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Tag: War
A real miracle or the doing of extraordinary people?
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on December 11, 2009 | 60 Comments
Dec. 10, 2009
DANIEL GORDIS , THE JERUSALEM POST
It's been almost a year since St.-Sgt. Dvir Emanuelof became the first casualty of Operation Cast Lead, losing his life to Hamas mortar fire just as he entered Gaza early in the offensive. But sitting with his mother, Dalia, in her living room last week, I was struck not by loss, but by life. And not by grief, but by fervent belief. And by a more recent story about Dvir that simply needs to be told, especially now at Hanukka, our season of miracles.
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The War We Haven’t Fought Yet
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on August 23, 2009 | 20 Comments
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 ...
For the Sake of Clarity – A Thought Experiment
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Uncategorized on May 17, 2009 | 42 Comments
In Perspective: For the sake of clarity, a thought experiment
May. 14, 2009
Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST
He was in his 20s, the young man with the question after my lecture. He couldn't have asked it more kindly or gently. Without a hint of cynicism or anger, he expressed what was clearly on the minds of many of the people his age in the crowd: "Can you justify a Jewish state," he wanted to know, "when having a Jewish state means giving up on so many of Judaism's values?"
Here's what he didn't say: Israel is the root of evil in the Middle East. It's the cause of checkpoints, of roadblocks, of a big ugly wall that runs ...
Pope Benedict’s Missed Opportunity
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on May 13, 2009 | Leave a comment
Pope Benedict XVI had his work cut out for him when he arrived in the Holy Land. His childhood Hitler Youth membership and his Wehrmacht service during World War II have sowed deep discomfort in a country where the Holocaust still feels like recent memory. Disappointment over his reinstatement of Bishop Richard Williamson, an unabashed Shoah denier, further contributed to the close scrutiny to which his words, particularly at Yad Vashem, have been subjected.
Was Israelis' disappointment in the Pope's remarks here inevitable? Perhaps. But the Vatican's defense of Benedict XVI, saying that "he can't mention everything every time he speaks," illustrated how completely the Holy See misunderstood what Israelis had hoped to hear.
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Erev Yom Ha-Atzma’ut – A Brief Reminder About Purpose
There's a certain look to a widow who's in her mid-twenties, whose husband was killed in Gaza in January. Eyes swollen with tears, yet with steely determination at the same time. A certain vulnerability on her still very young face, and a face that seems too old for her age, all at the same time. An image of pain and of unspeakable sadness, but not asking for pity. Was it just me, or was it clear that even in the midst of her unbearable burden, she knew full well that she - like the young husband who was taken from her far too early - is part of something much larger than she is? Is that why, looking at her, I had a sense ...
Waltz with Bashir (2009)
An Academy Award nominee, and the winner of numerous Israeli and international prizes, this is a mostly animated film that had Israel in its grip for some time. It addresses the long term memory of soldiers who fought in the first Lebanon War and are still dealing with the pain of the Sabra and Shatila massacres, for which Israel felt at least partially responsible. A masterful work of art. Watch it, and you'll understand why many Israelis wondered whether it wasn't actually fortunate that it didn't win. Is this a movie that we have to receive even more international attention, Israelis wondered. See what you think.
Beaufort (2007)
This is the movie that brought the first Lebanon war to Israeli screens. There is simply no film that does a better job of explaining why Israelis have become war-weary, cynical about the utility of additional military expeditions. It's not a terribly gory movie. But it's tense, and sad. And a feeling of futility pervades. Watch this film, and you'll never see the work of young Israeli soldiers in quite the same way.
Six Days of War / Michael B. Oren (2002)
Universally lauded, this book has become a classic. A history of the Six Day War, it reads like a novel. Of particular interest to many will be the opening sections that discuss the period called the "hamtanah," the weeks prior to the war when many Israelis really feared that the end was at hand. The fragility of the new Jewish State is brought to live in vivid detail.
The Book of Intimate Grammar / David Grossman (1994)
David Grossman is among Israel's greatest novelists. This book, in addition to his "See Under: Love", are wonderful introductions to his work. Intimate Grammar tracks the story of a poor adolescent in the period of the Six Day War, offering a glimpse into the two Israels of the period: the victor in the Six Day War, and the society still coming to terms with those on its fringes.
A Modest Proposal
When we lived in the States, periods like this were agonizing for me, providing, as they did, massive overdoses of cognitive dissonance. I was thinking about only one place, but I'd chosen to live in another. I was concerned about one group of people more than anyone else, but I'd elected not to live with them. The gap between what I felt and where I made my home felt unbearable.
Yes, we sought to compensate. In those pre-Internet days, we read the paper voraciously. We listened to the radio incessantly, and when things were truly tense, we found ways of rigging up televisions in our offices. But still, it was vicarious participation, and at times, the pain of that dissonance was more than I ...
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. 
