Month: January 2010

The Power of Finding Freedom

January 18, 2010 Jewish Thought, Theology, and Machshava, Sermons, Lectures, and Divrei Torah
The following is based on my more extemporaneous derasha on 1/16/2010 Parashat Va’eira at The Stanton St. Shul, posted in response to multiple requests. I’ve added annotations and links, though some jokes and cultural references in the original derasha may have been omitted. I’ll try to reconstruct my delivered thoughts as best as I can, but I was on a roll today and for some things you just have to be there.
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YUTOPIA’s Favorite Forgotten Originals

January 3, 2010 Popular Culture
Whoever cites something in the name of the original source brings redemption to the world1

In my religious and academic lives I have an affinity for tracking down the original sources of ideas. Not surprisingly, this trait extends to other areas of geekdom including music. While there are no shortage of cover songs – with more coming every day – there are times when the cover version so completely overshadows the original that only few know whence it came.
In the interests of promoting music education, I’ve collected some of my favorite lost originals.

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