I am currently finishing my trip to London. It's been jolly spiffing, but extremely busy. As a result, I have not had time to write posts, respond to comments, or reply to the flood of emails that have arrived lately. Plus, my left arm hurts, due to my spending yesterday learning more about Rabbeinu Tam's activities:
(If you're reading this post via RSS feed or email, you might have to visit www.rationalistjudaism.com in order to see the picture.)
Thanks to Allan Engel for taking the photo!
I hope to catch up on things soon! Meanwhile, I am currently planning my February lecture tour to the US. If you are interested in having me visit your community for a Shabbos scholar-in-residence program or Sunday lecture, please write to me.

20 comments:
That is an absolutely magnificent photo!
(Side point: One other benefit of becoming post-chareidi is evident from this photo: You're dressing more appropriately. I always found it so odd that you would pose next to bears, lions, and other wild animals in a suit and tie, but I realized that it was almost required if you were to maintain your chareidi street cred.)
Actually, in my later photos, it wasn't to do with charedi street cred. It was to do with being the "Zoo Rabbi." But for yesterday's activities, which I will be writing about on a future occasion, such clothing simply wouldn't have worked!
Try sucking out the venom :-)
I must second The Hedyot - that is an INCREDIBLE picture! Wow!
Please DO write about the circumstances under which that photo was taken.
For further exploration:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/225894
"The Origin and Earliest History of Falconry"
You look thrilled to be so close to it. It, on the other hand, looks like it's sizing you up for its next meal.
Oh My God that's a magnificent creature.
I agree with everyone else -- great picture!
This would have been a nice photo to have flashed on the screen during your star turn at the Agudah convention.
I love raptors--that's such a beautiful bird! Err...what kind of bird is it?
where is your source that Rabbeinu Tam was a falconist ?
My wife claims it's an eagle but she wasn't sure if it was either a young bald eagle or a golden eagle. Check out Wikipedia's pix and you may agree.
I would say that is an American Bald Eagle.
signed,
The Photographer
It's a young bald eagle.
I think prior to this blog post, the only time I saw "Rabbeinu Tam" and "left arm" in the same sentence was in a discussion about Tefillin.....
C'mon, your arm can't hurt that bad! First of all you were wearing a falconer's glove. Second of all, EVERYONE knows that birds are much lighter than they appear due to their lightweight skeletal structure which has air sacs. That eagle couldn't have weighed more than 8 pounds (4 kilos) at most.
Even a scholarly guy like you has more stregnth than that :-)
More like 8 kg (17 pounds). But I'll double-check.
Natan, I noticed you didn't respond to the 'Dovid' & 'CRKidsTeeth'. I'm also very curious. What does Rabbeinu Tam and his left arm have to do with this?
Great picture. I take it the kids were pretty excited to show off this pic. at school.
My left arm hurts because I was holding heavy eagles on it.
The connection to Rabbeinu Tam will be explained in due course!
By the way, thanks to Allan Engel for taking the photo!
Post a Comment