Eastern and Western Culture – the Ethnic Divide

• Orientalism – is it true that the West perceives of Eastern culture as primitive?

• The ethnic divide: what factors lead to its existence? Is it gone? Is it resolved?

• What is the relationship between intellectual expression and visceral expression? The difference between Western and Eastern expression.

• Why does the cantor in an Ashkenazi synagogue stand by the Holy Ark, as did the cherubim in the Temple? Why does the cantor in a Sephardic synagogue stand on the pulpit (bimah), as did the altar in the Temple?

• How is it possible that millions believe in the vision of 72 virgins (in the Islamic vision of Paradise)?