THE JERUSALEM POSTMAY 28 2010In October 1994, several days after kidnapped IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman was killed in a failed attempt to save him from his terrorist captors, I was scheduled to teach my weekly graduate seminar at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. But given the horror of what had just transpired, I couldn't even imagine simply teaching as planned. I no longer recall what had been scheduled for that day. But what I do remember is that I decided to scrap the usual fare and that I taught a text in memory of Wachsman.
As the seminar drew to a close, it was obviously quiet in the room. ...
The Storm Ahead
THE JERUSALEM POSTMAY 28 2010In October 1994, several days after kidnapped IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman was killed in a failed attempt to save him from his terrorist captors, I was scheduled to teach my weekly graduate seminar at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. But given the horror of what had just transpired, I couldn't even imagine simply teaching as planned. I no longer recall what had been scheduled for that day. But what I do remember is that I decided to scrap the usual fare and that I taught a text in memory of Wachsman.
As the seminar drew to a close, it was obviously quiet in the room. ...
If This is Our Future
Imagine this, if you can. A prestigious university in the United States, with deep roots in the American Jewish community, invites Israel's ambassador to deliver its annual commencement address. But instead of expressing pride in the choice of speaker and in the country that he represents, the university's students, many of them Jewish, protest. They don't want to hear from the ambassador.(See this Facebook page.) He's a divisive figure, the student newspaper argues, and the students deserved better.
Tragically, of course, there's nothing hypothetical about the scenario. Brandeis University recently decided to award honorary degrees to Michael Oren, Dennis Ross and Paul Simon, among others, at its May 23 commencement, and Ambassador ...
Tragically, of course, there's nothing hypothetical about the scenario. Brandeis University recently decided to award honorary degrees to Michael Oren, Dennis Ross and Paul Simon, among others, at its May 23 commencement, and Ambassador ...
Will Barack Obama Ignite the Third Intifada?
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on March 26, 2010 | 50 Comments
As I was departing the United States following a brief visit last week, the news being broadcast in the airport was preoccupied with Prime Minister Binyamin's Netanyahu's recent and apparently inadvertent snub of Vice President Joe Biden. Some 11 hours later, when I'd landed in Tel Aviv and was listening to the radio in the taxi on the way to Jerusalem, the news was of rioting in Jerusalem, the numbers of police officers injured, and the number of protesters detained during Hamas' "Day of Rage." On the American news, Hillary Clinton was calling for more than an apology, demanding "concrete steps" towards peace on Israel's part. And in Israel, the fluent-Hebrew-speaking Arab protester interviewed on the radio was calling for armed resistance to Israel's ...
Settlement Whiplash
By DANIEL GORDIS
The Jerusalem Post
19/03/2010
It was only a matter of time until settlement construction the issue that the Obama administration has chosen to situate at the very core of its Mideast
policy, as if settlements have anything at all to do with decades of Palestinian recalcitrance reared its proverbial head once again. But now that the issue is back, it's time for some honesty on both sides of the political divide: The wisdom or folly of settlement construction is substantially less obvious than most observers are willing to acknowledge.Barack Obama, Joseph Biden and Hillary ...
policy, as if settlements have anything at all to do with decades of Palestinian recalcitrance reared its proverbial head once again. But now that the issue is back, it's time for some honesty on both sides of the political divide: The wisdom or folly of settlement construction is substantially less obvious than most observers are willing to acknowledge.Barack Obama, Joseph Biden and Hillary ...
Religious Zionism — When Crisis Becomes Opportunity
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on February 26, 2010 | 23 Comments
Religious Zionism is in crisis again. Or so we are being told. In the aftermath of the tragic allegations concerning Rabbi Mordechai (Motti) Elon, religious Zionists are bemoaning yet another crisis in the movement. It's a crisis of trust in charismatic rabbinic leadership, some are saying. Others are asking whether the movement holds its leaders up to standards of such perfection that it is virtually impossible for any high-profile person to acknowledge misdeeds and to ask for help. Still others focus on what this latest round may do to the image of religious Zionism among rank-and-file Israelis.
Important though these issues are, they are not the real crisis. The true crisis, which is wholly unrelated ...
Those Who Destroy You Will Come From Amongst You
Jerusalem Post
February 21, 2010
Few biblical verses are more commonly misquoted than Isaiah 49:17, in which the prophet promises Israel that they have not been forsaken, that the day will come when your destroyers and despoilers shall leave you. But the Hebrew words that mean shall leave you "mimech yetzei,u" can also be easily translated as "will come from among you." Taken out of context, therefore, Isaiah's promise of a secure future can be read to mean, "Those who destroy and despoil you will come from amongst you." And though it's not at all what Isaiah meant, the mistranslation still rings true.
Much has been written ...
Much has been written ...
Saving Israel — An Interview with Jewish Perspective Radio, part 2
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Podcasts on February 2, 2010 | Leave a comment
Saving Israel – an Interview with Jewish Perspective Radio, Part 1
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Podcasts on January 29, 2010 | Leave a comment
Daniel Gordis – Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue – Zionism, The Bible and the Future of Human Freedom
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Podcasts on January 18, 2010 | Leave a comment
The End of the Exodus Era
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on January 2, 2010 | 30 Comments
Dec. 31, 2009
daniel gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST
I no longer recall who told me to read Exodus when I was a kid. But I was transfixed by the book, and a few years later, when I saw the movie, I was enthralled. I probably saw it only once back then (this was long before VHS), but that was more than enough to form a lasting impression of Israel. As if it were lifted out of the Hanukka liturgy, Israel seemed a tale of the triumph of the weak over ...
I no longer recall who told me to read Exodus when I was a kid. But I was transfixed by the book, and a few years later, when I saw the movie, I was enthralled. I probably saw it only once back then (this was long before VHS), but that was more than enough to form a lasting impression of Israel. As if it were lifted out of the Hanukka liturgy, Israel seemed a tale of the triumph of the weak over ...
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. 
