Tag: Zionism
No Right to Exhaustion
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Featured Articles on October 9, 2009 | 55 Comments
Dear Jay,
We don’t know each other, though I’ve known of you and your work for some time. Like many others, I recently read your “How I’m Losing My Love For Israel” in the Forward. Because you write so articulately, and because your column has attracted such widespread attention, I’m taking the liberty of responding.
The truth is, you and I agree about a lot. We’re both worried about some of what’s happening to Israeli society. We’re both tired of all the equivocating (though probably for different reasons). We’d both love some real leadership around here. We’d both like peace. And we’re both exhausted.
That exhaustion is the first reason you give for that fact that your “love [for Israel] is starting to wane.” But frankly, ...
Protecting the Zionist Narrative, At Last
In Perspective: Protecting the Zionist narrative at last
Jun. 4, 2009
Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST
Imagine that Germany, embittered by incessant reminders of what happened during the Holocaust, passed a law forbidding German Jews from publicly marking the destruction of European Jewry. Or that the US Congress, tired of hearing Native Americans recite their tales of woe, made it illegal for them to mention their losses on July 4. If Turkey passed legislation like that, directed at Armenian memories of 1915, we would hardly blink an eye. But if a genuine democracy followed suit? We would scarcely believe our ears.
So why are we not more distressed by legislation before the Knesset that would criminalize marking the "Nakba" ...
Aipac Policy Conference, Washington DC, June 2008 – Part 1
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Podcasts on May 4, 2009 | Leave a comment
Aipac Policy Conference, Washington DC, June 2008 – Part 2
Posted by Daniel Gordis in Podcasts on May 4, 2009 | Leave a comment
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 ...
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.
Campfire (2004)
It's the early 1980's, and a single mother decides to move with her two daughters to a religious-Zionist settlement in the "occupied territories." The movie casts a not always flattering lens on the passions and beliefs of the community, shown through the trials of the two teenage daughters and the way they are treated by a host of characters. Painful, sometimes funny, and always poignant.
Israel: A History / Martin Gilbert (1998)
Simply put, a classic history of Israel (very sympathetic) that covers the pre-State and post-Independence periods, from one of our period's great historians. Very readable.
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. 
