Goliath the Israel Slayer: Why Max Blumenthal’s New Book is a Painful Read
Blumenthal’s Goliath is not funny, nor is it very entertaining. It is, for many reasons, often painful to read.
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Because God Tells Me So; Do Jews Have a “Historic Right” to Israel?
As Jewish institutional support of pro-Israel positions is showing signs of breaking down, it’s an opportunity to take a critical look at a widely-made claim that Jews have a “historical right” to the land of Israel.
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How to Separate Jewishness from Zionism
Parting Ways is Butler’s attempt to construct a Jewish narrative that coheres with her philosophical and political sensibilities as well as her allegiance to her Jewish heritage and lineage. As a Jew for whom religious practice and the Jewish textual tradition do not constitute her Jewish core, hers is a secular narrative of Jewishness outside the orbit of Zionism. Butler’s concern for Israel is that she believes its present construction is “Jewishly” indefensible (in the terms she develops in her book) and the muscularity with which Zionism is proffered squashes any alternative narrative of diasporic Jewish identity.
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Peter Beinart’s Controversial The Crisis of Zionism: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Treatment
Not since The Israel Lobby has a Jewish book evoked so much ire and criticism from the American Jewish community.
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The Sad Saga of a Compromised Rabbi
Are the Jews in trouble? From the outside, things look quite good. Anti-Semitism is at an all-time low in the United States. The U.S. administration seems to allow Israel to do what it wants, even as many of us disagree with what it is choosing to do.
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An Open Letter to Rabbi Dov Linzer on Modesty and Jewish Law
While the Talmud dictates that both men and women dress modestly, the legal tradition that follows in its wake makes dress requirements for women much more rigid. Thus, the fact that in many Orthodox summer camps, or Kibbutzim, one can readily find young Orthodox men in shorts and T-shirts while young girls wear skirts and longer sleeves is not inconsequential.
And how often are religious boys told, “Don’t wear that, it’s not tznius (modest)!”? Not very often.
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The Hypocrisy in Protests against Ultra-Orthodox in Israel
In light of recent events in the small Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, many in the modern Jewish world have argued the haredim (ultra-Orthodox) have crossed a line.
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Democratic Egypt Tests a Divided Israel
Most of us are watching the unfolding events in Egypt with awe and anticipation hoping its citizens will nonviolently supplant a repressive and dictatorial regime with a democracy. Those of us who have physical or emotional ties to Israel see a more complicated picture. Israel is watching the…
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Does Helen Thomas Work for Israel?
When I was a graduate student, a professor once told me “there are no coincidences.” Last week I believed him. In the wake of the Gaza Flotilla disaster (it was a disaster any way you look at it, pro-Israel, pro-Palestine), Israel was engaged in a fight it has not known for some time:…
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Of Zionism and Anti-Zionism: The Ultra Orthodox and the Settler Movement in Israel
Israel’s Ultra Orthodox, or Haredim, do not share the theological assumptions of the settlers—but in recent years a purely pragmatic alliance has formed. What does this mean for Israel as a society?
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