I wish that I could ask you[I] (not for an answer, just for the telling of the story): I split the world in half and put it back together, I saw the stars appear for the first time in the sky, and possibilities flicker in and out between seconds, minutes and days; grey fog becoming incandescent flowers, bodies dancing around me like clockwork dolls singing the hour. I saw everything I wanted I...
To suggest a framework, within a narrative of textual commentary, for understanding (a) on what basis a de novo commentary could be written; (b) how this is seen within the 1st/10th commandments, and to do so, explain how Torah framing can, without internal contradiction (within this write-up) accommodate the universal uniqueness (which includes, e.g. “enemies of the faith according to any...
Editorial notes: This is one of Shai’s longest essays, written in seven instalments, six within a period of just ten days in 2016 (from 13th October to 23rd October 2016) and the seventh, a year later, on August 31 2017. Reflecting on Shai’s complete collection of writings, this can be seen, perhaps, as the zenith and culmination of his intellectual journey. As he was writing this essay he was...
Editorial notes: The title suggests that a person who is unable to speak (such as a seeker for truth or reality or God who cannot articulate just what is being sought nor where it resides), nevertheless emits a deep prayer that “echoes” and thus can be heard in some sense. The text of this essay is that prayer. “Part 1” is unclear. “Part 2” is more comprehensible. “The Book of the Spirit Ladder”...
Editorial notes: The worldly focus of Torah teaches that daily life on earth, with all its trivialities, trials and difficulties, is the realm that is given to us to sanctify and raise up. So, the path to the sublime leads through things we mistakenly take to be ordinary and even obstacles. Suffering really can elevate one to deeper wisdom. Each situation is actually a gateway to God, when seen...
{Part 1 – 01/06/2017} [This is a draft, because a polished version is not necessary right now, from my perspective] Letter to a variegated nation of nations, On one foot here is a summary of where we’re all at: We’re in a world filled with all sorts of people, all asking “How can we all think ourselves as each one being on the most important journey, how can we think...
From me, Not really the same colour as you. There is a potent danger which I mostly leave unstated – due to seeming irrelevance to most – but which I hope I can articulate by imagining you as my audience. Bullet points thinking: Moshe unites oil into menorah that is tended by Aaron’s offspring Teruma and ma’aser etc (?) allow am ha’aretz to unite with cohanim etc...
Editorial notes: This essay offers a meditation on the meaning of the festivals, and especially of course Shavuot. Since Shai merely alludes in passing to Rashi’s interpretations, Midrashic accounts, and Kabbalistic teachings, any fuller explanation even of some of his allusions must be longer than his account [EZ*]. *Many thanks to Dr. Evan Zuesse for providing the commentary for this essay...
Editorial notes: This commentary on the Shema makes reference to the ten sephirot, the underlying spiritual modalities structuring the divine image or “Tree of Life” on which the universe is designed according to the Kabbalah. These sephirotic powers are merely implicit and potential in the highest realm of infinity that is the source of all lower worlds, but are given more and more material form...
{Part 1 – 18/05/2017} On one foot: for the kids: life is a series of lost opportunities, but don’t mistake vs low hanging over-ripe or immature fruit. Sometimes the perfect moment is not given, and we only see what is beautiful too early or too late. And that is life. On one foot: for the adults: history is a series of disasters, Global deterioration with long wars and collapsing...
