Varieties of Post-Religious Experience

Israel is, on top of everything else, a gigantic open-air laboratory for experiments in Judaism and Jewish identity, mixing and matching old and new forms, deliberately and on the fly. One of the more interesting recent specimens is Religiozionisticus Postreligious.

Stitched  Shai Secunda,  Talmud Blog.  The popular Israeli TV series Srugim—named for the knitted kippot of the Modern Orthodox—has a Datlashit character, intelligent, good-willed, and vaguely neurotic.  SAVE

Joining the Majority  Arik Glasner,  Eretz Acheret.  The literary critic tells the story of his journey out of Orthodoxy.  SAVE

Jews against Judaization  Nir Hasson,  Haaretz.  In the protests against Jews seeking property in East Jerusalem, there are Datlashim, Datlafim, "transparent skullcaps"—you can't tell the players without a program.  SAVE

Lives of the Ex-Haredim  Joshua Halberstam,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  As men and women who leave ultra-Orthodox communities usually leave the Jewish world entirely, Israel is losing a resource it can ill afford to squander.  SAVE

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Martyr in Waiting

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Khader Adnan, currently under administrative detention in Israel, has announced the end of his 66-day hunger strike in exchange for a commitment by Israeli authorities to set him free on April 17. His pending release raises a moral dilemma.

New in the Palestinian Arsenal  Mustafa Barghouti,  New York Times.  The op-ed writer hails Adnan's approach as a breakthrough in the 64-year-long struggle to destroy the Zionist enterprise.  SAVE

Hunger Strike as Blackmail  Samanth Subramanian,  National.  A case in India prompts complaints that "fasting unto death" can be deeply coercive, a kind of moral blackmail.  SAVE

Democracies and Administrative Detention  Yaakov Lappin,  Jerusalem Post.  Ticking bombs, protecting sensitive sources, and buying investigative time—these are the reasons why democracies temporarily imprison suspected terrorists without trial.  SAVE

What is Islamic Jihad?  Alden Oreck,  Jewish Virtual Library.  PIJ was formed in 1979 by a fundamentalist who found the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood and its successor, Hamas, too restrained.  SAVE

Power and Constraint  Jack Goldsmith,  W.W. Norton.  The constitutional scholar explains the process by which many Bush administration policies, including those on preventive detention, became Obama policies.  SAVE

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AIPAC and the Politics of Reaffirmation

Politics is a matter of emotions as much as intellect, and rituals and ceremonies are central. The annual AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C. is, perhaps above all, a ceremony of reaffirmation of the relationships among American Jews, non-Jewish Americans, the American state, and Israel.

The Anthropology of AIPAC  Alex Joffe,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  What accounts for the cross-generational passion so vividly on display at the annual conference of the "Israel lobby"? It's not what the critics say.  SAVE

How AIPAC Beat J Street  Josh Block,  Foreign Policy.  A year ago, U.S.-Israel relations were in a state of constant confrontation. As of now, the storm has cleared. What happened?  SAVE

Obama's AIPAC Seder  Lenny Ben-David,  Times of Israel.  The president insisted he would prevent Iran from getting a "nuclear weapon." Perhaps more interesting is what he did not say.  SAVE

War is Inevitable  Barry Rubin,  PJMedia.  If Obama says Israel can't live with a nuclear Iran, how can Netanyahu fail to attack? And how can Obama fail to support him?  SAVE

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What Would Ariel Sharon Do?

Biographies of father by sons are an uncertain genre. Closeness necessarily entails distortion, positive or negative. But at a time when the vast majority of Israeli and world leaders seem strikingly small, it is worth considering the portrait of Ariel Sharon provided by his youngest son.

Who's Right, Who Isn't?  Elliot Jager,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  In 1973 Sharon helped create the Likud party. In 2005 he unilaterally pulled out of Gaza. There are "things you see from here," he said, "that you don't see from there."  SAVE

Ladies in Waiting  Elliot Jager,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Sharon founded Kadima in 2005 as a centrist, pragmatic party. Its current leadership has pulled it to the left—and, electorally, has not fared well.  SAVE

At a Single Stroke  Ethan Bronner,  New York Times.  After Sharon's stroke, his sons fought with his doctors about whether he should be allowed to die. Six years later, he remains alive.  SAVE

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Footnotes to Footnote

Director Joseph Cedar's film Hearat Shulayim (Footnote) takes place in the Hebrew University Talmud Department, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the (unnamed) Shalom Hartman Institute—the Jerusalem cloisters of the small network of Israel's talmudic academic elite.

Footnote  Sony Classics.  Trailer and release information for the film.  SAVE

Oscar Footprint  Nirit Anderman,  Haaretz.  Footnote didn't win the award, but Israel's four Oscar nominees in five years is an accomplishment unmatched by any other country of its size.  SAVE

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