Tag Archives: politics

(Critique of Violence) Judaism & Zionism

Posted on January 26, 2023 by zjb

Israel has always been a laboratory for political theory and Jewish Studies; always also, and especially now, a laboratory for the study of Judaism in relation to the politics of extreme ethno-national religion and political violence. The elections of November … Continue reading →

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(In Israel) Mutations of Judaism (Asa Kasher)

Posted on November 6, 2022 by zjb

Asa Kasher is an Israeli philosopher who wrote many years ago the IDF code of ethics. His comments at FB about the recent election and the shape of the national religious right and the ultra orthodox as dominant social forms … Continue reading →

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Ben-Gvir (American Jewish Organizations Respond) Jewish Power

Posted on November 3, 2022 by zjb

From the caustic and critical to the supine, here are responses from American Jewish organizations to the possible/probable establishment of a theo-fascist government of Israel under Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu.

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(Polar Night) Israel Elections 2022 (Max Weber)

Posted on November 2, 2022 by zjb

Thinking about “politics as a vocation” and these closing lines by Max Weber in reponse to the elections in Israel and to the rise of ethno- and ethno-theofascists both there and here in the United States. Weber recommends himself today … Continue reading →

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Stop American Nazis & Vote Democrat

Posted on October 26, 2022 by zjb

As reported here, this add by the Jewish Democratic Council of America minces no words about threats to democracy and the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. I’m posting an article here by Arno Rosenfeld who provides some backdrop to this ad. … Continue reading →

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Jews + Israel + Fasicism

Posted on September 29, 2022 by zjb

Others might pretend otherwise, but ethics is not the essence of Judaism. Jewishness and Judaism have always been politically fungible. On response to the election of the far right nationalist Giorgia Meloni in Italy are these two columns here and … Continue reading →

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(Cri de Coeur) Against the Reactionary Current in Contemporary Orthodox Judaism (Rabbi Elchanan Poupko)

Posted on June 29, 2022 by zjb

It’s no news that contemporary Orthodox Judaism has cascaded into the reactionary world of rightwing politics now overwhelmed by MAGA and with no end in sight. This cri de coeur by Rabbi Elchanan Poupko posted here at the Times of … Continue reading →

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(In Public Life) Nazis At The Moment

Posted on February 2, 2022 by zjb

It’s not one thing or another, but the way single incidents revolving around Nazis, swastikas, and the Holocaust aggregate in a relatively compressed moment in time. This past week was a case in point. A school board takes Maus off … Continue reading →

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Tablet Magazine Response to Coronavirus (Make Brooklyn Great Again)

Posted on August 31, 2021 by zjb

It is not just the this or that one-off, but the gamut of Covod related content that suggests that Tablet Magazine is a MAGA Jewish outfit. I’m offering below titles, subtitles, and links to what I think is a representative … Continue reading →

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Jewish Socialism (Abba Kovner)

Posted on July 25, 2021 by zjb

Responding with gravitas to a recent online piece of petty Jewish politics, historian David Myers posted something online and there was this picture there of Abba Kovner and his partisan comrades. I went immediately to Dina Porat’s biography The Fall of … Continue reading →

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