"#Berkowitz, now the chair of #Jewish studies and a #professor of #religion at #BarnardCollege, the path between pre-adolescent #vegetarianism and ancient legal texts was neither straight nor obvious. But the throughline is what she explores in her new #book about #animalkinship and #Jewishlaw. “What Animals Teach Us About Families” insists that animals are living beings with family relationships of their own.

What’s more, Jewish laws about treating animals invite a conversation about these relationships and what they mean to leading a commanded and #ethicallife.

It’s the rare book of Jewish #scholarship that cites “#Bambi” and “#FindingNemo” alongside the #Babylonian #Talmud and the first-century #philosopher #Philo, and that includes a chapter on what readers can do to ensure that animals are treated more humanely.

“The #Bible’s animal-family laws do not protect animal families so much as sensitize us to their presence,” Berkowitz writes."

https://www.jta.org/2026/02/01/ideas/why-jewish-law-cares-about-mother-birds-and-baby-goats-and-the-ethics-of-animal-families

"A rare collection of #Hebrew and #Yiddish books, believed to date back to the early 20th century and possibly looted during the #Holocaust, has been recovered by #Warsaw police after being listed for sale on #Polish auction websites.

Among the recovered works is a volume of the #Babylonian #Talmud. The books were returned to the #Jewish #Historical Institute and the Jewish Community of Warsaw, their original owners, authorities said.

According to police investigators, the #books surfaced in early October when a 39-year-old Warsaw resident was clearing out the belongings of his late father."

https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/hktcb2evzl#google_vignette

The #Arabian Wheel of the Year-just NOT like Wicca!

“…Though in earlier #Babylonian times #Aries was represented as a hired laborer rather than a ram.”

#Nabataea #Nabataeans #ArabianPaganism #Archaeology #AncientNearEast #AncientNearEastReligion #Polytheism #AncientReligion #Astrology
https://medium.com/@arabianpaganism/an-arabian-wheel-of-the-year-5c510b984a66