This new blog seems promising, though I do not envy its author. I have very mixed feelings about his situation; even if I believe that it is wrong to remain in such a position, I do not claim that I would be able to withstand the pressures associated with the loss of financial stability (even though I went through that these past few years, as I transitioned from rabbi to writer).
Most of us presume to "believe in God" as a sort of catechism. These are the things you must profess - or at least not disavow - if you wish to remain in the fold. Whether or not we really believe is a totally separate question, and I would imagine that many people simply do not wish to see how deep the rabbit hole really goes. The Orthodox rabbinate has very little to do with theology, so ultimately the blogger is right, it is quite possible to do an adequate job as rabbi without believing in God. It is even possible to experience a calling to the pastoral aspects of the vocation. And if the congregation is happy with the rabbi, why not keep him? (It would be incredibly ironic, though, if he's the rabbi of a Young Israel: atheist rabbi - fine; woman president - chas ve-shalom)
In truth, the dilemmas that he poses crop up on a small scale all the time. Orthodox synagogues have plenty of atheist members. When one such member says a brakha it is null and void according to halakha. One may not be yotzei with such a person's kiddush. Yet it does not really hinder people at all.
Additionally, are rabbis not entitled to the occasional crisis of faith? Must the rabbi always have the answer, believe with complete and perfect faith? Why must we expect more of the rabbi than we do of the balabus on this matter - their obligations are equal. Rabbi is ultimately a job description.
If there's something that bugs me it's that he professes to not keep much halakha at all. Now we enter into Acher territory, the famous scenario where R. Elisha b. Avuya tells R. Meir that he is about to pass the techum Shabbat as he himself rides his horse right on past. Or, to use a more contemporary but crude example, it reminds us of Bertrand Russell.On some level, "do as I say and not as I do" fails.
In any case, I look forward to reading more of what he has to say.
6/30/2010
6/28/2010
Roberted
If someone parses what you've wrote and criticizes it piece by piece, then you've been fisked. The term originated with Robert Fisk, who was an early victim of said process.
If your Supreme Court nomination was not confirmed because of an onslaught of media criticism, then you've been borked, like Robert Bork was in the 1980s (recently brought to the worlds attention as Bork attempts to bork Kagan).
So if someone criticizes you in an innovative way as to make an example of you to such a large degree that your name becomes synonymous with that process of criticism henceforth, have you been roberted?
If your Supreme Court nomination was not confirmed because of an onslaught of media criticism, then you've been borked, like Robert Bork was in the 1980s (recently brought to the worlds attention as Bork attempts to bork Kagan).
So if someone criticizes you in an innovative way as to make an example of you to such a large degree that your name becomes synonymous with that process of criticism henceforth, have you been roberted?
6/23/2010
Welcome to Jack (Abramoff) N the (Tov Pizza) Box
If it's true that there's no such thing as bad publicity, then good 'ol Tov Pizza in Baltimore just got more PR than any kosher pizza place in history. Their new hire has made the news EVERYWHERE. I mean everywhere.
It reminds me of the following classic sketch about orders being taken by another famous Jack:
It reminds me of the following classic sketch about orders being taken by another famous Jack:
6/17/2010
From the Archives: The Antinomian Wife
On The Contrary: The Antinomian Wife
Just came across this 3 year old post.
So much current events in it: this past week's parsha, Gaza, and R. Mordechai Eliyahu.
Just came across this 3 year old post.
So much current events in it: this past week's parsha, Gaza, and R. Mordechai Eliyahu.
6/09/2010
A Modern Day Korach?
Although Korach comes off as a wholly negative figure in the Torah, later works, especially works influenced by kabbalistic literature, take a far more ambivalent attitude toward him. Reb Tzadok especially maintains that Korach was a tzaddik and that the only reason that he was killed only as an acquiescence of God to Moshe's will (!).
There are numerous - too numerous - explanations of Korach's wrongdoing. In fact, one man's Korach can be the next man's Moshe. Nevertheless, we can rather safely say that Korach was anti-establishment even though, as a cousin of Moshe and a Kehatite, he was on the fringes of the establishment. Moshe's response of "rav lakhem benei Levi" may indicate that he felt that Korach's "rebellion" was insincere, merely a ploy to gain popular support. Chazal pick up on this by considering Korach's dissent "not for the sake of Heaven." Yet the critique may have in fact been a solid one - and if not in that generation, then in a later one.
