nationalism
The New Rosh HashanahWednesday, April 17, 2013 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Jewish New Year is characterized by an uneasy combination of stock-taking and solemn celebration. Yom Ha’atzma’ut, as the birthday of the Jewish state, is beginning to acquire a similar character.
Eizenstat on the Jewish FutureFriday, March 15, 2013 by Jerome A. Chanes | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In his new book on the Jewish future, Jewish diplomat Stuart Eizenstat sees Jewish destiny evolving in the friendly competition between the sovereignty of Israel and the pluralism of America.
AIPAC and the Secret Worlds of PeoplehoodTuesday, March 12, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
No cause, force or organization, brings Americans, primarily Jews but also Christians, together like the cause of Israel as managed by AIPAC.
Who’s Sadat? Or, Defining Israel Literacy UpwardMonday, March 4, 2013 by David B. Starr | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
American Jewry is becoming less and less well informed about Zionism and Israel. Can anything be done to reverse this decline?
Go to Ammon and MoabMonday, February 25, 2013 by Daniel Gordis | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Imagining themselves to be the wise men consulted on Vashti’s fate, the Rabbis deferred to the Jews’ enemies, saying, “from the day when we were exiled from our land, wisdom has been taken from us."
Antisemitism: Obsession or Logic?Thursday, January 24, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Robert Wistrich’s new book, From Ambivalence to Betrayal:The Left, the Jews, and Israel, does much to demonstrate that anti-Semitism was and is a fixture of the Left—but stops short of that conclusion.
The First War of National LiberationWednesday, December 12, 2012 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Maccabees' revolt can lay claim to being the first war of national liberation. Reprinted here is Diana Muir Appelbaum’s account of why the Book of Maccabees is so modern and so dangerous.
Israel’s Friends in GazaThursday, November 29, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Hamas was quick to declare victory in the latest conflict with Israel. A closer look at the price it paid in terms of personnel and equipment shows that its bravado was false.
Can Jews Write History?Thursday, November 8, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In his well-known book Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality, historian Eric Hobsbawm made the remarkable assertion that “no serious historian of nations and nationalism can be a committed political nationalist.”
Moravian Morals for MontrealFriday, August 31, 2012 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When Montreal police entered the home of Amir Khadir, a member of Quebec’s parliament, they found a curiously revealing objet d’art: a parody of Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, with Khadir, in the position of Lady Liberty, standing triumphantly over the corpse of Quebec premier Jean Charest.
Editors' Picks
Josephus the Jew Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal. Yigael Yadin called Josephus “a great historian and a bad Jew.” But a new book argues that if Josephus was a traitor, “it was to a reckless nationalism he never favored, not to Judaism.”
Is the “Ugly Germany” Back? Dirk Kurbjuweit, Spiegel. Issues involving Nazism have dominated German politics this year. “Why all this constant rehashing of Hitler, some ask? But Hitler isn't the problem. The problem is our society.”
Arendt and the Arabs Richard L. Rubenstein, New English Review. Hannah Arendt feared that Zionism would create a “Jewish island in an Arab sea.” But her Eurocentrism kept her from seeing just how hostile that sea would be.
A Brutal Peace Tara Zahra, Nation. The postwar expulsion of German speakers from Czechoslovakia formed one more chapter in the story of Europe’s incapacity to reconcile the claims of democracy and nationalism.
Erdoğan's Ottoman Ambitions Emanuele Ottolenghi, Standpoint. Turkey's Islamist prime minister seems bent on resurrecting the Ottoman Empire. First, though, he will have to eradicate secularism and nationalism at home.
Communist Colluders Anne Applebaum, Jewish Chronicle. After World War II, East European Communist parties sought to burnish their image as nationalist patriots. How did they do it? Anti-Semitism, of course.