Moshe Levy's Time to Shyne, But How Does His Conversion to Orthodox Judaism Fit In?
I was left disappointed after reading the Times on Shyne. Disappointed in the unquestioning nature of so many readers and colleagues as much as in the article itself. I really thought the journalist could’ve helped people better understand the rapper’s mindset on why he chose the path of Orthodox Judaism. But it felt like more of a hook than as a point of deep conversation. It’s a shame, so I posted this entry on the Being Blog. My hope is that I can either assign someone to interview him for our site or maybe even catch up with him while we’re in Jerusalem in March.
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Dominick Brady got it right. 
Dina Kraft has tapped in to something in the American psyche though. Her article is rapidly spreading online and, as I write this post, it’s the third most emailed article on the Times website. Even several colleagues approached me Thursday wanting to talk about it and proposed posting this pull quote:
“What I do get is boundaries. Definition and form. And that is what Shabbat is. You can’t just do whatever you want to do. You have to set limits for yourself…All these rules, rules, rules…But you know what you have if you don’t have rules? You end up with a bunch of pills in your stomach. When you don’t know when to say when and no one tells you no, you go off the deep.”
This is one of those articles from The New York Times that is so full of promise but leaves the reader with a string of anecdotes and very little understanding. There’s mostly back story; Orthodox Judaism is used as a hook but rarely followed up on here. As I was reading it Wednesday night, I found myself wishing Kraft’s editor would’ve been more generous, and more pressing.
And I found myself feeling a bit empty. Left wanting. Wanting to hear more about the convicted felon’s path to Orthodox Judaism in prison and outside. Wanting to understand why he chose the Orthodox tradition instead of a version of Conservative or Reform Judaism. Wanting to know how the language of the yeshiva is informing his lyrics. Wanting to know more about his Ethiopian Jewish heritage. Wanting to know how he’s living differently because of his new-found faith. Wanting to know more about his current relationship with his father in Belize and his interactions with Jewish communities after being deported from the United States.
We’ll put out a request to get these and other questions answered. And, if you have any of your own, offer up a comment.
(photo: Ricki Rosen for The New York Times)
Source: beingblog
Dig. My colleague over turned me on to this illustrated book at SOF Observed. She nabbed the publisher copy, but I won’t hold it against her. Mine’s on the way from Amazon, and I’m looking forward to reading it with the Boy-King and Baby Prince.
The Ramayana, Illustrated
Shubha Bala, associate producerSanjay Patel, supervising animator at Pixar, has come out with his second illustrated book on Hinduism, Ramayana: Divine Loophole. Patel is one of the few people who have presented Hindu mythology in a way for North American kids to understand, and enjoy. But he also presents the Ramayana, one of the Hindu epic mythological stories, in a wonderful way for adults too — complete with illustrated character bios and geography lessons in the back.
He says in an Atlantic Monthly interview:
“I grew up in a house where there was no explanation—there was just practice. It was like eating for me: ‘Okay, I’ve got to eat. I’ve got to sit down and pray and stare at these wild illustrations of Hindu gods.’ My parents completely subscribe to these stories as philosophy, of course, but it’s also very much a religion to them, and they do see these beings as gods. I would ask my father, ‘Dad, do you really think there’s a blue guy out there?’ I couldn’t really narrow him down on that. But he seems to believe it.
So the Ramayana was always something my parents would study and worship, but it had no meaning to me until I read the story. Then I was like, ‘Wow, the characters are so cool. The plot is so cool. What they symbolize is so cool. This totally needs to be told!’ I wanted to use all the skills and the knowledge I’d gained at Pixar to put these ancient stories in a package that’s relatable and entertaining. If I have children, I want them to know something about their cultural mythology in a way that’s fresh and dynamic.”
He’s also asked about finding existing images of the Ramayana before creating his book:
“I realized after doing some research that centuries and centuries ago, The Ramayana wasn’t actually illustrated. It was sung and performed, and the actors would bring it to life with masks and costumes. Then later, there were these amazing sculptures. So I was looking at that for sure. But artists only really depicted certain episodes in the Ramayana. I wanted to show all those other scenes, like the part where they meet Jambavan the bear! If I were a kid, I’d want to see cool icons and badass graphics.
That’s what’s so great about this story. If you want to get into the dogma you can. But on a raw level, these stories are amazing conduits for really deep philosophy. I think that’s uniquely Indian in many ways. It’s this profound stuff but told through stories that common people can completely engage with—avatars and man-gods.”
Source: beingblog
The Association of Religion Data Archives
Trent Gilliss, Online Editor
I know, I know. The title of this post doesn’t necessarily grab you like a YouTube video labeled “puppies do backflips on spinning wheel in lake.” But if you look beneath the hood of this Dodge Dart, you’ll find an amazing amount of information and some telling graphics. And, you don’t have to be a researcher or a pollster to appreciate this data either.
Type in your zip code and see the religious makeup of your county (I had no idea how truly Catholic St. Paul is compared to Minneapolis, or that Assemblies of God membership has grown dramatically in the past 20 years.), and the change that’s taken place over the past 20 years. Or, I used the country comparisons tool to gain some perspective on the similarities and differences between the U.S. and the U.K. while producing the site for this week’s show.
But, for me, the dynamic mapping tool provides a color-coded flavor of the U.S. religious landscape, not to mention socio-economic demographic data. All of which can be tracked as a slideshow. Groovy.
Source: beingblog
Tom Cruise on “Tom Cruise, Scientologist”
I discussed posting this on the SOF Observed blog, but, after discussing it with my boss, decided not to. Why? Well, is it what SOF does? *shrug* And, probably more importantly, I would have had to link to Gawker’s site for readers to view the video and they’re so opinionated that I feared it might look like a recommendation.
In the past few days, a Church of Scientology video with Tom Cruise, one of the most famous frontmen of the religion, has been making its way around the blogosphere. Gawker Media, a blog on pop culture and the media, is hosting the video after its removal on YouTube and other sites.
My interest isn’t so much in Scientology or trying to figure out what appeals to the religion for some very intelligent people, but why does somebody as successful as Tom Cruise speak with such hubris, and downright disdain of others who aren’t believers in LRH’s philosophy. Statements like “I won’t hesitate to impose my ethics on someone else ” and “We are the authorities on getting people off drugs. We are the authorities on the mind. We are the authorities on improving conditions Criminon, we can rehabilitate criminals. The way to happiness. We can bring peace, unite cultures.” It’s disturbing, but how could a big-time action star associate himself with such awful graphics! Ayyyyyyyeeee.
senior editor of a national public radio program called Being; public radio fan; media junkie; family man who longs for subtle glimpses of beauty in the ordinary
