A recent commentary I wrote for CNN.com on the Pope’s MidEast visit.
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Hasidic Reggae
Yes Virginia, it’s true. Take a look at this site, just to read comments like this: “He can really rip,” agrees hip-hop producer and bassist Yossi Fine (David Bowie, Me’Shell Ndege-Ocello), who is himself part Israeli and Afro-Jamaican Jew. “He’s extremely fierce, jumping around the stage. The only difference between him and a Jamaican rapper is that he takes the lyrics from the Bible instead of from Rasta. He changes ‘Jah’ to ‘Hashem’ [Hebrew for God].” I intend to buy an album. Seems very cool. Also, here.
So, what did the Muslims do for the Jews? | The Jewish Chronicle
So, what did the Muslims do for the Jews? | The Jewish Chronicle. Islam saved Jewry. This is an unpopular, discomforting claim in the modern world. But it is a historical truth. The argument for it is double. First, in 570 CE, when the Prophet Mohammad was born, the Jews and Judaism were on the way to oblivion. And second, the coming of Islam saved them, providing a new context in which they not only survived, but flourished, laying foundations for subsequent Jewish cultural prosperity – also in Christendom – through the medieval period into the modern world.
Listen to the Reed
Rachel has a wonderful post on how the Divine is heard through Divine creation. It reminded of this poem of Rumi (posted many moons ago in a different context): بشنو از نى چون حكايت ميكند از جدائيها شكايت ميكند beshno az nay con hekaayat mekonad az judaa’ihaa shekaayat mekonad listen to the reed as it tells a tale as it complains of separation How beautiful is the image of humanity simply being instruments for the Divine sound? Technorati Tags: inter-faith, Rumi