Chazal view the prophet Shmuel as a descendant of Korach. Some read Shmuel as a tikkun for Korach because he established the monarchy and helped make plans for Jerusalem (I remember hearing such an idea from R. Kalman Baer of KBY). Yet Shmuel can also be read as a continuation of Korach's anti-establishment and populist revolt. He reforms the Israelite leadership and travels around Israel instead of remaining at a single holy site (I have four previous posts on Shmuel as the synthesis of Eli's establishment with Chana's rebellious streak: [here, here, here, and here]). Thus, even if we take a view of Korach that is wholly negative, we may still believe that his critique remains valid in a different context. His call for equal opportunity, an end to nepotism, a meritocracy, or transparency may have been a misguided political stunt, but that need not mean that such a critique is always irrelevant.
Which leads me to my modern-day Korach, Rabbi Benny Lau. As his name indicates, he is a "blue-blooded" rabbi, a nephew of former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and a cousin to several "rising stars" within the Rabbanut - including the rabbi of my own city of Modiin. Yet Rabbi Lau has consistently called for the reform - I have personally heard him call the Rabbanut "passe" and express a wish that it be totally shut down. He has written the following (HT and translation by: Menachem Mendel):
These are clearly Korach-esque sentiments, coming from the very family of the hanhaga haredit that he calls for a rebellion against. Yet unlike the original Korach, the contemporary application is apropos and, from what I can gauge from the few times that I've met R. Benny, wholly for the sake of Heaven.
There are numerous - too numerous - explanations of Korach's wrongdoing. In fact, one man's Korach can be the next man's Moshe. Nevertheless, we can rather safely say that Korach was anti-establishment even though, as a cousin of Moshe and a Kehatite, he was on the fringes of the establishment. Moshe's response of "rav lakhem benei Levi" may indicate that he felt that Korach's "rebellion" was insincere, merely a ploy to gain popular support. Chazal pick up on this by considering Korach's dissent "not for the sake of Heaven." Yet the critique may have in fact been a solid one - and if not in that generation, then in a later one.
Chazal view the prophet Shmuel as a descendant of Korach. Some read Shmuel as a tikkun for Korach because he established the monarchy and helped make plans for Jerusalem (I remember hearing such an idea from R. Kalman Baer of KBY). Yet Shmuel can also be read as a continuation of Korach's anti-establishment and populist revolt. He reforms the Israelite leadership and travels around Israel instead of remaining at a single holy site (I have four previous posts on Shmuel as the synthesis of Eli's establishment with Chana's rebellious streak: [here, here, here, and here]). Thus, even if we take a view of Korach that is wholly negative, we may still believe that his critique remains valid in a different context. His call for equal opportunity, an end to nepotism, a meritocracy, or transparency may have been a misguided political stunt, but that need not mean that such a critique is always irrelevant.
Which leads me to my modern-day Korach, Rabbi Benny Lau. As his name indicates, he is a "blue-blooded" rabbi, a nephew of former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and a cousin to several "rising stars" within the Rabbanut - including the rabbi of my own city of Modiin. Yet Rabbi Lau has consistently called for the reform - I have personally heard him call the Rabbanut "passe" and express a wish that it be totally shut down. He has written the following (HT and translation by: Menachem Mendel):
We have arrived at an ugly abyss of hanhagah haredit and our only option is to rebel against it: this is not our Torah, this is not our worldview, and these are not our sages. Our children need to hear us rising up against the violence and the silencing. We need to shout at the top of lungs: this is not the way of the Torah! We believe in God and His Torah and refuse to bow our heads before this evil papacy. We must strengthen one another in believing in God and His Torah and to strengthen our belief in the uprightness and goodness of all of our children.[MM points to similar sentiments from R. Lau here as well].
These are clearly Korach-esque sentiments, coming from the very family of the hanhaga haredit that he calls for a rebellion against. Yet unlike the original Korach, the contemporary application is apropos and, from what I can gauge from the few times that I've met R. Benny, wholly for the sake of Heaven.
6/07/2010
Ironic Orthodoxy
As is customary at the end of the end of the gap year, one of the seminaries where my wife teaches recently held a banquet at which individual students pay tribute to each teacher. My wife is always curious about these tributes as she likes to see whether the students really "get her."
This year, the student who spoke at the banquet recounted how she enetred the year as a skeptic, fairly well convinced that her critique of the halakha's attitude toward women would prevent her from adopting an Orthodox lifestyle. She described that my wife's "Women in Halakha" class changed that perception since she saw that it was possible to life with the questions and critiques. Another teacher later told my wife that she thought it was a misrepresentation - the student made it seem that my wife is somehow uncomfortable with Orthodoxy but has made an uneasy truce with it. The truth? Well, my wife and I are on the edge - or perhaps not so much on the edge - of what I've begun to call Ironic Orthodoxy.
The Ironic Orthodox generation is the generation that comes after the Great Post-1967 Orthodox Awakening. The Ironic Orthodox are largely day-school and yeshiva educated. With their grandparents they share a certain comfort in their own Orthodox skin; to them, Orthodoxy is familiar, natural, and organizes their lives. With their parents they share a familiarity with the world of Jewish learning and are even able to access that learning to a large degree.
