Menorah Review (No. 63, Summer/Fall, 2005)

Affirming Life -- Anti-Semitism, The Holocaust and Christianity -- Beginnings Departures Endings -- Christians and Israel -- Judaism and Superstitions -- Noteworthy Book

Tea Time: superstitions!

Weekly Tea Time program featuring the topic "Superstitions!"Boston University Howard Thurman Center for Common Groun

Superstition and Rational Learning

We argue that some but not all superstitions can persist when learning is rational and players are patient, and illustrate our argument with an example inspired by the code of Hammurabi. The code specified an “appeal by surviving in the river” as a way of deciding whether an accusation was true, so it seems to have relied on the superstition that the guilty are more likely to drown than the innocent. If people can be easily persuaded to hold this superstitious belief, why not the superstitious belief that the guilty will be struck dead by lightning? We argue that the former can persist but the latter cannot by giving a partial characterization of the outcomes that arise as the limit of steady states with rational learning as players become more patient. These “subgame-confirmed Nash equilibria” have self-confirming beliefs at information sets reachable by a single deviation. According to this theory a mechanism that uses superstitions two or more steps off the equilibrium path, such as “appeal by surviving in the river,” is more likely to persist than a superstition where the false beliefs are only one step off of the equilibrium path.

2. John Wesley and Evangelical Methodism

The Enlightenment had, it is true, appeared to solve many problems by ridding Western Civilization of medieval superstitions of all sorts. It disproved miracles. It denied the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. It denounced intolerance and persecution. But it did not,immediately answer the question of what was to be put in the place of the things it had thrown out. The ideas and institutions it denounced had given society certain ideals of conduct, standards of thought, and objects of belief, inadequate as they may have been. The immediate problem was: What was to reglace them? [excerpt

Can a Segulah free an Agunah? : Jewish beliefs and practices for locating a drowned body

Bency Eichorn learns in kollel and, on the side, has been researching about various segulos. For his wedding he authored a book, Simchas Zion, discussing the segulah of keeping the afikomom from year-to-year. The post below is a small part of a much larger project on this segulah and has been adapted for the blog

Autism = Death: The social and medical impact of a catastrophic medical model of autistic spectrum disorders

This discussion interrogates the continuing impact of the pervasive and persistent usage of debilitating metaphors perpetuating ‘historical’ superstitions, myths and beliefs surrounding disability. This article examines the real-life consequences of the power exercised through the deployment of derogatory metaphors and their very real effects on care and treatment decisions. The article illuminates how diagnostic categories and their associative metaphors work to situate boundaries of normality with pathologising difference. It concludes by demonstrating the catastrophic effect of the metaphoric dehumanisation of autistics that has recently culminated in murder being euphemistically referred to and condoned as ‘mercy killing’

XIII. Political Liberalism and Nationalism, 1815-1871

The first half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of two secular faiths which became key features of Western thought: political liberalism and nationalism- Their tenets were not wTiblly ne^ As~early as the lourteenth century when medieval feudalism was giving way to the rising national state, Marsiglio of Padua (c. 1275 - c, 1343) had announced that political authority was properly lodged in the people. The seventeenth century had produced in John Locke (1632-1704) a man whose ideas on government later became a wellspring for political liberalism. The same era also found nationalism accentuated by colonial rivalries and mercantilist doctrines. Later, the Enlightenment left a legacy to both political liberalism and nationalism. The philosophes had reflected on ways and means of broadening the basis for government founded to preserve those inalienable rights based on natural law. In addition, their attacks on Christian superstitions undermined popular respect for religion, thereby opening the way for a new object of reverence. [excerpt

Volume 38, Number 1 - February 1959

Volume 38, Number 1 - February 1959. 46 pages including covers and advertisements. Williams, John, The Alembic Sullivan, Richard, Rhesus\u27 Feast Sullivan, Richard, The Little Ones Soulak, J., A Warm Victory McGeough, Thaddeus, The Greatest Drama Sullivan, Brian, Obituary Holian, William A. McGeough, Thaddeus, The Christmas Gift Aubin, Robert R., A Place of Death Sullivan, Brian, Lines I Survived the H-Bomb McGeough, Thaddeus, When Holian, William A., Landlocked Holian, William A., The Retarded Child Sullivan, Brian, Misery Holian, William A., The Challenge Holian, William A., With What Praises to Extoll Thee I Know Not Holian, William A

Prevalence and Patterns of Gender Violence: Major Variables in the Exposure to HIV/AIDS among Women in Nigeria

This study was carried out among 183 women in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria. The study was designed to examine prevalence and patterns of gender violence and its relationship with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS among women. Four research questions and two hypotheses were raised. Frequency counts and percentages, Pearson’s r and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. The results show that cultural belief, traditional values and superstitions were responsible for acts of violence against women in Nigeria. Others are non-assertiveness and fear of marriage breakup. The study revealed that the most prevalent form of violence against women is physical (78%), closely followed by sexual violence (42%). Polygyny (78%) and cultural belief, traditional values and superstitions (75%) were responsible for the exposure of women to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. The first hypothesis which states that there will be a significant difference in the perception of gender violence based on type of occupation was accepted and the second which states that there is a significant relationship between prevalence of gender violence and exposure to HIV/AIDS was also accepted. To curb the incidence of gender violence, the study highlighted the need for cultural reorientation, socialization, assertiveness training and legislation. The position of this paper is that violence in all its ramifications is unacceptable, that no Nigerian woman deserves to be physically battered, deprived of sex (as punishment), forced into coitus, or made to suffer psychologically. Key Words: Gender Violence, Exposure to HIV/AIDS, Culture, polygamy and Women

Superstitions and Rituals of the Print Shop

Panel Proposal: Superstitions and Rituals in the Print Shop Abstract: Printmaking, a medium that utilizes rational knowledge and a concrete understanding of scientific processes and chemistry, seems like a rather unlikely field for superstitions to abound. However, it is surprising to note that this is generally not the case, as the field is chock full of ritualistic behaviors, superstitions, and “good luck” objects. Printmakers, much like athletes, tend to be a very superstitious lot. This may be due to the fact that the act of printmaking with its emphasis on process, is performance based, much like athleticism. The types of superstitious behavior and ritual associated with printmaking are wide ranging, from the ritualistic, seemingly irrational behaviors of individual printmakers to the creation of objects, such as print altars and deities, set up in different shops throughout the country. This light-hearted panel will take a closer look at some of these superstitious behaviors associated with printmaking, examine the factors that cause superstitious behaviors to arise, and discuss the value that superstition and ritual holds for the success of the printmaker