Darwinism of the Vanities
by: Schvach Yid

I think Darwinism – I mean the real stuff, the study of biological evolution – makes a great academic subject, and I should, having a couple of degrees in Biology. It also makes an entertaining hobby. I love the outdoors, and field botany is my all time favorite outdoor activity. I’ve even read Darwin’s On the Origin of Species - twice – once in high school (but not for high school), and a second time just a few years ago. Despite my six years of formal academic schooling in the subject of Biology, Darwin’s most famous literary work was never given as an assigned reading (I attended school in New York and so there was never a conflict with religion).

Competition seems to be the stuff of life, much as I shun it. I’m too much of a sloth to be bothered, but many, many others thrive on competition. ‘Type A personalities’, those who love the ‘thrill of victory’ (I’m one of those chumps who’s usually concerned with the losers), and so-called ‘adrenaline freaks’ generally first run circles around me, then leave me choking in the dust.

The bit about life’s competitive nature raised its smiling sunny face again, back in April – it always does. A Google search for Newsweek Magazine’s list of the top 50 rabbis in America turned up the article on the MSNBC web site on the first page of Google Search results, and also provided a link to a competing list shown on the On Faith blog site of Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn (no, they’re not Jewish, and neither is their blog site). The list was compiled by Letty Cottin Pogrebin. Letty’s list of America’s top 50 rabbis consists of 45 female and 5 male rabbis, compared to Newsweek’s list of 45 male and 5 female rabbis. Oh yeah? So who’s competing?

If you’re into this sort of thing, here’s the link to Letty’s list: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2007/04/more_than_50_top_rabbis.html,

and here’s the link to Newsweek’s list (courtesy of MSNBC): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17721005/site/newsweek/