The Ironic Orthodox generation does not buy into the apologetics: not about the status of women, not about the integrity of the transmission of the Oral Law, not about the "timelessness" of obviously time-bound religious laws, customs, and ideas, etc. This generation is hard to inspire; its demeanor is skeptical and ironic, somewhat aloof and dispassionate. Their irony is not a dramatic irony - like Statler and Waldorf observing the and criticizing the show yet remaining very much a part of it - but a jocular or sarcastic attitude or perhaps even a post-irony that simultaneously adheres to and mocks traditional religious structures. Yet it's not a bitter or angry mocking. It seems to be more of a taking-for-granted of life's absurdities and of the failure of ideology to explain or animate the full gamut of practice. It does not necessarily advocate or seek change.
The acclaimed Israeli TV show "Srugim" is an example of Ironic Orthodoxy - from the camera lens's perspective, even if it does not necessarily describe any character in particular. The lens captures both the familiarity and the absurdity of contemporary Orthodox living. In an odd way, despite the fact that, as Shai points out, the only "normal" character in the show is hiloni, its portrait of contemporary Orthodox life is far from unsympathetic. Blogs, especially those that combine deep literacy, adherence, and irreverence - are examples as well.
Another, lesser known example might be the new Orthodox reality show "In Over Our Heads." It's too early to tell where this is going to go, but it seems to take Ironic Orthodoxy as a starting point. Its second episode is most poignant in this regard: a woman who had never really practiced taharat ha-mishpacha learns about the laws and also gets a dose of ideology to boot. The ideology is ridiculed throughout, as are some of the practices - particularly harchakot - yet when it comes time for the actual dunking to take place, it turns out to be much more meaningful than the woman had anticipated.
I do not have an explanation or justification for this, though I tend to regard it as a generally positive phenomenon. When it devolves into anger and bitterness, it can get ugly. Moreover, I'm skeptical of attempts - Yoav Sorek and Elchanan Shilo come to mind - of attempts to turn this post-ideological phenomenon into a new ideology. I have some additional thoughts along these lines, but wish to restrict myself to observations at this point.
This year, the student who spoke at the banquet recounted how she enetred the year as a skeptic, fairly well convinced that her critique of the halakha's attitude toward women would prevent her from adopting an Orthodox lifestyle. She described that my wife's "Women in Halakha" class changed that perception since she saw that it was possible to life with the questions and critiques. Another teacher later told my wife that she thought it was a misrepresentation - the student made it seem that my wife is somehow uncomfortable with Orthodoxy but has made an uneasy truce with it. The truth? Well, my wife and I are on the edge - or perhaps not so much on the edge - of what I've begun to call Ironic Orthodoxy.
The Ironic Orthodox generation is the generation that comes after the Great Post-1967 Orthodox Awakening. The Ironic Orthodox are largely day-school and yeshiva educated. With their grandparents they share a certain comfort in their own Orthodox skin; to them, Orthodoxy is familiar, natural, and organizes their lives. With their parents they share a familiarity with the world of Jewish learning and are even able to access that learning to a large degree.
The Ironic Orthodox generation does not buy into the apologetics: not about the status of women, not about the integrity of the transmission of the Oral Law, not about the "timelessness" of obviously time-bound religious laws, customs, and ideas, etc. This generation is hard to inspire; its demeanor is skeptical and ironic, somewhat aloof and dispassionate. Their irony is not a dramatic irony - like Statler and Waldorf observing the and criticizing the show yet remaining very much a part of it - but a jocular or sarcastic attitude or perhaps even a post-irony that simultaneously adheres to and mocks traditional religious structures. Yet it's not a bitter or angry mocking. It seems to be more of a taking-for-granted of life's absurdities and of the failure of ideology to explain or animate the full gamut of practice. It does not necessarily advocate or seek change.
The acclaimed Israeli TV show "Srugim" is an example of Ironic Orthodoxy - from the camera lens's perspective, even if it does not necessarily describe any character in particular. The lens captures both the familiarity and the absurdity of contemporary Orthodox living. In an odd way, despite the fact that, as Shai points out, the only "normal" character in the show is hiloni, its portrait of contemporary Orthodox life is far from unsympathetic. Blogs, especially those that combine deep literacy, adherence, and irreverence - are examples as well.
Another, lesser known example might be the new Orthodox reality show "In Over Our Heads." It's too early to tell where this is going to go, but it seems to take Ironic Orthodoxy as a starting point. Its second episode is most poignant in this regard: a woman who had never really practiced taharat ha-mishpacha learns about the laws and also gets a dose of ideology to boot. The ideology is ridiculed throughout, as are some of the practices - particularly harchakot - yet when it comes time for the actual dunking to take place, it turns out to be much more meaningful than the woman had anticipated.
