Current explorations

I have not posted anything for months. One reason may be that I have been very busy at my work (probably working harder than I ever have). But I have also not had a clear focus in my study. This blog has always contained my Talmudic/Jewish reflections, but recently I have also been drifting toward John Russell Brown's writings on Shakespeare here, here and here, a book on Everyday Aesthetics, even the Concordia Bible Commentary, but never with much focus or passion.

In fact, I haven't even been listening to many shiurim; instead I have been listening to audiobooks from http://www.audible.com/.

A couple blogs that I have been following (which couldn't be more different) are:

Dr. Alan Brill's The Book of Doctrines and Opinions: notes on Jewish theology and spirituality. Rabbi Brill taught at Yeshiva University (you can still download a few of his classes from there. He is amazingly well read and has a profound interest in meditation and Jewish theology and has recently published: Judaism and Other Religions: Models of Understanding. His blog is a wide ranging reflection on the contemporary religion scene with some focus on the divergences and similarities between Evangelical Christianity and Orthodox Judaism.

The other is Gil Baille's: Reflections on Faith and Culture. Bailie is the author of Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads, a profound reflection on the work of Rene Girard. Gil's blog, as the title states, looks at today's society and finds many issues to raise. While I find him too conservative at times for me, I respect his concern and his appreciation of one of my favorite thinkers, Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Friends from the past

My old classmates from grade school (1973) have found each other through Facebook. It has been fun to reconnect. Quite a group and perhaps since I grew up in Los Angeles, it is not surprising there are actors and producers and Disney and Universal execs in the group, even a winemaker (how cool is that), as well as folks like myself doing work we enjoy, but certainly wouldn't call a vocation.

And the kids! Everyone seems to be more fertile than barren me. It does make me sad in some ways, for all I have missed; but I also know that I appreciate the life I live and the experiences it provides.

Sadly two of our classmates have passed away, and one of them Steve Bolla was a good friend. I guess after 37 years, it is not surprising, but it doesn't make it any less of a reminder to appreciate the time we are given.

There is a reunion planned for August that I will be missing, but I am sure it will be a blast.