The Pale God

Imagine God not as a benign force infusing the universe with love and sustaining it with mercy, and not as a stern judge smiting sinners from on high with his cosmic zap-gun, but as a grandfatherly figure, kind but, truth be told, somewhat out of it, sitting in a corner, tolerant of the various paths his children have chosen.

A Portrait of Israeli Jewry  Asher Arian, Ayala Keissar-Sugarmen,  Avi Chai Foundation.  A comprehensive study of religious behavior among Israeli Jews, worshiping Spinoza's pale God. (PDF)  SAVE

Secularism and Its Discontents  Yehudah Mirsky,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A dependence on the idea of Jewish "tradition" has been a hallmark of Jewish secularists and proto-secularists for nine centuries or so.  SAVE

Spinoza: A Life  Steven Nadler,  Cambridge University Press.  The first complete biography of Spinoza in any language—and a portrait of 17th-century Jewish Amsterdam.  SAVE

Gender Trouble  Yehudah Mirsky,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Israel's secularists have their work cut out for them in implementing their vision of a moderate, state-friendly Judaism.  SAVE

SAVE "The Pale God"

Hear, O Friends of Israel

In 1987, exactly a quarter-century ago, the appearance of a work of Jewish history caused a stir. For one thing, the author was not Jewish; for another, the book was unashamedly supportive of the State of Israel, which even then was enough to provoke hostility, especially on the Left.

The Miracle  Paul Johnson,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  The creation of Israel was the quintessential event of the last century, and the only one that can fairly be called a miracle.  SAVE

SAVE "Hear, O Friends of Israel"

Bloomsbury's Rabbi

A translator stands between two languages and between the two worlds that the languages represent. If he does his job well, he may belong in neither place. Such was the fate of Samuel Koteliansky, an emigré Russian Jew who translated Chekhov, befriended D.H. Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield, and circulated on the fringes of the Bloomsbury group.

Bloomsbury Recalled  Quentin Bell,  Columbia University Press.  Bell's memoir of his parents and their friends—Woolf, Forster, Strachey—who made up the dazzling, dated Bloomsbury group.  SAVE

D.H. Lawrence and Kangaroo  George Simmers,  Great War Fiction.  In Lawrence's World War I novel, the "really ugly" character based on Koteliansky was a minor player, much like Kot in Bloomsbury.  SAVE

Leonard Woolf's Complexity  Claire Messud,  New York Times.  Leonard Woolf—"the Jew," to Virginia and her friends—was "noble, engaged, and quietly passionate."  SAVE

SAVE "Bloomsbury's Rabbi"

Johnson, Livingstone.

Rematch!

London—Europe's biggest city, with 5.8 million eligible voters—goes to the polls on May 3rd to elect a mayor. Like any big city mayoral campaign, the contest will revolve mainly around local issues. But the race also has the potential to return a vitriolic anti-Zionist to City Hall.

Back into the Fray  Economist.  In 2008, London voters had a clear choice between Livingstone and Johnson. This time it's even starker.  SAVE

Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word  Andrew Gilligan,  Daily Telegraph.  The reviewer sees the "stench of scores being settled" pervading Livingstone's memoir. And there's no remorse for his rabid anti-Israelism.  SAVE

Who is Ed Miliband, and What Does He Want?  Elliot Jager,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Miliband is generally frosty toward the Jewish state—and not particularly helpful to Britain's Jewish community, either.  SAVE

SAVE "Rematch!"