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Gaza Crisis [1/29]

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Hebrew Is the Focus of a Brooklyn Charter School – NYTimes.com

Hebrew Is the Focus of a Brooklyn Charter School – NYTimes.com. Every so often, Aalim Moody, 5, and his twin sister, Aalima, break into a kind of secret code, chatting in a language their father does not understand.  Walking along Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, they make out the lettering on kosher food shops and yeshiva buses, showing off all they learn at the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School in Midwood, where they both attend kindergarten.  …  Aalim and Aalima are not Jewish. They worship at a mosque affiliated with the Nation of Islam. But at the Hebrew Language Academy, they…

Rabbi, please continue to teach

Rachel does it again. I’ve been sitting on this post for too long. The Islamic tradition, according to Qur’anic injunction (17:78-79), is for three times prayer, dawn, just before sunset and just after sunset. And of course, many Muslims have seen the little prayer books for the pre-anything prayers, including going to the bathroom. Recently found one for a dua to say before having sex. Who says we’re a repressed people? Rachel’s post, and the obvious similarities to Muslim traditions, got me thinking about the meaning of ritual. The idea of using a symbolic language, in this instance ritual, is…