Antiquitopia

Yom Kippur is coming up on Monday. In Leviticus 16, the real action of the ancient ritual concerned two goats. One goat was slaughtered and the blood cleansed the sanctuary. The other, the "scapegoat" or the goat "for Azazel," had the people's sins passed upon it and it was driven into the wilderness (evidently where Azazel was). In Brooklyn on Monday Hasidic Jews will sacrifice a chicken in the " kapparot ." The idea is that sins are transferred to the bird and then disappear at its death. I don't know much about this ritual, its origins, its explanations, and its developments. But it sounds like the two goats from the ancient ritual combined together into a single chicken. Interestingly, it seems that this ritual contravenes rabbinic rulings on proper slaughter of animals.

The NYTimes reports that one of the largest Catholic diocese in the U.S., the one in Brooklyn, is slated to close 14 schools this coming term: January 13, 2009 Brooklyn Diocese Moves to Shut 14 Schools By PAUL VITELLO and WINNIE HU The Diocese of Brooklyn has proposed closing 14 elementary schools at the end of the current academic year, a plan that would mean that one of the nation’s largest Catholic dioceses would have shuttered nearly 40 percent of its grade schools in the past seven years. The proposed closings and mergers, announced on Monday, are the latest retrenchment for a school system that was once a bedrock of neighborhood stability, and a magnet for families of many creeds and homelands seeking safe, reliable education at a relatively modest cost. The news, passed along at midday to principals of schools from Flushing, Queens, to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, shook students, parents and teachers, many of whom had joined in desperate fund-raising efforts in recent months to avoid th...

NYTimes reports the possible opening of a new language charter school that focuses on Hebrew language. This comes after the controversy surrounding the Arabic language charter school, Khalil Gilbran International Academy. Nearly two years after a wave of protests over New York City’s first public school dedicated to the Arabic language and culture, state education officials are expected to consider greenlighting a Hebrew-language charter school in Brooklyn this week. The school would open in the fall if it is approved, first by a committee of the State Board of Regents on Monday and then by the full board on Tuesday. It would begin with 150 kindergartners and first graders and be in District 22, which includes the Sheepshead Bay, Midwood and Mill Basin neighborhoods. The district is 45 percent black, 13 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Asian. It also has a substantial population of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Israel. The State Department of Education staff has recommended that th...

This is actually old news--the story is from August 5--but it just came to my attention and the news is in effect into the next year: ANNOUNCES INDULGENCES DURING PAULINE YEAR Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has announced that parishioners in the Diocese of Brooklyn can receive plenary indulgences for participation in events connected with the 2008-2009 jubilee year of St. Paul the Apostle proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI in May. The Pauline year began June 28 and will close June 29 next year to mark the approximately 2,000 anniversary of the saint’s birth. In a decree, dated July 23, Bishop DiMarzio designated the places where the faithful may benefit from the plenary indulgence if they take part with devotion in a liturgy or other public exercise in honor of the saint during the Pauline year. On any day during the jubilee, indulgences can be gained at St. James Cathedral Basilica; St. Paul’s Church, Court St.; SS. Peter and Paul Church, South Third St.; St. Paul’s Church, Corona; SS. Peter a...

There is a joke in New York concerning the two premier private universities, Columbia University and New York University, that due to their appetite for real estate, they will together take over all of Manhattan and eventually meet somewhere around Columbus Circle. But with NYU's recent takeover of the Engineering school, Polytech, this university is expanding outside of Manhattan into Brooklyn. So, what do you do if you are a university without a school of engineering? You go out and buy one! Here is the article from the Chronicle : New York Regents Approve Merger of Polytechnic U. and NYU The New York State Board of Regents has approved the merger of Polytechnic University and New York University despite vehement opposition from some Polytechnic alumni and a critical report from the chairman of the State Senate’s Committee on Higher Education, NYU’s student newspaper, The Washington Square News, reported today. Under the terms of the deal, the Brooklyn engineering school...

Yesterday I was invited to join "Epherika" and her class to go to the Lubavitch community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The Lubavitch is one of many Hasidic (alt.sp. Chassidic) Jewish communities. We had an absolutely fantastic time. Two rabbis led us around, taking us to a very active and wonderfully noisy synagogue with people praying and arguing about this or that point in the Talmud. We stopped at "770." We checked out a little Judaica store with just shelves full of books, shofarim, fantastic children's toys (such as Hebrew blocks, Hebrew mats, and even Hebrew balls), and music (I almost bought a Matisyahu album--I think Matisyahu comes from Crown Heights, but I could be mistaken). We saw some rare books and scrolls that they have in their library. We went to the mikveh, where they separated the men from the women and gave us separate talks and tours. Interestingly, the women had a convert while we had one of the rabbis. And, finally, they took us to a very g...