Zionist Thought
Freud in ZionTuesday, July 3, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Three Jewishly-conflicted German speakers changed the course of modern history. By the time the first, Karl Marx, had died in 1883, Sigmund Freud and Theodor Herzl were rising stars in their twenties; later, they came to be neighbors living but a few doors apart on a Vienna street.
The Last Holy RebelThursday, June 21, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Some years ago, a friend asked what I thought was the more impressive title: "Rabbi," "Doctor," or (the often unwittingly self-parodying) "Rabbi Dr." You know, I said, there's a man in Israel who's one of the most impressive talmidei hakhamim I've ever known—and he's not "Rabbi" or "Doctor."
Brandeis and Zionism, In and Out of LoveTuesday, June 19, 2012 by Evan Moffic | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Supreme Court is once again poised to define the role of government in American society; and Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, would have recognized the terms of the debate.
The Jewish Left, between History and RevelationMonday, June 11, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The association of Jews with leftist ideas and movements has been a fixture of Western politics for the past 150 years. But is the relationship logical and necessary, or is it historical and contingent?
The Six-Day War: Day FiveOnce Dayan decided against a limited attack in the Golan and opted instead to take the entire Heights, Israel's air force pounded the Syrians. The Syrians had supposed the Israelis to be tired and intimidated by their incessant shelling . . .
Day Four: “Attack! Attack!”Friday, June 8, 2012 by Allan Arkush | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On June 1, 1967, when Prime Minister Levi Eshkol yielded to public pressure and turned over the portfolio of defense minister to former IDF chief of staff Moshe Dayan, the mood in Israel changed overnight.
On the Eve of the Six-Day WarForty-five years ago today, on June 4, 1967, Israel and the Jewish world were in suspense. Today, we recall the Six-Day War as a stunning martial victory by the Jewish state; but on the war's eve, this outcome was wholly unforeseeable. Indeed, the odds appeared firmly stacked against Israel.
Peter Beinart, I Quit.Monday, April 2, 2012 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Peter Beinart's new blog on the Daily Beast titled Open Zion (formerly Zion Square) is dedicated to an "open and unafraid conversation about Israel, Palestine, and the Jewish future." But after several weeks of Open Zion, one writer has concluded that its conversation is not, in fact, open—and is not one in which he can continue to take part. Here, he resigns his position.
The Pale GodFriday, February 3, 2012 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Imagine God not as a benign force infusing the universe with love and sustaining it with mercy, and not as a stern judge smiting sinners from on high with his cosmic zap-gun, but as a grandfatherly figure, kind but, truth be told, somewhat out of it, sitting in a corner, tolerant of the various paths his children have chosen.
Among the LiteratiThursday, January 12, 2012 by Erika Dreifus | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Some days, I can't help thinking back 25 years to my high-school French course, which is where I first encountered the concept of the juste milieu—the happy medium—and the difficulty of achieving it. Why is the happy medium so elusive? Why do I more often feel caught betwixt and between or, even among my fellow Jewish-American writers, alone?
Editors' Picks
Nietzsche, of Blessed Memory? Zev Golan, Jerusalem Post. Nietzsche was not only a fierce critic of European anti-Semitism, but his quest to create the Übermensch was the inspiration behind the Zionist project to mold the New Jew.
Apathy and Anti-Zionism Seffi Kogen, Times of Israel. With their relentless scaremongering about anti-Zionism on campus, Jewish educational institutions have raised a generation apathetic not only to activism but to Israel itself.
Fleshpots and Ice Cream Pints Elli Fischer, Times of Israel. From olim, one hears an American—or is it an atavistic?—yearning for quality and convenience.
Refugees Forever Asaf Romirowsky, Alexander Joffe, Haaretz. UNRWA says that grandchildren of Palestinian refugees remain "refugees." No other refugee group gets this treatment—but, then, no other group supplies the majority of UNRWA's staff.
Eighteenth-Century Aliyah Fred MacDowell, On the Main Line. Two hundred years before modern Zionism, Jews across the Russian empire funded Rabbi Judah Chassid and his 120 followers on their trek from Europe to a new life in the Promised Land.
1948: Palestine Betrayed Efraim Karsh, Elliot Jager, Jewish Ideas Daily. Zionist Jews were not interlopers in Palestine. The creation of the Jewish state was not an "original sin" foisted upon the Arab world. The tragic flight of the Palestinian refugees was overwhelmingly not the fault of the Zionists. To the contrary, at every momentous junction the Zionists opted for compromise and peace, the Arabs for intransigence and belligerency. This, in summary, is how most people once understood the Arab-Israel conflict. Today, however, as Israel marks its Independence Day, an entire generation has come to maturity believing a diametrically opposite "narrative" . . .
On the Roots of Israel's Culture Wars Menachem Mautner, Haaretz. The ongoing conflict between religious and secular worldviews expresses itself in competing visions of Israel's system of law. (Interview by David Green)
The Eternal Return Lazar Berman, Uri Sadot, Commentary. The relationship between the United States and Israel is fracturing. The president is pressuring the Jewish state to make painful concessions in return for vague agreements. Israeli leaders worry that the support of a formerly reliable constituency—American Jews—is slipping away.The year is 1975.
Learn Hebrew! David Hazony, Forward. The cultural gulf between Israel and the Diaspora can be bridged—but only if American Jews decide they want to bridge it.
Kirk Douglas The Mike Wallace Interview. "I am not even aware whether or not we have former Nazi officers in our production. Very honestly, I wouldn't even allow myself to think in those terms . . . I like to feel that the War is over." (Video; 1957)