Author Archives: zjb

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

Illegal Settlements Fail To Settle Hearts and Mind in Israel

Posted on August 8, 2023 by zjb

Based on demography, the fragility of the illegal settlement project in the Israeli Occupied Palestinian West Bank boils down to the failure of the settlement movement to “settle the hearts and mind” of the larger public in Israel. Setting itself … Continue reading →

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(Torah Trumps Life) Haredi Response to Covid and Uncivil Religion

Posted on July 28, 2023 by zjb

I wrote this essay, “Torah Trumps Life,” trying to get a handle on the catastrophic Haredi response to Covid during year-one of the pandemic. It is my contrubution to this special issue on Jewish Thiought in Times of Crisis, edited … Continue reading →

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(Zionism) Secularism Democracy Religion (Israel)

Posted on July 24, 2023 by zjb

In real-time, Israel has become a huge laboratory-experiment for the study of religion, politics, law, and society; a small and ugly petri-dish for the study of contemporary Judaism and Jewishness. Elected in November 2022 and with passage of the first … Continue reading →

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Pro-Coup & Anti-Coup (Israel and West Bank)

Posted on July 23, 2023 by zjb

These two maps. On the right, the map shows where people can grab a bus for a pro-government, pro-regime coup demonstreation to be held in Tel Aviv. On the left, the map marks points where pro-democracy protests have taken place … Continue reading →

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Smoke

Posted on July 17, 2023 by zjb
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(Air) Smoke (New York City)

Posted on June 7, 2023 by zjb
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End The Occupation and Celebrate Israel (Ayman Odeh)

Posted on June 5, 2023 by zjb

I am not posting digital photos of the ugly spectacle this year at the 2023 Celebrate Israel parade in New York City: the huge and unthinking mass of rightwing American modern orthodox dayschool students and their teachers cursing and flipping … Continue reading →

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(Orthodox Religion) Bellicose and Narrow (Michael Wyschogrod)

Posted on May 21, 2023 by zjb

Modern Orthodox Judaism has wrestled with the tension between halakhic norms and human-moral conscience since the late 196os. I have posted already about Aharon Lichtenstein and Gerald Blidstein. Apropos to this year’s ugly national-religious flag march last week in the … Continue reading →

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(S1) Sassoon Codex (Sephardic Jewish Cultural Memory)

Posted on May 17, 2023 by zjb

S1 is one of the names of the Sassoon Codex, one of the oldest biblical codex. This precious object made of sheepskin and ink was just bought at Soetheby’s for some $38,000,000 by a purchaser acting on behalf of the … Continue reading →

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Nakba & Democracy

Posted on May 15, 2023 by zjb

For general interest I am posting here the translation of a historical document from an Israeli security officer regarding the Palestinian Nakba and a 2019 article here by Hagar Shezaf relating to it and other documents being hidden/removed from Israeli … Continue reading →

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