R' Gil Student has long had friendly relations with the Catholic magazine "First Things," which discusses a lot of general religious issues in a fairly open way. He recently published an essay with them, which appeared in a column called "On the Square."
I find it interesting that a Catholic magazine uses "On the Square" as the title of a regular column. "On the square," like "on the level," is a Masonic expression, meaning someone who is trustworthy. But the Catholics have always been opposed to the Freemasons, not least because of their secrecy - who knows what antireligious, especially antiCatholic, things are going in their lodges?
ObJewish: OTOH, I know plenty of Jewish, even some Orthodox, Freemasons, some having been so for several generations. My father amu"sh was raised (admitted to the third degree) by his father a"h, although my father more or less dropped out after the 1950s.
I find it interesting that a Catholic magazine uses "On the Square" as the title of a regular column. "On the square," like "on the level," is a Masonic expression, meaning someone who is trustworthy. But the Catholics have always been opposed to the Freemasons, not least because of their secrecy - who knows what antireligious, especially antiCatholic, things are going in their lodges?
ObJewish: OTOH, I know plenty of Jewish, even some Orthodox, Freemasons, some having been so for several generations. My father amu"sh was raised (admitted to the third degree) by his father a"h, although my father more or less dropped out after the 1950s.
3 comments:
i find it funny that R' Gil Student and R' Ben Greenberg are having a public debate over an internal Orthodox Jewish halakhic/minhagic/hashqafic issue in a Catholic magazine forum :-P
Thanbo, have you read Ron Brown's latest book, "The Lost Symbol"? It focuses on Scottish-Rite Freemasonry, their initiation rites and symbolism with a new-age flavor. Its popularity (one million copies sold prior to actual publication) will insure considerable interest in freemasonry and their Washington DC symbols and places. I assume that the descriptions of the initiation rites and sundry DC artifacts are basically correct. Any thoughts?
iaz0
You mean Dan Brown, and no. I read the last one, and boy what an overhyped book. Material was derivative, the snipe hunt went on too long, and it ended weakly.
Maybe I'll wait for the pb, like I did for the other one. It's not worth it to me to buy at hb prices.
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