I do not have an explanation or justification for this, though I tend to regard it as a generally positive phenomenon. When it devolves into anger and bitterness, it can get ugly. Moreover, I'm skeptical of attempts - Yoav Sorek and Elchanan Shilo come to mind - of attempts to turn this post-ideological phenomenon into a new ideology. I have some additional thoughts along these lines, but wish to restrict myself to observations at this point.
6/04/2010
Flotilla Megilla
OK, it's time for me to put in my own $.02. I'll try to stay away from what has already been beaten to death.
Those troublesome Jews - Washington Post
Eric Posner: The Gaza Blockade and International Law - WSJ
Yossi Klein Halevi: Israelis Wonder: Has the World Lost Its Mind? - WSJ
Nudging Israel on a Gaza fix - Washington Post – Ignatius
Look what Israel John Podhoretz, NY Post
Israel’s naval blockade pitches and rolls with the Law of the Sea Ed Morgan, Globe and Mail (impartial analysis of the legal issues)
Israel From 10,000 Feet Joe Conasson, RealClearPolitics
Singling Out Israel is Nothing New David Warren, RealClearPolitics
Why Did Israel Commit the Crime? Asharq Alawsat
Don’t Save Israel this Time! Asharq Alawsat
Israel's action Miami Herald (pro-Israel)
The Rush to Judge Israel David Hasaranyi, RealClearPolitics
The Sinking Feeling Off Gaza David Ignatius, RealClearPolitics
Theater of War Mona Charen, RealClearPolitics
Is it a Coincidence? Asharq Alawsat on why this happens whenever there are peace talks
Disproportionate force feeds propaganda against Israel
Globe and Mail
End the Gaza blockade? If only it were that simple | Toby Greene Guardian
Gaza flotilla: What should Obama do? | Michael Tomasky Guardian
Why Iran is quiet on the flotilla | Meir Javedanfar Guardian
Gaza flotilla: Sarah Colborne's account - Guardian
Carlo Strenger: Israel's Bunker Mentality HuffPost
Heather Robinson: War and "Peace," Gaza-Style HuffPost
Alon Ben-Meir: When Reason is Forsaken HuffPost
Shayan Ghajar: Israel's Gift to Iran: The Flotilla Disaster HuffPost
Robert Koehler: David's Slingshot HuffPost
Success through nonviolence - Al-Arabiya
Dangerous and endangering - Jordan Times
Israel's 'mad dog' diplomacy doesn't make it more secure - Al-Arabiya
Jerome Slater: The Irresponsibiity of the New York Times, Exhibit Who Knows How Many? HuffPost
Danna Harman: Dispatch From an Israeli Journalist in Turkey HuffPost
Flotilla raid could be fatal blow to Turkey-Israel friendship - Globe and Mail
Israel's only friend - Los Angeles Times
Surprise!!!! American Jewish "Leaders" Leap to Defend Israel - Huffington Post Warren Goldstein
Israel: The Truth is Coming - Huffington Post Jodie Evans
From talk to action - Economist
Henninger: Beating Up on Israel - Wall Street Journal
Turkey's Calculated Concern - Forbes
NATO & Israel - The National Interest Online
The Israeli Raid and Questions About Israel's Continued Statehood - Huffington Post Sam Sedaei
US Plays Counselor With Turkey, Israel - Wall Street Journal
When Israel Goes Rogue - Newsweek
Hamas, Israel, and the Gaza flotilla: seven facts you need to know - Christian Science Monitor
Not quite as it was - Economist
Israel, disarmed - Washington Post - Krauthammer
Is Israel playing American Jews for saps? - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish State Under Siege - Intellectual Conservative
The Middle East does not make sense and never will - Crikey
When doing what you need to do goes badly - Belleville News Democrat
When Israel Trusts Others to Stop Arms Going to Terrorists Barry Rubin
Prime Minister Netanyahu's Speech on the Gaza Flotilla Issue
Why Israel is unlikely to get a fair press in Europe Miriam Shaviv, The JC
No Direction Home Tablet
The question Israel's accusers have failed to answer Miriam Shaviv, The JC
Islamist Extremists Hit Israeli Soldiers with Iron Bars, West Surrenders? Barry Rubin
Operation Make the World Hate Us, Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic
http://forward.com/articles/128501/ Erdogan’s
http://www.haaretz.com/magazine/week-s-end/hubris-on-the-high-seas-1.294070 Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel
http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/Sharkansky/entry/for_shame_posted_by_ira Window onIsrael
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/who-s-really-under-siege-1.294147 Anat Lapidot-Firilla
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/exit-strategy-lifting-the-gaza-blockade-1.293883 Ha'aretz editorial
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-just-decision-badly-executed-1.293882 Yehuda Ben Meir
- Shockingly, Israel has yet to be condemned by Haiti.
