the definite article 77
shame and resistance
OK, leading this week’s parade of shame are the two articles you’ve probably heard most about over the past few days. First, I am posting the link to the Civic Report of the committee that investigated crimes of sexual violence that were committed by Hamas and its minions on October 7,2023. The shame here, of course, is not simply that such unimaginable barbarism took place, but that people who we do not think of as barbarians, those of the enlightened cultured West, have decided to come out on the side of the barbarians. We convinced ourselves back two and some months years ago that the tent encampments on the campuses of numerous universities were more an expression of boredom and the desire to give-a-shit about something than a considered response to the invasion of Israel by ideologically driven human-like creatures. Their clueless responses to interviews (which river? which sea?) indicated as much. But the radicalized left (and right) are still out there wearing Hamas headbands and demanding a halt to the genocide. As Eli Lake (I think) put it, no other cause has engaged more people in more protests over a longer period of time, and it is hard to believe that any future protest will garner such support, that is, if it not aimed at Jews. Here is the link. If you are one for whom reading such gory accounts might cause psychological harm – you are excused. The others among us, including me, have an obligation to read it.
The other marcher in the parade of shame is Nicholas Kristoff and the editorial staff of the NYT, who published a scandalous and largely unsubstantiated written pogrom against the State of Israel. As Haviv Retig Gur notes, yes, there are unsavory aspects of the Israeli prison system such as exist in virtually every other country in the world. That does not excuse it. But as Matti Friedman wrote, one has to examine pieces like this and ask the question: was this written to make Israeli a better state, and better society, or was it written with the goal of erasing Israel off the map. Many journalists have come out with harsh criticisms of this self-avowed opinion piece, and you’ll not have problems finding them. But being the helpful guy I am, here are a few:
https://quillette.com/r/618e0219?m=6adaadd1-3935-47c6-816d-123c36387c7f
(also on spotify)
This is probably behind a paywall, but read as much as you can and remember, you really should have a subscription to Mosaic. I mean, right? Right! The writing you find there is some of the best you’re going to find on the web.
This week, Ruth Wisse (no introduction necessary) is writing a review (what? Not in the Jewish Review of Books? Patience - we will soon get there), of a book called the Gavriel Tirosh Affair. Gavriel is a young history teacher in a Jewish school in pre-State Palestine. He is a role model in the image of Joseph Trumpledor, one who is encouraging his post-adolescent high school students to acquire the kind of thought processes and communal responsibility which will become the backbone of the ethos of the Israeli army. The book is not all fun and games, so it seems, and sometimes well-meaning and well-founded heroism crashes and burns against the hard stone reality of the fortunes of battle. Still, Dr. Wisse is ably able to draw together threads that link our days to the dangerous chaos of the 1930s and the shift in Jewish worldview form by necessity on the hard anvils of Nazi persecution and Arab intransigence.
https://ideas.tikvah.org/mosaic/observations/the-gavriel-tirosh-affair
Parallel to the shift in mindset that enabled Jews to take control of the own security in the years leading up to and following the War of Independence, some Jews are beginning to realize that the message we give our children and by extension ourselves is that we are not able to defend our own institution in the Diaspora, and must have need of security contractors to provide security for our families and congregations.
Well, to hell with that! says a number of Jews who have acquiring handguns, becoming proficient in their use, and go to shul packing. And others who are learning the techniques of krav maga, personal and physical self-defense training developed in Israel. Of course, the most important aspect of self-defense is have the confidence that one can and if need be will engage a threat. But I assume that is being taught as well.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/armed-guards-jews-safety
An interesting and important article fort he journal First Things on how we have reached the point that assassins are not uneducated nuts, but intelligent well-educated nuts. And how did that happen?
https://firstthings.com/the-education-of-cole-tomas-allen/
Urban legend has it that Israelis are abandoning the State in droves. Between the radical right wing government that is pushing for judicial reform that some see and undermining democracy, the failures of October 7, the never-ending trial of our Prime Minister, wars and wars and wars – the best and the brightest are fleeing to the serenity of Germany or northern California. But there is aliya, we should not forget. Yet some people seem to be echoing the bitter joke of the early 1960’s – would the last person out please turn out the lights? This article takes a close look at the numbers and people and motivations in order to provide a fuller picture of immigration and emigration from the Holy Land.
https://ideas.tikvah.org/mosaic/essays/emigration-and-aliyah-two-narratives-one-reality
I kinda like John Updike. Sometimes. I’ve always thought he had a kind of circumscribed Roth envy (see what I did there?) And after reading this article, I still think he did. There’s an old Yiddish proverb (how many times have you heard THAT introduction before a garble of words that seem as though they ought to make sense) the goes: It’s hard to be a Jew. Which is true, but for some the really hard thing is NOT being a Jew. It seems like John Updike suffered from circumcision envy.
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/literature/19654/updike-and-the-jews/
Another gem from the Jewish Review of Books: this is an amusing a sweet little article by Dan Rabinowitz who spends his time rummaging through what remains of the Jewish public library of Vilna. In his explorations, he found that one of the foremost rabbis of that period, Rabbi Yitschak Ze’ev Soleveitchik, visited the library with one on his sons, and while his son engaged in tracking down a source found in the Rambam’s Igerret Hashmad (letter on destruction), the elder rabbi passed his time reading short stories by I. L. Peretz. The idea that the famed rabbi would have visited a the public library which served all types of Jews – including women – and read Yiddish fiction caused a bit of an uproar and harsh push-back from the Haredi community in Israel, who accused the researcher of defamation. It is an interesting piece, and I think you will enjoy it.
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/rabbinics/19656/breaching-the-walls-of-history/
Yama Bar who writes the passionate and lovely substack blog Behind the Narrative again entertains us with her dating misadventures in Boston with a piece: I dated an apologetic Jew and the Shoah was sitting between us. She uses this foil often to educate us and sometimes her date on some of the shallow, uninformed and untrue opinions held by the liberal Jewish men she goes out with, and many of her dates seem to end up as history lessons. But she is bright and articulate and fun to read – I suggest you subscribe to her substack – you will not regret it!
Another post by Yama Bar where she opens up her personal life and describes the series of events that brought her to write her blog. It is touching and shocking and unfortunately a not uncommon set of circumstances.
May I assume that you are familiar with Dara Horn, who wrote the banger People Love Dead Jews? She recently wrote a review of Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s book When We See You Again, reflections on the captivity and murder of her son Hersh by Hamas terrorists. Both the review and a discussion of how the publisher Random House refused to acknowledge that what happen to Hersh was not an act of nature but the result of remorseless antisemitic and anti Israeli terrorism are found below.
Former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren warns both Israeli and American leaders that agreeing to a bad deal with Iran is worse than no deal at all.
Israel Diaries writer Shari Oz read that the UAE was willing – and may still be willing – to lead an attack on Iran. But how do the Iranians who detest their government view this. The twists and turns of religious, ethnic, historical, and political 4-dimensional chess that make up the middle east make this an unusual insightful article.
Our enemies are projecting their evil inclinations and imagination on Israel, which due to Bibi's woke leadership is playing in their hands by warning the enemies before we attack and feeding them. He's so apologetic that we look guilty to those who hate us. He rationalizes their hatred.