Yiddishisms. Now some genius has married Japanese anime and Weird Al and alas, another chapter of the Jewish people unfolds…. watch it at all unravel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=457OT3R_AaI

Swimming in the Arabian Gulf By Rabbi Daniel S. Brenner A week after Qatar and Iran pledged $100 million dollars to the Arab League to aid the struggling Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, I was on a Qatar Airways flight, watching Rabbi Rolando Matalon stare out into the Saudi Arabian sky. The Qataris’ indirect gift to Hamas wasn’t going to stop him from going to Doha, nor was it going to deter the former Chief Rabbi of France and the other four…

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Today I became a member of an ‘outreach advisory board’ for the new doc called The Calling by Daniel Alpert. Alpert’s brilliant idea is to track a few students over three years or so as they become religious leaders. So far, he’s followed a young Pakistani Imam-to-be at Hartford Seminary, a Latino Theologian (I wrote Novice earlier – out of ignorance – my apologies Steven) at a Catholic seminary in San Antonio and a guitar playing rabbinical student at JTS….

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I’m still waiting to hear if the Jewish Week is running my essay on Qatar – so please stay tuned! So in other news….I sat in on a brilliant talk by my former teacher Rabbi Dr. Art Green whis weekend at Montclair’s Shomrei Emunah. Green spoke about the Zohar, and the idea that the sexualized feminine imagery of the mystics is a counter-narrative to the cult of Mary in Spanish Catholicism. Then Kabbalists in Turkey form a counter-narrative to the…

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I write from the exquisite conference center of the Four Seasons hotel in Doha. In the hours before the conference began, I swam in the Arabian Gulf, played squash with Saeed Khan (a Pakistani Muslim who now lives in Detroit) went Oud shopping in the shuq with Rabbi Roly Matalon, and watched a few Arabic music videos on one of the two 54 inch plasma screens that adorn the massive room that the Emir has graciously set aside for me…

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Dear readers, I’m leaving for Doha tonight – to speak at a religious dialogue conference. Here’s a draft of my speech – which may go through some changes in flight….I’ll update on my return. Daniel Inter-religious Dialogue and Environmental Protection Doha Conference on Religious DialogueApril 26, 2006 Address by Rabbi Daniel S. BrennerAuburn Theological Seminary – New York City I begin with words of prayer from Psalm 148: Exaltations to the Holy One! Mountains and hills, fruit trees and all…

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Thank you to all 2,000 plus of you who have stopped by Reb Blog! Wishing you all a joyous holiday associated with eggs. Love, Daniel

The Amphibian Haggaddah This is the part of the seder when we close our eyes and imagine the Guangzhou Baiyun District Xinshi Xinye Plastic Factory.We follow the cement steps to the third floor,Climbing past the roar of giant machines on the first,the huge exhaust fan on the second,opening a beaten-in aluminum door to reveal a vast storeroom.A room full of….. “…and the frog arose and covered the land of Egypt” (Exodus 8:2) the frog?One big frog, Rashi says.And the Egyptians…

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