- There have been a bunch of comparisons between the flotilla and the Exodus, pointing out that the roles were reversed 63 years ago, with Jews running a British blockade of Mandatory Palestine. Interestingly, not (yet) much discussion of Turkey's ongoing - for almost 20 years now - blockade of Armenia (it's not a naval blockade as Armenia is landlocked). Without justifying or vilifying Israel's current actions, I think we can agree that Israel has a long, long way to go before it even gets into the same league as the Brits in the 1940s. Their blockade caused the death of 1,600 Jewish Holocaust refugees and the deportation of over 50,000 to prison camps. A small minority of Jews trying to enter Palestine illegally actually made it. And the UN (UNSCOP) watched it all happen.
- There are 2 distinct but related issues, as many are beginning to note: the blockade in general and the handling of the flotilla in particular. Someone who thinks that the blockade is illegal and/or idiotic obviously will have a very negative reaction to the flotilla business. Obviously, a good many people around the globe were strongly opposed to the blockade for various reasons. Those who explicitly or implicitly recognized the legitimacy of the blockade - and this includes the US, the EU, and Egypt, inter alia - can take a much wider variety of positions. I am in favor of the blockade for the same reason that VP Joe Biden is - it allows Israel to inhibit the flow of arms into Gaza.
- This would have looked very different before the Disengagement, when Israel could inspect cargoes after they docked.
- It is definitely ironic that both the flotilla fiasco and Cast Lead, the two issues for which Israel has faced unprecedented criticism, are the direct result of the Disengagement, which was essentially a PR move to improve Israel's international standing.
- In hindsight, Israel's best course of action - in my opinion - would have been to let one boat through as a "goodwill gesture" - not the Mavi Marmara - and force the others to Ashdod for offloading. There's a reason it's called "hindsight," though.
- There's a certain disrespect to the Gaza boat people when we focus on what Israel did wrong. They won. They beat us. Given the cards dealt, they played their hand much better than we played ours, lulling Israel into thinking that the boat was populated by peaceniks and then putting Israel in a situation where it would be forced to open fire (the fact that the body count was in Israel's favor is due, in my opinion, to superior training, not superior weaponry). I agree that it's a bit disingenuous for Israel to say that they were "ambushed," but the soldiers were completely surprised, taken off guard, and unprepared. Let's tip our hats to the Turks here and say, you beat us. I don't like it when the favored team says at the post game press conference "we beat ourselves." In this case, the underdog visiting team clearly outprepared and outplayed the home team. So Israel should stop acting like the Yankees.
- That said, it seems that Israel is really starting to understand the power of YouTube. Several videos have gone viral in a big, big way, each generating over a million views. That has been lacking in the past.
Janine Zacharia on the complex reality in Gaza
Spencer Ackerman – Israel
Those troublesome Jews - Washington Post
Eric Posner: The Gaza Blockade and International Law - WSJ
Yossi Klein Halevi: Israelis Wonder: Has the World Lost Its Mind? - WSJ
Nudging Israel on a Gaza fix - Washington Post – Ignatius
Look what Israel John Podhoretz, NY Post
Israel’s naval blockade pitches and rolls with the Law of the Sea Ed Morgan, Globe and Mail (impartial analysis of the legal issues)
Israel From 10,000 Feet Joe Conasson, RealClearPolitics
Singling Out Israel is Nothing New David Warren, RealClearPolitics
Why Did Israel Commit the Crime? Asharq Alawsat
Don’t Save Israel this Time! Asharq Alawsat
Israel's action Miami Herald (pro-Israel)
The Rush to Judge Israel David Hasaranyi, RealClearPolitics
The Sinking Feeling Off Gaza David Ignatius, RealClearPolitics
Theater of War Mona Charen, RealClearPolitics
Is it a Coincidence? Asharq Alawsat on why this happens whenever there are peace talks
Disproportionate force feeds propaganda against Israel
Globe and Mail
End the Gaza blockade? If only it were that simple | Toby Greene Guardian
Gaza flotilla: What should Obama do? | Michael Tomasky Guardian
Why Iran is quiet on the flotilla | Meir Javedanfar Guardian
Gaza flotilla: Sarah Colborne's account - Guardian
Carlo Strenger: Israel's Bunker Mentality HuffPost
Heather Robinson: War and "Peace," Gaza-Style HuffPost
Alon Ben-Meir: When Reason is Forsaken HuffPost
Shayan Ghajar: Israel's Gift to Iran: The Flotilla Disaster HuffPost
