the definite article 25
I found a couple of new places to fish for articles, two pieces also the the so-called Jewish vote, an ode to America, and more…
Hi! This week we are starting with three article from Compact magazine, which I’ve never heard of before. The first is about the challenge to classical music posed by DEI considerations and contemporary political correctness – as well as taste. If that sounds dull, check out the article – it is worth the dive! The second article views the election of Trump not as a wholly political phenomenon, but signaling that our culture may be on the threshold of a new age – or not. Also an interesting read. Finally, the third article discusses Joe Biden as a politician who made significant strides in strengthening the position of labor in American society. Enjoy – you’ll probably see more Compact articles here – they are politically diverse, well-written, and intelligent.
https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-real-threat-to-classical-music/
https://www.compactmag.com/article/culture-in-the-age-of-trump/
https://www.compactmag.com/article/why-labor-will-miss-biden/
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/11/14/is_there_such_thing_as_jewish_vote_151941.html
Is there a definable “Jewish vote,” and did it come out in traditionally similar numbers for Kamala Harris, or did the wave of antisemitism and the wars against Israel push the Jewish vote rightward? Maybe Jews have assimilated so much that the Jewish vote is just another element of the educated urban left wing and/or progressive vote.
Peggy Noonan of the wall Street Journal spins her love for the USA. Here is a beautiful paragraph from the article:
Which gets me closer to my feelings on patriotism. We are a people that has experienced something epic together. We were given this brilliant, beautiful thing, this new arrangement, a political invention based on the astounding assumption that we are all equal, that where you start doesn’t dictate where you wind up. We’ve kept it going, father to son, mother to daughter, down the generations, inspired by the excellence, and in spite of the heartbreak. Whatever was happening, depression or war, we held high the meaning and forged forward. We’ve respected and protected the Constitution. And in the forging through and the holding high we’ve created a history, traditions, a way of existing together.
https://x.com/CherylWroteIt/status/1856324259993305407?s=08
A short clip of an address by the newly appointed US ambassador to the UN, Elize Stephanic. I’m am glad we have her there!
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-829137
Dr. Einat Wilf, erstwhile peace negotiator, nails it again by zeroing in on Qatar as a malignant force in the Middle East. Wilf began by asserting that contrary to the perception that Doha is a mere mediator, “Qatar is not our friend. Qatar and Hamas are one and the same.” She stressed that the Middle Eastern country has provided the terrorist group with the economic, material, and moral means to build the army that invaded Israel on October 7 and committed the massacre, all the while maintaining the group in power in Gaza.”
https://newcriterion.com/article/a-lion-in-zion/
A review of an exhibit in NYC of Herzl and his dreams: Nation-building is a difficult business. Often the outsize burden of cultivating a wilderness and taming a border can only be endured through faith. America’s early settlers, persecuted across the Atlantic, found power in their belief in the City upon a Hill, in creating the New Jerusalem that would become their Manifest Destiny. Some three centuries on, a similar faith in a Promised Land, a Zion, inspired Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) to envision what became, just a few decades after his death at age forty-four, the modern State of Israel.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/jewish-vote-elections-2024
Another article about the Jewish vote, this one from Tablet: Because it’s basically impossible to responsibly determine, the partisan split of “the Jewish vote” is a natural battleground for sectarian political operatives who are eager to make their patrons look like winners and marginalize their rivals. Per the National Election Pool’s exit poll, which was publicized by major news organizations, Kamala Harris captured 79% of the Jewish vote, a historically high margin. Fox News pollsters, on the other hand, tagged Jewish support for Harris at 66%, a number low enough for the Republican Jewish Committee to brag about it.
If you have not yet found the magazine Iyun, let me introduce you. This is a publication from the Hardei world (soft Haredi, though) that deals with issues of integration and conflict with the larger Israeli society. Both their articles and divre Torah are worth your attention. On my way home from work in the evening, I often give rides to yeshiva students waiting at bus stops. As someone who once studied in yeshivot and personally experienced long hours of waiting for rides across the country, I feel a duty to help them out. For me, it’s also an opportunity to gain firsthand insights into the current mindset within the yeshiva world.
From the admittedly non-representative sample passing through my car, I hear, to my dismay, only one answer: no.
Finally, a somewhat incoherent but yet revealing interview with Jon Fetterman, who believes that Democrats have to chill out a bit and not explode their heads over every appointment, act, or utterance of the Trump administration. It’s not even Thanksgiving, he exclaims. He certainly would like to see change in his own party, and in my opinion, he is the kind of person who can see clearly and bring change.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/john-fetterman-says-democrats-stop-214003770.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVhbGNsZWFycG9saXRpY3MuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEbpGEK6DSIZs4XiH08kdbOYAWeozDv7ZqZLKZK3iyDH6s9YaQke84Jd1uCR9VD2EMCLB0LGZVuU34SA_N00uTO_HtIa4U66EY39KOzRB5nGHCucH2ECfyxD5Z8aqAHwKoNH7O344vKXafeW6ReHjB54ji0WnBYJv0cAhO7WXgTE