Analysis
Friday, March 2nd 2012
Benjamin Brown, The Hazon Ish: Halakhist, Believer and Leader of the Haredi Revolution [Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2011). xiv + 951 pages, + English summary. ISBN: 978-965 -493-528-9 Haredi Judaism, also known as “ultra-Orthodoxy”, is much in the news recently. It has come to be seen as a strong and controversial force on the […]
Tuesday, February 21st 2012
As we enthusiastically follow the “Arab Spring” overthrow of Arab tyrants and dictators, we think, and hope, that “the Arab street” is calling out for democracy and human rights, and that Arab societies are becoming more humane civil societies. But our enthusiasm and expectations are based less on an understanding of the Middle East and […]
Thursday, February 16th 2012
Greenspahn, Frederick, ed. Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah: New Insights and Scholarship. New York: New York University Press, 2011. xviii + 250 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8147-3286-1 If there is any area within the field of Jewish studies that has captured the imagination of people beyond the academy, it is kabbala. A person walking into a bookstore […]
Monday, February 13th 2012
According to Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, “Canada does not stand behind Israel; Canada stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel.” And he’s right. Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s leadership, Canada has unquestionably assumed the mantle, previously held by the U.S., of “Israel’s best friend.” This stems primarily from the fact that Canada’s current government […]
Wednesday, December 21st 2011 / Wednesday, February 15th 2012
Israel, the Jewish people’s miraculously reborn state, faces many serious and concerning current issues. Nevertheless, it is good from time to time to stand back from the periodic crises in order to appreciate the modern democratic polity’s resilient, ongoing strength and truly remarkable achievements. That Israel confronts many cascading and reinforcing threats is self-evident. […]
Tuesday, September 20th 2011 / Wednesday, November 16th 2011
Then Satan said: This beleaguered soul—[Israel] How can I subdue him? He has courage and skill And weapons and ingenuity and judgment. And he said: I will not take his strength. Nor fetter nor restrain him I will not weaken his will Nor dampen his spirit. This will I do: Dull his brain Until he […]
While the Arab awakening or Arab Spring, as it’s been dubbed, has focused world attention on Egypt, Libya and Syria, a potentially explosive drama is unfolding elsewhere in the region, in Bahrain. The jury is still out as to how the conflicts in Libya and Syria will resolve themselves, or if this awakening will, indeed, be […]
The direct connection between the ordeals of Gilad Shalit and of an Israel enmeshed in the toils of the so-called "peace process" is well worth pondering, especially as we celebrate the national-religious holiday ofHanukkah and its Maccabean victory over anti-Jewish tyranny. The 20-year-old Shalit, then an IDF soldier, was captured near Gaza in June 2006; […]
Finally—after weeks of indecisive hesitation, and with Col. Khaddafi’s forces about to conquer Benghazi, the Libyan rebels’ last strong-hold—les jeux sont faits, the game, as the French say, is up. Under French and British pressure, American President Barack Obama (supposedly sandbagged by three female Cabinet advisers, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Ambassador Susan […]
Mahmoud Abbas at the UN, to paraphrase Julius Caesar, venit, vidit, sed non vincit, “He came, he saw, but he did not conquer”. His demand, wrapped rhetorically in the usual uncompromising narrative distortions and untruths, was that Palestine—while ignoring direct negotiations with Israel—be recognized by the Security Council as a fully sovereign state. Abbas was […]
President Ahmadinejad of Iran has been pretty forthright about his views of Israel: "Iran believes that whoever is for humanity should also be for eradicating the Zionist regime (Israel) as symbol of suppression and discrimination," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with a Lebanese television network, carried by ISNA. Ahmadinejad also recently said that Iranians […]
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