Robert Koehler: David's Slingshot HuffPost
Success through nonviolence - Al-Arabiya
Dangerous and endangering - Jordan Times
Israel's 'mad dog' diplomacy doesn't make it more secure - Al-Arabiya
Jerome Slater: The Irresponsibiity of the New York Times, Exhibit Who Knows How Many? HuffPost
Danna Harman: Dispatch From an Israeli Journalist in Turkey HuffPost
Flotilla raid could be fatal blow to Turkey-Israel friendship - Globe and Mail
Israel's only friend - Los Angeles Times
Surprise!!!! American Jewish "Leaders" Leap to Defend Israel - Huffington Post Warren Goldstein
Israel: The Truth is Coming - Huffington Post Jodie Evans
From talk to action - Economist
Henninger: Beating Up on Israel - Wall Street Journal
Turkey's Calculated Concern - Forbes
NATO & Israel - The National Interest Online
The Israeli Raid and Questions About Israel's Continued Statehood - Huffington Post Sam Sedaei
US Plays Counselor With Turkey, Israel - Wall Street Journal
When Israel Goes Rogue - Newsweek
Hamas, Israel, and the Gaza flotilla: seven facts you need to know - Christian Science Monitor
Not quite as it was - Economist
Israel, disarmed - Washington Post - Krauthammer
Is Israel playing American Jews for saps? - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish State Under Siege - Intellectual Conservative
The Middle East does not make sense and never will - Crikey
When doing what you need to do goes badly - Belleville News Democrat
When Israel Trusts Others to Stop Arms Going to Terrorists Barry Rubin
Prime Minister Netanyahu's Speech on the Gaza Flotilla Issue
Why Israel is unlikely to get a fair press in Europe Miriam Shaviv, The JC
No Direction Home Tablet
The question Israel's accusers have failed to answer Miriam Shaviv, The JC
Islamist Extremists Hit Israeli Soldiers with Iron Bars, West Surrenders? Barry Rubin
Operation Make the World Hate Us, Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic
http://forward.com/articles/128501/ Erdogan’s Turkey
http://www.haaretz.com/magazine/week-s-end/hubris-on-the-high-seas-1.294070 Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel
http://www.ynetnews.com/rticles/0,7340,L-3898598,00.html Let world monitor Gaza
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3897639,00.html A new approach to Gaza
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=177310 Candidly speaking: time to get our act together - Isi Leibler
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=177312 Blundering into harm's way - D. Bloomfield
Rattling the cage: I blame my country - Larry Derfner
http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/Sharkansky/entry/for_shame_posted_by_ira Window on
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=177334 'Don't submit to outside probe of raid' - Ilan Evyatar and Yaakov Katz
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/who-s-really-under-siege-1.294147 Anat Lapidot-Firilla
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/hobbled-by-political-constraints-1.294149 Allegra Pacheco
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/exit-strategy-lifting-the-gaza-blockade-1.293883 Ha'aretz editorial
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-just-decision-badly-executed-1.293882 Yehuda Ben Meir
6/03/2010
More Media Flotillarhea
Another day worth. It seems to be slowing down - less than 90 items today. The order and quality are indiscriminate:
Op-Ed Columnist - When America’s Friends Fall Out - NYTimes.com - Tom Friedman
Shan Wells: Sowing the Seeds of Jihad HuffPost
Op-Ed Columnist - When America’s Friends Fall Out - NYTimes.com - Tom Friedman
Jon Snow Asks: 'Is Gaza Our Fault' Er ... No. - Wall Street Journal (blog)
Exclusive: Interview with Senior Israeli Official from COGAT – Jameel @ the Muqata
Time for Israeli Ingenuity - Forward
Let the Turks rage - Jpost
‘Liberal Zionists’ must choose: Hamas or Israel? - Jpost
I’d like to send a book to Gilad - Jpost
A view from the Left - Ynet
The Gaza Flotilla Issue: Logic, Truth, and Videotape – Barry Rubin
A very well-done bit of satire.
Etgar Keret on being an impromptu diplomatic correspondent.
Frum on the Oz op-ed
Oz's op-ed
Fred Kaplan – anatomy of a botch
The Vatican and the 3 Ds - Jpost
Bad Moon Rising - Lee Smith, Tablet
The ship of horrors - Ynet
Passengers, Backers Spanned Globe – Allison Hoffman, Tablet
The price of Arab lies - Ynet
Turkey and Israel close to brink - Debkafile
Diplomatic Entebbe – Yaakov Lozowick
Angry Israeli Street – Yaakov Lozowick
Turkey, Israel near clash after terror cell exposed on flotilla. Israel flies embassy families out
Debkafile
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4265.htm – MEMRI profiles terror-linked flotilla participants.
