Dear Abbie - The Non-Advice Podcast

Today in morning meditation I noticed a sense of large-scale peacefulness in me. (Don’t worry, friends. It’ll pass, it’ll pass! I’ll still be me.) Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rose...

When my journal entry doesn’t give me answers to the questions of my day, I sometimes ask myself: What would it have been like for me to live the same events recorded here, if there were no God?

My belief is that there is no biochemical or compatibility criterion for happy marriages. The right marriage is beshert, destined. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a w...

When my father was dying, and apparently in some sort of coma, he and I had several nonverbal communications of the most profound sort. In one of them, I got from him the realization that the physics of the universe does not work according to the well-known laws (the strong force, the weak force, electro-magnetism and gravity) alone .  .  .  . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosoph...

Léo Bronstein , my father’s best friend and a kind of mentor and godfather to me, said, after reading an earlier draft of my memoir – “Abigail has always felt abandoned.” Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and a...

I’ve never read Kafka and don’t want to, because I prefer happy endings. Elizabeth Bennett should marry Mr. Darcy, Peter Pan should never have to grow up, and … you get the idea. The whole notion that real life is “absurd” has always struck me as a rush to judgment while the jury’s still out. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of Ne...

Meanwhile, on our national movie screen, the Courtship of the American Woman Voter is playing. We are being asked to say “yes” to one of the two presumptive suitors. To me, it looks like a rivalry between two proposed marriages, each a bad one. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a...

BRING BACK GOOD MANNERS. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column ,”  where she explores the situation of women. She th...

Why then do I now question the view I’ve long held: that people live and die by ideas? Apart from physical necessities, what else is there? There is Personality. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as aud...

Four years ago, I’d participated in the year-long search to find our new rabbi after the previous incumbent decided to move ahead to greener pastures. . . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks ....

I’ve always liked to be in situations where the whole gang was here. . .

What’s the gift of the Jews? It’s to live with God chronologically . Is that all? Is that anything? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie:...

When the Jewish Review of Books arrived, I noticed with pleasure the cover article, “Michael Wyschogrod  and the Challenge of God’s Scandalous Love.” Good! I thought. Michael is being attended to and treated as timely, for some reason. Then I read Leora Batnitsky’s opening lines . . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She...

When we first moved to Bucks County, I used to go into New York once a week to “get my identity back.”  . . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ De...

He’d been working in D.C., living in Alexandria with me as newly-wed wife, running a higher ed organization and pretty much minding his own business when he … heard God’s voice. I mean voice ! And I mean words ! Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appe...

For most of my life, I’ve lived under a low-hanging cloud of yearning. The Germans call it Sehnsucht. It’s romantic longing for a fog-enshrouded, mystery-enfolded, beckoning future . . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded seco...

The way you can tell that “I” don’t choose these topics (but respond – as if to an inner prompt) is instanced here: why would anyone (over twenty one) choose that one? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as a...

A powerful thinker wrestles with questions that are in the air, arising partly from the cultural or historical circumstances that surround him or her. But philosophers are not just historical characters. They are private persons too, with a front and a back that is unique to themselves. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  S...

In my early days in the profession, I used reflexively to say out loud, at every opportunity, that I was not a bona fide expert in whatever subject I was talking about. Finally a male friend and colleague advised me to desist from reverse self-promotion of that kind. I took the hint and quit doing that. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City Universit...

What was and is the link between one’s work and one’s life? There must be a correlation. Even if one’s activity is just whittling down a stick, the whittler does that in some way correlated with the way she does other things — hence with her life. There’s no getting around the fascination of these questions. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City Univ...

The Woman Question (as it was called in the nineteenth century) was always a real question for me. The accomplished women philosophers of my youth had no choice but to “think like a man.” While I greatly admired their attainments, I also thought that this obvious sacrifice of womanhood entailed its own burden of falsity. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College...

My own experience tells me that the Biblical period is not exactly over. By that I mean that things still happen, between us and God, somewhat like the things that happened in the Bible. It’s not over, kids. It’s still going on. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Pr...

“What the Fortune Cookie Said” In the last few weeks, whenever we’ve brought home supper from the Chinese take-out place, and opened the fortune cookie, mine has been deplorable. Things like, “When climbing the hill of difficulty, don’t slip and slide.” Just the other day, I got the all time worst fortune cookie. Here’s what it said: Pick another fortune cookie. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Profess...

They say you are what you eat, but it’s been my experience that you are what you believe. People live and die for the ideas they believe to be true. What is more, people dress, work and play, experience nature, appreciate art, suffer life reversals or count themselves successful — all under the sheltering umbrella of what they believe . . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy,...

So many of the hurdles, which form impassible barriers to some, can be cleared at a bound with the right style. I say this because, in important cases, I have absolutely lacked this “open sesame” — the magic words that make the locks fall off the doors. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Loo...