archive

Of Jewish identity

Kenneth Lasson (Baltimore): Antisemitism in the Academic Voice: Confronting Bigotry Under the First Amendment. A review of Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism: From Antiquity to the Global Jihad by Robert S. Wistrich. From the Jewish Review of Books, debates about Zion and its relation to the diaspora aren't new — do they speak to us now? A review of Zionism and the Roads Not Taken: Rawidowicz, Kaplan, Kohn by Noam Pianko. A review of Boundaries of Jewish Identity. Shekelball: A season in the now-defunct Israeli Baseball League. Hilla Dayan on Israel against democracy. What's wrong with American Jews taking partisan sides in Israel? Only a third to half of American Jews today believe in an almighty deity — can there be Judaism without belief in God? Udi Aloni, author of What Does a Jew Want? On Binationalism and Other Specters, interviews Judith Butler (and more). From NYRB, a review essay on Israel. Albert Camus, who died an atheist at 46, had surprisingly deep ties to Judaism in his life, his political activity, and his philosophical thought. What can the DNA of Ashkenazi Jews tell us about living longer? A monster among the "frum": The faithful of Borough Park have a saying, “We are all of one face” — the life of Levi Aron, the outcast awaiting trial for the murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, suggests otherwise. The introduction to How Judaism Became a Religion: An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought by Leora Batnitzky (and more). From Foreign Affairs, what about Israeli rejectionism? Ghassan Khatib and Michael Broning on why the Jewish state must recognize Palestine; and can the center hold? Yossi Klein Halevi on understanding Israel’s pragmatic majority. A clash of cultures in the Holy Land: An article on the ultra-Orthodox in Israel (and more).