In August, two pieces of news about Iran's nuclear ambitions were revealed almost simultaneously. The first was that Iran had fired up its first nuclear reactor. The second, delivered in an ostentatious leak to the New York Times, was that the Obama administration had determined that Iran was at least a year away from a dash necessary to complete a working nuclear weapon and that the White House had succeeded in convincing Israel that there was no imminent threat.
The reactor news suggested the seriousness with which Iran was pursuing its nuclear ambitions. The story suggested the degree to which the United States was determined not to view the working Iranian reactor as a ...
The Other Existential Threat (Commentary Magazine article)
In August, two pieces of news about Iran's nuclear ambitions were revealed almost simultaneously. The first was that Iran had fired up its first nuclear reactor. The second, delivered in an ostentatious leak to the New York Times, was that the Obama administration had determined that Iran was at least a year away from a dash necessary to complete a working nuclear weapon and that the White House had succeeded in convincing Israel that there was no imminent threat.
The reactor news suggested the seriousness with which Iran was pursuing its nuclear ambitions. The story suggested the degree to which the United States was determined not to view the working Iranian reactor as a ...
Gilad Schalit (JPost Person of the Year) – “Beloved Emblem of a Conflicted Israel”
Our dear, sweet Gilad: Abba and Ima, Yoel and Hadas very much want to hear from you and hope that you are healthy and are feeling well, as well as is possible in your situation. Who among us could have imagined, back on June 26, 2006, as a rapt Israel listened to the radio and heard those words and the letter from Gilad Schalit's parents that followed, that more than four years later he would still not be home? That some 1,540 interminable days and lonely nights later, his captors would still not have permitted him a single visit from the Red Cross. Or that with five birthdays now marked in captivity, ...
Acceptable in Polite Society (A Commentary Magazine Blog)
The German word Salonfähig doesn’t have a precise English translation. The closest English can do is something along the lines of “acceptable in polite society.” Salonfähig came to mind when I got my first look at the outrageous cover of this week’s Time magazine. Against a light blue background is a Star of David composed of white daisies. “Blue and white” brought to you by Time. But in the middle of the star, in stark black letters, lies the title of this week’s cover story: “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace.”
Here we are in the middle of peace negotiations that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted upon, and to which the president of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, ...
Here we are in the middle of peace negotiations that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted upon, and to which the president of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, ...
The Ground Zero Mosque — What Americans Could Learn from Israel
The Jerusalem Post September 3, 2010In its basic form, the Ground Zero mosque debate boils down to a conflict between two competing values – American freedom of religion versus the sensitivities of the families of the victims of 9/11.
The freedom-of-religion argument suggests that if Jews sought to build a synagogue at Ground Zero (or anywhere else, for that matter), they would be within their rights. That’s the American way. The opposing view suggests that while not every Catholic was guilty in the Holocaust, and not every Muslim perpetrated the crimes of 9/11, sensitivities still matter. Pope John Paul II had the decency to ...
In Praise of Shame
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on August 26, 2010 | 40 Comments
After an overdose of local news a few nights ago, I went onto Amazon and typed in “shame.” As I expected, all I could find were books about overcoming shame, how to move beyond it. The top hit was Healing the Shame that Binds You, but there were many more: Letting Go of Shame or Healing the Shame We Don’t Deserve, and so on.
But isn’t there shame that we do deserve? What about learning to live with shame that is almost unbearable? Isn’t it precisely by becoming harrowingly aware of our faults and misdeeds that we become better people? Why no books about living with shame, rather than just getting beyond it?
It’s not only ...
But isn’t there shame that we do deserve? What about learning to live with shame that is almost unbearable? Isn’t it precisely by becoming harrowingly aware of our faults and misdeeds that we become better people? Why no books about living with shame, rather than just getting beyond it?
It’s not only ...
Rest in Pieces – A Thought for Tisha B’Av
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on July 19, 2010 | 20 Comments
Khaled’s been our “fix-it” guy for a decade. When he was over recently, I came upon him in the living room as he was taking a break from his work. He was looking at a series of photographs on the wall, one of which is called “Rest in Pieces.”
“What is this?” he asked.
“It’s a Jewish cemetery in Argentina,” I told him. “See the Hebrew lettering on the tombstones?”
“But why are the tombstones shattered?” “People broke them,” I explained.
“But why would anyone do that?” “Because they hate Jews, I guess,” I told him.
“Why?” And a moment later, “But these Jews were dead,” he said to me. “They hate dead Jews, ...
“It’s a Jewish cemetery in Argentina,” I told him. “See the Hebrew lettering on the tombstones?”
“But why are the tombstones shattered?” “People broke them,” I explained.
“But why would anyone do that?” “Because they hate Jews, I guess,” I told him.
“Why?” And a moment later, “But these Jews were dead,” he said to me. “They hate dead Jews, ...
The Five – State Solution
At long last, even if years too late, Israelis woke up this week to the realization that we face yet another existential threat. Yes, it took 100,000 “Men in Black” in downtown Jerusalem to make the point, but finally, we get it. As dangerous as are the delegitimization of Israel and the specter of a nuclear Iran, Israel is no less threatened by a growing population of religious fundamentalists who insist on the right to racial discrimination in their schools and who utterly reject the legitimacy and authority of the Supreme Court. They reject, in other words, the idea of a “Jewish and democratic” state.
There’s more, of course, including their treatment of Sephardim (even ...
The Tower of Babel and the Birth of Nationhood
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Uncategorized on June 21, 2010 | 9 Comments
"A unified humanity is an age-old dream - one that the Bible completely rejects."
And now for something completely different -- an article on the political significance of the Bible's Tower of Babel story. You can read it online here or download a PDF here.
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Comments and reactions, as always, below ... A Botched Raid, a Vital Embargo (New York Times Op Ed)
A Botched Raid, a Vital Embargo
By DANIEL GORDIS
June 3, 2010
Jerusalem
IN the last few days, Jerusalem has been blanketed by an unusual combination of humiliation and steely determination. How is it, people here wondered aloud, that the same country that tripled its size in three lightning days in June 1967 and then pulled off the rescue at Entebbe nine years later now seems to botch everything?
We lost the 2006 war in Lebanon, believing incorrectly that our venerated air force could win the war from the skies. The strikes on Gaza in December 2008 were a military success, but we have utterly failed to convince the ...
Facebook Meets the Flotilla
An old high school friend, who's taken great exception to a couple of my most recent Jerusalem Post columns, has been telling me of late on my Facebook page how out of touch with American Jewry I am. He let loose again today. Here's what he had to say:
Hey Danny....yet again a misguided Israeli political and military mission with regard to Gaza that American Jewry will be asked to stand by and support. All over the news Israel will be referred to as "the Jewish State" as worldwide condemnation will pour in. As a Jew I will be on the defensive despite the fact that I have no vote and no say in ...
Hey Danny....yet again a misguided Israeli political and military mission with regard to Gaza that American Jewry will be asked to stand by and support. All over the news Israel will be referred to as "the Jewish State" as worldwide condemnation will pour in. As a Jew I will be on the defensive despite the fact that I have no vote and no say in ...
Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President of the Shalem Center, where he is also a senior fellow. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and currents in Israel...
The Jewish State must end, say its enemies, from intellectuals like Tony Judt to hate-filled demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even average Israelis are wondering if they wouldn't be better off somewhere else. 