The Freedom Flotilla massacre: Israel blockades itself - Al-Arabiya
Why did Israel commit the crime? - Al-Arabiya
Eclipsed by madness - Al-Arabiya
Israel Turns to YouTube, Twitter After Flotilla Fiasco - Wired News
A turning point for Turkey - Jerusalem Post
Perpetual bad guys - Edmonton Sun
The silent Jewish majority - Aljazeera.net
Free Gaza — from its Arab oppressors - Torrington Register Citizen
It is not just Jews who are beginning to despair at Israels actions - Scotsman
Remainders: Flotilla - Politico (blog)
This Israeli Government Has Gone Too Far - International Herald Tribune
The Jewish State Under Siege - Intellectual Conservative
Why is Gaza under blockade? What's the impact? - Reuters
Will Our Peace Prizewinner Lead Us Into a New War? - Huffington Post (blog)
The Best Analysis Yet - The Atlantic (blog) referring to Noah Millman: http://theamericanscene.com/2010/06/02/eyeless-in-gaza
A crime against Israel - Arab News
Israel's war is the West's too - Telegraph.co.uk (blog)
You call that Humanitarian Aid!? Jameel @ the Muqata – Interesting photos
In Israel Fight, Turkey Spurns West
Treat Israel Like Iran
Israel after the debacle, Dov Fischer
Israel's Isolation Deepens
Against ideas, Israel's force is impotent | Amos Oz
Israel: remember 1947 and the Exodus ship | Richard Irvine
Erdogan and the Decline of the Turks - Wall Street Journal
Saving Israel From Itself - New York Times
Editorial: Israel and the Gaza Blockade
The collateral damage from Israel's raid - Washington Post
The Nation: A New Opening For Hamas
Was Israel's raid on Gaza Freedom Flotilla legal? - Christian Science Monitor
Analysis: Erdogan tests Turkey's role as bridge - Washington Post
The Shock Heard Round the World - New York Times (blog)
Israel's self-inflicted wound - Los Angeles Times
'Freedom Flotilla' only a subterfuge – Washington Times
With friends like these … - Washington Times
Flotilla 'activists' care about politics, not aid – Washington Times
Daniel Henninger: Beating Up on Israel - Wall Street Journal
Op-Ed Contributor: An Assault on Israel, Cloaked in Peace – NYT, Michael Oren
Op-Ed Contributor: A Botched Raid, a Vital Embargo – NYT, Daniel Gordis
The larger threat – NY Post
Turning against – NY Post
Opening Rafah crossing as lifeline for Gaza poses dilemma for Egypt
Gaza flotilla raid: Joe Biden asks 'So what's the big deal here?' | Richard Adams
Adrian Hamilton: Israel had few enough friends to start with
If Gaza's relief is a step closer they won't have died in vain | Seumas Milne
Michael Wolff: Is the Flotilla Attack a Game Changer? - HuffPost
Howard Schweber: The IDF's Epic Tactical Fail HuffPost
Matthew Duss: Elliot Abrams Giving Advice On The Middle East Is Like BP Giving Advice On Capping Oil Wells HuffPost
Israel's Courageous Restraint – Joel Pollak
Amb. Marc Ginsberg: Flotsam & Jetsam – HuffPost
Judge H. Lee Sarokin: Is There a Double Standard in the World When It Comes to Demonstrations Over the Killing of Innocent People? - HuffPost
Paul Abrams: Flotilla-Gate - HuffPost
The Hypocritical Condemnation of Israel – Andrew Roberts, Daily Beast
Shan Wells: Sowing the Seeds of Jihad HuffPost
6/02/2010
Flotillapalooza (or: Flotillarrhea)
Maybe I'll post my own thoughts later, but first I want to link to a couple of opinion pieces that appeared yesterday or early this morning. In my work for JID I see a lot of the Jewish opinion articles that appear on the Web. These all appeared during the c. 36 hours between late Monday night and Wednesday morning, Israel time. It doesn't even include blogs and some of the nuttier media outlets. Needless to say, this is quite atypical. And no, I did not read them all:
Israel's link to apartheid is more than an analogy - Al-Arabiya
Israel itself may be among the victims of its pathology - Al-Arabiya
Israeli PR disaster, again - Ynet
A failure any way you slice it - Haaretz
Only a judicial commission of inquiry - Haaretz
Sympathy for the Devil and the Gaza Sea Confrontation: How Can Helping a Repressive Fascist, Genocide-Intending Hamas Regime be Innocent? Rubin reports
The rush to judgment- Jpost
The Flotilla Was a Killer - Forward
Time to get our act together Posted by Isi Leibler – Jpost blogs
The truth? Who cares? - Jpost blogs
