Fanatic (Israeli Settlements & Tisha B’Av)

The NYT published today (Thursday) this opinion piece by Dani Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council of Settlements in the West Bank –just in time for the upcoming Tisha B’Av fast Saturday night and Sunday. Tisha B’Av commemorates the destruction of the two Temples, by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and the Romans in 70 CE. The timing of Dayan’s op-ed could not have been more perfect. If he’s right that the settlers are there to stay in Judea and Samaria, and if there won’t be a two state solution, well, then that’s the end of that, isn’t it? Dayan is banking on the status quo sustaining itself indefinitely, which of course it won’t. I have always “liked” Tisha B’Av. There’s nothing like a fast day under hot summer light to remind you that the entire world as you have known it can change, is about to change, in an instant.

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu
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