Nov. 26, 2009 DANIEL GORDIS , THE JERUSALEM POST 'It never even occurred to me that the Jews were a people." I had just finished speaking on Shabbat morning at a traditional shul on Long Island. The talk had been about the nation-state and its roots in the Book of Genesis. Along the way, I'd made some comments about the changing nature of American Jewish life today, and the ...

Oct. 15, 2009

Daniel Gordis , ...

Neve Gordon Is Not the Problem

Sep. 2, 2009 Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST Intentionally or not, Neve Gordon, senior lecturer and head of the Political Science Department at Ben-Gurion University, has unleashed a firestorm in Israeli academe. His recent op-ed in The Los Angeles Times declared that Israel is an apartheid state, and that it ought to be boycotted to "save Israel ...

Aug. 22, 2009 DANIEL GORDIS , THE JERUSALEM POST It's not even over, but we can already begin to imagine how we'll remember the summer of 2009. Haredi residents of Mea She'arim unleashed violent demonstrations when Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat dared to open a parking lot on Shabbat to relieve unbearable congestion. A few weeks later, Jerusalem neighborhoods were once again filled with smoke from burning trash bins, and this time, municipal workers were attacked, because an apparently deliberately starved baby was removed from his haredi mother's care. The mayor responded by withholding ...

Jul. 2, 2009 Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST I wouldn't be surprised if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were thinking of Tevye these days. Tevye was, after all, a quasi-pathetic character simply trying to make sense of a world changing far more quickly than he might have ever imagined possible. Having granted his daughter, Hodel, permission to marry Perchik the pauper, he wonders, "What am I going to tell your mother?" He didn't choose Perchik, and he doesn't really approve. But he is powerless. And when his wife expresses her dismay, the best explanation he can offer is "It's a new world, Golde."...

In Perspective: Obama is right, it's time for honesty Jun. 11, 2009 Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST In the days leading up to his landmark speech in Cairo, US President Barack Obama said it was time for "honesty" between the United States and Israel. Now he has spoken, and we should respond in kind. For Obama is right - it is time, at long last, for honesty. Too many analyses of the speech have ignored the fact that it was addressed primarily to the Muslim world, and was delivered in Egypt. And in that setting, Obama insisted that the US-Israel relationship could not be upended. He mentioned the Holocaust, ...

While President Obama's speech was addressed to the Arab world, it had been nervously anticipated in Israel, as well. In its aftermath, some Israelis are quibbling with word choices or wondering whether he is naïve in believing that Hamas might renounce terror or that Iranians can be entrusted with civilian nuclear capacity. Others are assailing his comments about settlements. But the real news is that contrary to what many expected, or feared, President Obama assumed positions virtually identical to those of Israel's political center -- namely, that the Palestinians must renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist, while Israel must cease settlement building and permit a Palestinian state ...

A number of years ago, we had a bit of a motley crew over for Shabbat lunch.  I remember that my brother was in town, visiting from New York. Another friend, a significant player in the Federation world was also there, as was a high school friend of one of our kids.  And we were joined by one more friend, an Israeli Arab woman whom we'd initially met through my work. It was an interesting, though hardly relaxed, Shabbat afternoon.  (The conversation took place in English ironically, since even though the Arab woman spoke a mellifluous Hebrew, our American Jewish leader friend didn't. But the abandonment of Hebrew on the part ...

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