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/6044639/peace-convoy-this-was-an-islamist-terror-ambush.thtml – Melanie Phillips, Spectator
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Provocative 'Peace' Flotilla That Ended in Tragedy - huffPost
Warren Goldstein: What Will Israel Not Do? HuffPost
Stop the hypocrisy about Israel - CNN
How did we get so dumb? - ynet
In the Past - Tablet
Egypt Lifts the Blockade, ‘9/11 for Turkey’ - Tablet
Massacring the truth – Ynet
‘Lynch’ Mob - Tablet
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-01/israel-flotilla-disaster-gaza-embargo-us-supporters-to-blame/?cid=hp:exc – Peter Beinart
Ralph Peters
http://www.slate.com/id/2255572/pagenum/all/ - Shmuel Rosner at Slate
http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/128443/- JJ Goldberg
http://www.ibishblog.com/blog/hibish/2010/05/31/purity_arms_israels_predictable_historic_and_ghastly_gaza_flotilla_blunder – Hussein Ibish
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-01/gaza-flotilla-raid-a-blunder-no-israeli-pr-can-fix/ - Reza Aslan
A turning point for Turkey - Jpost
The Gaza convoy takeover: An effective ‘casus bellum’? - Jpost
From friend to (almost certainly) foe - Jpost
Thank you, 1st sergeant A. - ynet
Is there another option? - Haaretz
It's time for real disengagement - Haaretz
Shalit's a prisoner of a single line of thinking – Haaretz
The collateral damage from Israel's raid - Washington Post
The Non-Violent Murder of Jews - Before It's News
Mavi Marmara and the Exodus - New York Sun
Echoes of Raid on 'Exodus' Ship in 1947 - New York Times (blog)
The Lynching of Israel: The Global Propaganda Wars Gather Force - Pajamas Media (blog)
Emily Soloff: Judaism permits self defense - Chicago Tribune (blog)
Israel's Unjustifiable, No-Win Move - The Atlantic (blog)
Turkey and Israel: a deepening chill - The Guardian
Analysis: Israeli raid puts Obama on the spot - Washington Post
Israel's Raid on the Gaza Flotilla: What is President Obama To Do To Succeed ... - Huffington Post (blog) Stephen P. Cohen
Why Israel's Attack on An Aid Flotilla Won't Be a "Tipping Point" – Newsweek
Israel, stop apologizing - Ynetnews
Strutting from Tehran to Damascus, from Beirut to Gaza - Huffington Post (blog) David Harris
Bradley Burston: The Second Gaza War: Israel Lost at Sea – HuffPost
Alan Dershowitz: Israel's Actions Were Entirely Lawful Though Probably Unwise
Robert Mackey: A Former Military Planner's View, or How Israel Lost
Leon T. Hadar: The Raid on the Gaza Flotilla: "Worse than a Crime, it's a Mistake"
James Zogby: Time to Call Out Israel's Bad Behavior
Mickey Bergman: The IDF Soldiers Were Sent on a Mission That Defies Logic
Steve Sheffey: Israel Justified in Gaza Action
David Suissa: Bibi Should Have Gone to Washington
Leading article: Hamas holds the key to aid for Gaza - Independent
Louise Arbour: Good may yet come of this tragedy for Gaza - Independent
US and the Middle East: Holed below the water line | Editorial - Guardian
Turkey and Israel: a deepening chill | Fadi Hakura – Guardian
The Gaza flotilla attack shows how far Israel has declined | David Grossman – Guardian
Israel had no choice over Gaza flotilla | Seth Freedman– Guardia
Leading article: A costly misjudgement by Israel Independent
Israel reveals its true face | Ahdaf Soueif Guardian
Max Boot: Israel's Gaza Flotilla Fiasco - WSJ.com
Review & Outlook: Israel's Gaza Choices - WSJ.com
Flotilla raid offers Israel a learning opportunity David Ignatius, WashPost
Terrorists at the helm NY Post
The war flotilla – NY Post
A Brief History of the Gaza Folly American Prospect
Foreign Policy: The Gaza Breakdown – NPR
Obama, Netanyahu and the Free Gaza flotilla - Washington Post (blog)
Jon Snow Asks: 'Is Gaza Our Fault' Er ... No. - Wall Street Journal (blog)
Israeli raid: Should Israel continue its Gaza blockade? - Christian Science Monitor (blog)
Jenin on the high seas - NPL
Thomas: A rerun of the same old script - ChiTrib
US torn between allies
Israel can't afford unforced errors
Max Boot – Israel wins battle, loses war
John Pohoretz – maybe there was no other way
Asia Times – no good deed goes unpunished
David Hornick
Tobin – America must support Israel as everyone condemns