No, no, no, my silly little hate purveyor, you stand with Gush Katif, not Israel. You’ve condemned the vast majority of American Jews who support Israel in one way or another — Reform Jews specifically, all liberal streams by extension, saying Orthodox Jews are the only good Jews. Those people don’t support Israel the way [...]
Archive for March, 2011
The Israeli right’s lack of “democracy” in “Jewish democracy”
Anti-democracy alert: Likud Minister of Knesset Danny Danon proposed a new bill today which so fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of democracy and democratic institutions that I am left a bit breathless. Terminology clarity: Democracy is not the tyranny of the majority but the protection of the rights of everyone. Democracy by definition grants the individual [...]
Mar 28th, 2011 Israel 0 Comments
Davidi Gilo of J Street before the Knesset inquiry committee
A choice quote from the presentation J Street gave before the Knesset investigation into its pro-Israel credentials, by J Street Board Chair Davidi Gilo: The headline of this discussion today is: “Breaking the conventions of the relationship between communities of the Jewish world and the Israeli governments”. I have also read the speech of Knesset [...]
Mar 24th, 2011 Israel 0 Comments
Statement by the President on Bombing in Jerusalem
Courtesy of the White House’s Danielle Borrin: THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ______________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 23, 2011 Statement by the President on Bombing in Jerusalem I condemn in the strongest possible terms the bombing in Jerusalem today, as well as the rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in recent days. [...]
Mar 23rd, 2011 Israel 0 Comments
Mechon Hadar’s lecture series on religious Zionism
Mechon Hadar offered this three-part series “Redemptive Dreams, Stubborn Realities: The Past and Future of Religious Zionism” by Rabbi Shai Held, a thoughtful and progressive thinker that I greatly admire. I wish I could have attended this lecture. It is odd that my own approach to Israel is outwardly secular and inwardly religious, yet I [...]
Mar 20th, 2011 Israel and Judaism 1 Comment
Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery, originally uploaded by Kung Fu Jew 18.
Mar 19th, 2011 General 0 Comments
“Na Nach Nachman Ma’oman”
IMG01094, originally uploaded by Kung Fu Jew 18. Tagged to the foundation of a building under construction near my work, in the vicinity of Sixth Avenue and 29th Street, Manhattan.
Mar 14th, 2011 General 0 Comments
Rep. Anthony Weiner: There are no Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories
This most laughable of assertions I think shows not how right-wing American Jews are, but how phenomenally ignorant. I’m not sure if Rep. Weiner was trying to play to a sizable conservative base in his Queens-Brooklyn district, which notably includes Kew Gardens, or if he really believed this. Wiener was on a panel with former [...]
Mar 11th, 2011 Israel 0 Comments
The distancing of American Jewish identity from Israel
I don’t agree with Shmuel Rosner at the Jerusalem Post very often. But when it comes to statistical reportage about American Jewish attitudes towards Israel, there is little to disagree about. From an excerpt to his forthcoming book, he mentions some statistics that I also detailed on my Tuesday packed-house panel “Engaging Young Jews with [...]
Mar 10th, 2011 Israel 1 Comment
Star Wars slot machines
Star Wars slot machines, originally uploaded by Kung Fu Jew 18. They have everything here. Oy vey.
Mar 8th, 2011 General 0 Comments