Tag Archives: American Judaism

Neo Hasidism (A Review of the New Anthology)

Posted on September 17, 2020 by zjb

            Excellent critical review here at Jewish Currents by Daniel Craft of the 2-vol anthology edited by Arthur Green & Ariel Evan Mayse: A New Hasidism: Roots A New Hasidism: Branches Craft argues that Neo-Hasidism … Continue reading →

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Thinking About Chabad (Joshua Shanes)

Posted on September 16, 2020 by zjb

Joshua Shanes pours out here at FB about his 10 years at Chabad, what drew him into and then away from the community. And the FB post opened a torrential flood of responses, especially modern orthodox and Jewish Studies academics. … Continue reading →

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Black-Jewish Prisms (Jews for Black Lives Matter Movement)

Posted on September 1, 2020 by zjb

  Itself atypical for reasons I will note below, the recent statement of support from across the mainstream liberal and progressive spectrum of the Jewish community for the Black Lives Matter movement raises critical questions about what Jewish things Jews … Continue reading →

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Time Happened to the 20th Century (An American Pickle)

Posted on August 9, 2020 by zjb

This bit caught my attention concerning the passage of time and cultural time-consciousness here from A.O. Scott’s review of the new Seth Rogen, American Pickle. It suggests something true about contemporary American Jewish awareness. The set up of the film … Continue reading →

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(Outside In) The Jews and Jewishness (Parochial)

Posted on July 31, 2020 by zjb

At this exhaustion point in American life, at this tipping point of American Jewish life, it might be a good time to reflect on how little the Jews matter in the world today. By this I mean something specific. After … Continue reading →

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Annexation Polls (Dahlia Scheindlin)

Posted on July 2, 2020 by zjb

  Noted public opinion expert and analyst Dahlia Scheindlin recently conducted a set of questions to Israelis about annexation. Respondents were not given the opportunity to say “I don’t know.”  Of interest in the third slide is the large group … Continue reading →

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(Jews4BlackLives Kavvanot) Ritual Toolkit (JFREJ)

Posted on June 26, 2020 by zjb

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) put together “In the Streets and In Your Home: Jews4BlackLives Ritual Toolkit” which you can find here. Students of contemporary Jewish history and culture will instantly recognize this project as part of decades … Continue reading →

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From Messianism to Real Estate (American Jews & Jewish Settlements in the West Bank)

Posted on June 22, 2020 by zjb

Too long a tale to tell here, the origins of the Jewish settlement project in the occupied West Bank after the 1967 Six Day War was an indigenous phenomenon ideologically rooted in the Israeli religious right and the messianic imagination. … Continue reading →

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Judaism, Pandemic, and Race-Terror (Susannah Heschel)

Posted on June 18, 2020 by zjb

Simply one of the best things out there from a Jewish perspective tying together into a single word a response to the Coronavirus pandemic and to the pandemic of anti-black racism in America. Susannah Heschel posted it here at Immanent … Continue reading →

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White Nationalism At Tablet

Posted on June 14, 2020 by zjb

[h/t Jeffrey Blutinger] Why would a prominent online magazine of crypto-conservative Jewish culture and politics publish “American Racist: A Q & A with Kevin MacDonald, the country’s most influential white identitarian ideologue”? A large indented block quote by interviewer David … Continue reading →

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