Tag: aliya
Loyalty Cuts Both Ways
On this sign, unlike any of the others in the zoo which display Hebrew, English and Arabic, this sign had Hebrew and Arabic in the center, English on the side, and under them all, a brief Yiddish exclamation - "Dos is nisht a chazir." This is not a pig!! One can chuckle at a sign like that, and say "Only in Israel! Or you can ask yourself what that sign actually reveals about Israeli society.
Turn Left at the End of the World (2004)
Set at the end of the 1960's, this movie, which was a great success in Israel, portrays the travails of the Northern African immigrants who were sent to dilapidated towns "at the end of the world" as Israel struggled to settled the masses arriving at its borders. Uprooted from their native lands, having lost their former social and familial structures, and struggling to raise children in a society they themselves do not understand, the characters in this gorgeous movie struggle to find love, meaning and the prospect of a better future. An honest, charming and sad look at the story of Israel's Northern African immigrants, now a defining portion of our political and social map.
Why Would You Live Here?
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on March 1, 2009 | 2 Comments
So there we are, sitting at the Shabbat lunch table, guests of friends we hadn’t seen in far too long. We were three couples, all of us immigrants, each with kids, ranging from 22 (with a boyfriend) to 4 (without a boyfriend). And another couple, parents of our hosts, visiting from the States, both of them well known and highly regarded academics. Sometime in the middle of lunch, the mother of the hostess, whose academic interest is “identity,” asks us all, without even a hint of irony or condescension, “Can you please explain to me why you would choose to live here? What got you to leave what you had and come here?”
No one, it was clear, had asked any of us that ...
The Campaign that Lieberman Should Have Run
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on February 26, 2009 | 1 Comment
Dear Mr. Lieberman: Quite understandably, you didn't ask me to run your campaign. But now, in this extended hiatus between the campaign and a new government, I'd like to offer you some unsolicited advice about the next stage of the message you convey to the Israeli people.
It's no secret that you've aroused the ire of many, from religious parties on the Right to those on the Left concerned about civil liberties. Ironically, though, your message could easily have appealed to many religious people and to some of those committed to civil liberties. To do that, you would simply have had to craft your message slightly differently, which you still can do.
Let me explain. Ironically, of all the parties that received significant numbers of votes, ...
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. 
