Monthly Archives: February 2023

(Judaism) Religious Zionism at the Abyss (Huwara)

Posted on February 26, 2023 by zjb

After two young men were murdered by terrorists in the occupied West Bank, some 400 religious settler nationalists go on a rampage in the Palestinian town of Huwara, killing one, wounding many others, killing livestock, burning down homes. and private … Continue reading →

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(Religious Woman) Non-Normative (Western Wall Protest)

Posted on February 15, 2023 by zjb

There was a leak in the press about a proposal by members of the ultra-orthodox Shas party to fine and imprison women at the Western Wall who show up in “immodest” dress or who seek to pray in ways that … Continue reading →

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(Judaism) Religion & Violence (Israel)

Posted on February 14, 2023 by zjb

Backed up by the power of the state which it now controls, religon is a unique source of violence. Religious Zionism and Jewish Power are the ones demanding unbridled settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and unbridled destruction of … Continue reading →

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Secular Zionism = The Dung of the Donkey of the Messiah (Abraham Isaac Kook) (Eulogy for Herzl)

Posted on February 13, 2023 by zjb

Kook’s eulogy for Herzl, which you can read here, is an index of the hostility in religious Zionism as a form of orthodox Judaism to secular value systems. In his introductory remarks to “Lamentation in Jerusalem,” translator Bezalel Na’or reminds … Continue reading →

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(Critique of Religion) Aharon Lichtenstein and Gerald Blidstein (Democracy and Halakhah)

Posted on February 9, 2023 by zjb

The analysis below does not represent the view of an anti-religious and anti-clerical secularism. This critique of religion is internal to religion. By critique is meant demarcation: the limits of religion and the realm of values. I am working off … Continue reading →

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(Israel) Critique of Religion (Eva Illouz)

Posted on February 3, 2023 by zjb

The formula Jewish + Democratric is a brute contradiction only if one reduces “Jewish” to religious and “religious” to Haredi and ethno-religious orthodoxy. In this piece here at Haaretz, sociologist Eva Illouz understands that “critique of religion” the way out … Continue reading →

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(Secular Israelis) Wait Here With The Donkey (Joseph Soloveitchik)

Posted on February 1, 2023 by zjb

Here are jarring remarks by Joseph Soloveitchik about orthodox Judaism and religious Zionism regarding secular Jews. I am re-reading them after the November 2022 election as the main political representatives of orthodox Judaism dominating the new coalition declare war on … Continue reading →

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