Rabbi Michael Leo SamuelThe “Jim Crow Laws” remind us of one of the most shameful chapters of American history, a time when many Southern states enacted laws designed to keep Afro-Americans from enjoying the same civil liberties and rights that blacks enjoyed in the Northern states.
Intimidation tactics were routinely carried out for several decades until the last of the Jim Crow laws were banned once and for all by 1971, In 1971, the Supreme Court, in Swann v. ...
Learn More ShareDebating Evolution in Israel
The United States is not the only place where creationists attempt to redesign the science curriculum in textbooks. Israel’s chief scientist in Israel’s ministry of education, Gavriel Avital, “sparked a furor” by questioning the reliability of evolution and global warming, leading to calls for his dismissal, according to Haaretz (Feb. 21, 2010).
Avital asserts, “If textbooks state explicitly that human beings’ origins are to be found with monkeys, I would want ...
Learn More SharePurim picture of the day.
Posted by Yochanan Lavie on 28.02.10 at 4:18 pm
‘Twas the night before Purim, when all through the shul
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mule;
The stockings were hung by the ...
The subject of demonology has fascinated me ever since I first began reading scary stories as a child. In our culture today, the belief in demonic spirits continues to play a role in literature, movies, and religion. The recent stories about Rabbi Batzri and his exorcisms show that in Haredi and Hassidic communities, the belief in demonic possession is still very much alive and well-irregardless whether such malevolent entities exist or not.
In the world of the psyche, the imagination runs ...
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Shadow Projections & the Psychology of Scapegoating
Carl G. Jung writes a lot about the nature of “shadow projection” in his writings. Individuals will often project their shadow unto someone else they know well. Just look at any divorce trial, the tendency is to project blame unto the Other, rather than taking personal responsibility for the death of a marriage.
I am reminded of the old story where a marriage therapist was counseling a young couple that were having difficulties in their marriage. The husband says, “She is ...
Learn More ShareCategories: Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Jewish and Jungian ideas, Jewish History, Political Commentaries, Yochanan Lavie's Golden Classics