Tag Archives: political theology

(Orthodox Religion) Bellicose and Narrow (Michael Wyschogrod)

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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Spinoza Passover Hebrew Republic

This Passover at a time of global and religious reaction, let’s be done with political theology. And let’s remember Spinoza, the exodus from tyranny, and the blueprint of a Hebrew commonwealth, based on the Bible, in which religion and state … Continue reading

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Religion and Violence (Horror)

It should be obvious that there is, of course, no single or linear-causal relation between religion and violence. As argued by Religious Studies scholars, this is a modern secular myth. Attentive to difference, one could note that there is civil … Continue reading

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(Democracy) Red Line (Jerusalem)

Artist-activists draw a red line in Jerusalem connecting the Russian Compoun and the Supreme Court The organizer released this startement in Hebrew which I google-translated: A red and pink stripe will be painted along the way, marking the inseparable connection … Continue reading

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(Judaism) Religious Zionism at the Abyss (Huwara)

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)

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)

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 unnbidled 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)

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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(Israel) Critique of Religion (Eva Illouz)

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)

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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