David Bader (writer)

Last updated

David M. Bader is an author and former attorney.

Early life, family and education

Bader is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. [1]

Contents

Career

Bader was an attorney, and he worked at two law firms, [1] but he eventually focused instead on his career as a writer.

His first book was How to Be an Extremely Reform Jew (Avon Books, 1994). [1] Other works include The Book of Murray: The Life, Teachings, and Kvetching of the Lost Prophet (Harmony Books, 2010), Haiku U.: From Aristotle to Zola: Great Books in 17 Syllables (Gotham Books, 2004), Haikus for Jews: For You a Little Wisdom (Harmony Books, 1999), [2] Zen Judaism: For You a Little Enlightenment (Harmony Books, 2002). [2] He has contributed to the Mirth of a Nation humor anthologies.

Tom Magliozzi read selections from two of Bader's books Haikus for Jews and Zen Judaism on NPR's radio program Car Talk . [3] [4]

Excerpts from Bader's books have been widely circulated on the web and in e-mail, in most cases without permission. As William Novak notes, "his work has been all over the Internet without attribution." [5] [2]

Personal life

David M. Bader resides and works in New York City.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Joshua Heschel</span> Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, authored a number of widely read books on Jewish philosophy and was a leader in the civil rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Neusner</span> American academic scholar of Judaism

Jacob Neusner was an American academic scholar of Judaism. He was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph B. Soloveitchik</span> American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher

Joseph Ber Soloveitchik was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion of the Lithuanian Jewish Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish philosophy</span> Philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism

Jewish philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern Haskalah and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism, thus organizing emergent ideas that are not necessarily Jewish into a uniquely Jewish scholastic framework and world-view. With their acceptance into modern society, Jews with secular educations embraced or developed entirely new philosophies to meet the demands of the world in which they now found themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish humor</span> Wit and humor in Jewish culture

The tradition of humor in Judaism dates back to the Torah and the Midrash from the ancient Middle East, but generally refers to the more recent stream of verbal and often anecdotal humor of Ashkenazi Jews which took root in the United States over the last hundred years, including in secular Jewish culture. European Jewish humor in its early form developed in the Jewish community of the Holy Roman Empire, with theological satire becoming a traditional way of clandestinely opposing Christianization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious Zionism</span> Ideology that views Zionism as a fundamental component of Orthodox Judaism

Religious Zionism is an ideology that views Zionism as a fundamental component of Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as Dati Leumi, and in Israel, they are most commonly known by the plural form of the first part of that term: Datiim. The community is sometimes called 'Knitted kippah', the typical head covering worn by male adherents to Religious Zionism.

Idolatry in Judaism is prohibited. Judaism holds that idolatry is not limited to the worship of an idol itself, but also worship involving any artistic representations of God. The prohibition is epitomized by the first two "words" of the decalogue: I am the Lord thy God, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, and Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any image in the sky, on earth or in the sea. These prohibitions are re-emphasized repeatedly by the later prophets, suggesting the ongoing appeal of Canaanite religion and syncretic assimilation to the ancient Israelites.

Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century southwestern Europe, is the most well known, but it is not the only typological form, nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidim around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rabbinic Judaism</span> Mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE

Rabbinic Judaism, also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Rabbanite Judaism, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism has its roots in the Pharisaic school of Second Temple Judaism, and is based on the belief that Moses at Mount Sinai received both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah from God. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah. At first, it was forbidden to write down the Oral Torah, but after the destruction of the Second Temple, it was decided to write it down in the form of the Talmud and other rabbinic texts for the sake of preservation.

A Jewish Buddhist is a person with a Jewish background who believes in the tenets of a form of Buddhism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Novak</span> American rabbi and philosopher (1941-present)

David Novak, is a Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law (Halakha). He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto since 1997. His areas of interest are Jewish theology, Jewish ethics and biomedical ethics, political theory, and Jewish-Christian relations.

Zen Judaism: For You a Little Enlightenment is a humor book by David M. Bader, the author of Haikus for Jews: For You a Little Wisdom (1999) and Haiku U.: From Aristotle to Zola, Great Books in 17 Syllables.

How to Be an Extremely Reform Jew is a book by David M. Bader, the author of Haikus for Jews: For You a Little Wisdom, Zen Judaism: For You a Little Enlightenment, and Haiku U.: From Aristotle to Zola, Great Books in 17 Syllables. It is the source for some Jewish humor circulated on the Internet, often without attribution, such as "The Feast and Fast Yo-Yo Diet Guide to the Holidays," "The Ten Suggestions" and "The Extremely Reform Passover Haggadah." A reprint edition of the book was published in November, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshiva Torah Vodaas</span> American Haredi yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York

Yeshiva Torah Vodaas is a yeshiva in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isadore Twersky</span> American rabbi (1930–1997)

Isadore Twersky was an Orthodox rabbi and Hasidic Rebbe, and university professor who held the position as Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, a chair previously held by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Twersky was an internationally recognized authority on Rabbinic literature and Jewish philosophy. He was especially known as an international expert in the writings and influence of the 12th-century Jewish legalist and philosopher Maimonides, and Abraham ben David, the Rabad of Posquieres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Immanuel Schochet</span> Swiss-born Canadian rabbi and writer

Jacob Immanuel Schochet was a Swiss-born Canadian rabbi who wrote on Hasidic Judaism. He was a member of the Chabad movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshe Waldoks</span> American rabbi

Moshe Waldoks is an American rabbi who co-edited The Big Book of Jewish Humor.

William Novak is a Canadian–American author who has co-written or ghostwritten numerous celebrity memoirs for people including Lee Iacocca, Nancy Reagan, and Magic Johnson. He is also the editor, with Moshe Waldoks, of The Big Book of Jewish Humor. He has also written several "private" books, which he described in a 2015 essay for The New York Times.

Since the 20th century, Buddhism and Judaism have become associated with one another due to the common religious overlap in Jewish Buddhists. According to the Ten Commandments and classical Jewish law (halacha), it is forbidden for any Jew to worship any deity other than the God of Israel – specifically by bowing, offering incense, sacrifices and/or poured libations. It is likewise forbidden to join or serve in another religion because doing so would render such an individual an apostate or an idol worshipper.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Law School Graduate Serves up Kosher Haikus with a Side of Chutzpah". Harvard Law Bulletin . Harvard University. Fall 2000.
  2. 1 2 3 Novak, William; Waldoks, Moshe (March 19, 2010). "All in the Timing". The Jewish Week . Archived from the original on 2014-12-26. Retrieved 2014-12-26.
  3. "As Read: Haikus for Jews". 9 November 2011 via cartalk.com.
  4. "As Read: Zen Judaism". 16 June 2011 via cartalk.com.
  5. Novak, William; Waldoks, Moshe (2006). The Big Book of Jewish Humor: 25th Anniversary. HarperCollins. p. xvii. ISBN   978-0-06-113813-3.