Political Thought
The Turkish ModelThursday, March 24, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Considering the current upheaval in the Arab world, some optimists foresee the possibility of Islamic parties coming to power by democratic means and the consequent emergence of Turkish-style political systems. But how firm is Turkey's own commitment to democratic principles?
Halakhah for AmericansFriday, March 18, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Asked in a 1975 New York Times interview how he had acquired his standing as America's most trusted authority in Jewish religious law (halakhah), Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) replied: ''If people see that one answer is good and another answer is good, gradually you will be accepted."
The Peace Plan Israel NeedsTuesday, March 15, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Israel's wobbly friends in Europe and the U.S. are renewing their pressure on Jerusalem to "do something" about the "unsustainable" stalemate in the "peace process." As German Chancellor Angela Merkel scolded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "You haven't made a single step to advance peace."
Beyond TanksMonday, March 14, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Israel in the past has fought large-scale conventional wars in which infantry and tanks have squared off. It has also faced down terrorists who cross borders to blow up buses or hide themselves among civilians. The next wave is called hybrid warfare, blending (in the words of the military theorist Frank Hoffman) "the lethality of state conflict with the fanatical and protracted fervor of irregular warfare."
The Last of the Red-Hots?Tuesday, March 8, 2011 by Sam Munson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The past decade has witnessed a seeming revival in the fortunes of America's old, new, and newest Left. Some elders, notably including Bill Ayers, have enjoyed career recrudescences. One of the better-known spokesmen and avatars of this revitalized political culture is the veteran writer and activist Todd Gitlin.
The Old Young GuardMonday, March 7, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
One of the most significant movements of Jewish renewal in the 20th century was Hashomer Hatzair: the Young Guard. Founded as a youth group in Vienna in 1916, the movement set itself in opposition to what it regarded as the emaciated character of Jewish life.
J Street’s Last Hurrah?Tuesday, March 1, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In a little over three years, a liberal lobby calling itself "passionately and unapologetically pro-Israel" appears to have either supplanted or co-opted other likeminded groups on the Jewish Left—among them, Americans for Peace Now, the Israel Policy Forum, and the New Israel Fund.
Military Virtue, and VirtueMonday, February 28, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On February 14, Benny Gantz was appointed the twentieth chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It wasn't supposed to be that way. Yoav Galant, a decorated soldier and former head of the IDF's southern command, had been named to the position at the end of 2010.
The Riddle of the SatmarThursday, February 17, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A prospect terrifying to secular Israelis and Zionists worldwide has been the rapid growth of the Jewish state's ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community. Given the stranglehold of haredi political parties on recent coalition governments, and the encroachments by non-Zionist haredi clerics upon Israel's chief rabbinate, once religiously moderate and firmly Zionist, the fear is not entirely irrational.
Who is Uri Avnery, and Why Does He Matter?Friday, February 4, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Jerusalem's decision in the early 1990's to admit Yasir Arafat and his fellow thugs into the heart of the land of Israel proved to be one of the country's major political blunders, paid for in the coin of a five-year terror war that traumatized Israeli society and transformed the dream of Israeli-Palestinian peace into an extended nightmare. How did it happen?
Editors' Picks
Persuaded D.G. Myers, Literary Commentary. On the heels of his roll call of the best Jewish books of 2011, Myers reflects on how the prose of Irving Kristol led to his own political and religious "right turns."
What Does Paul Goodman Mean to Me? Michael Walzer, Dissent. He wasn't a particularly nice person, he wasn't a great novelist, he was a fine poet only sometimes, and he wasn't much of a historian—but, but, but . . .
Radical Orthodoxy Daniel Boyarin, Book of Doctrines and Opinions. The Talmud scholar imagines a religious practice, "free of the ethnocentrism and even racism that characterizes so much of contemporary orthodox language . . . that would authentically enable my own radical political commitments." (Interview with Alan Brill)
Digging that Hole Efraim Karsh, Hudson New York. Attempting to defend his political science department against charges of bias, one professor betrayed the true depth of the problem by likening Israel to Nazi Germany in several key respects.
The Limits of Secularism Jonathan Sacks, Standpoint. Isaiah Berlin didn't understand how the Chief Rabbi could have studied philosophy at Cambridge and Oxford and still have faith. "Isaiah," said Sacks, "if it helps, think of me as a lapsed heretic."
How Not to Win the Jewish Vote Michael Medved, USA Today. The notion that candidates win backing in the American Jewish community based primarily on support for Israel is groundless.
Saintly Scientist Benjamin Ivry, Forward. Co-winner of the 1925 Nobel Prize in physics, James Franck's achievements and extended hand to postwar Germany are long overdue for a returned hand from his native country.
Israeli Inflation Ronen Bergman, New York Times. The rising cost of the life of an Israeli hostage, from the Entebbe raid to the Shalit deal.
Right Turn? Evelyn Gordon, Contentions. Yitzhak Rabin is idolized by those who claim that Israel's population has become more conservative—a claim that Rabin's own record refutes.
Pledges and Gag Rules Jonathan S. Tobin, Contentions. While the cause of Jewish unity is noble, a new "National Unity Pledge for Israel" is clearly intended to shut down accountability on the issue from those in power.