In a recent article, Lin Noueihed and Terek Amara discuss the racism and fear of harassment Tunisian Jews have experienced since the overthrow of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Posts Tagged ‘Judaism’
March 19th, 2012
Israel, secularism, and democracy
posted by John D. BoyAt Harvard Law School, faculty members Noah Feldman and Duncan Kennedy recently debated the question “Can Israel Be Both Jewish and Democratic?”
September 23rd, 2011
America plus nothing
posted by John D. Boy
But Sweet Heaven When I Die is, first and foremost, a book about loss, about death, transience, neglect, and quitting. These are the recurring themes in almost every one of the book’s thirteen chapters. The loss of the American west to real estate developers, the loss of a beloved uncle to a meaningless war, the killing of veteran activist Brad Will in Oaxaca in 2006, the neglect of the Yiddish language and its masterful authors, or the devastation of a writer failing to find an audience. In one chapter, Sharlet notes that all things we become invested in and pin our identities on have a half-life. With his consciousness of the inevitable decay befalling all things, Sharlet proves he has taken Cornel West’s lesson of the “death shudder” to heart. “To learn how to die in this way,” Sharlet quotes West in a chapter on the philosopher, “is to learn how to live.” And although the final chapter of When I Die is called “Born, Again,” Sharlet resists the temptation to end on an upbeat note, leaving us instead with a blues note.
September 21st, 2011
For a new migration of Abraham
posted by Ward Blanton
At a moment when some of the theoretical gestures being inspired by old, new, or futuristic political theologies have become ineffective, Paul Kahn’s Political Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty is a book of extraordinary significance. Or, perhaps I should say that I think it might be a book of extraordinary significance, inasmuch as it bears a potential to do something which has remained impossible, not only for Carl Schmitt, but also for some important contemporary critics of neo-liberal political economy. I want to reflect specifically about the way this impossibility might become possible, strangely, by way of a new migration of Abraham into the territory of philosophies of freedom and difference.
September 19th, 2011
Thoughts on Near Eastern legal culture
posted by Lena SalaymehMy colleagues at The Talmud Blog asked me to provide a guest post about my research interests.
August 4th, 2011
Transmitting “secular” oral traditions
posted by Lena SalaymehWhy does our academic culture operate under the assumption that “secular” education is fundamentally distinct from or superior to non-“secular” education? The stereotypical notion is that “religious” knowledge is communicated through a ritualized process that emphasizes a teacher-student relationship, whereas “secular” knowledge is conveyed through critical, open discussions and less hierarchical relationships. But how different is the Western academy, really?
July 28th, 2011
Kosher pork
posted by Charles GelmanFor a brief moment yesterday, in Queens, one could purchase what appeared to be kosher pork. Philip Gourevitch explains.
July 18th, 2011
The “Axis of Antisemitism”
posted by Amanda KaplanJonathan Rauch responds to James Kirchick’s Tablet Magazine article on the shuttering of Yale’s Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism.
July 15th, 2011
When news isn’t so black and white
posted by Amanda KaplanIn light of Hasidic 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky’s recent murder, as well as The New York Times’ inclusion of “some of the blunt theological language of the funeral…without any kind of context and/or clarification from other Hasidic believers and outside experts,” Getreligion discusses the implications and delicacy of reporting on religious affairs.
June 13th, 2011
Whose foreskin?
posted by Charles GelmanCourtney Bender discusses the controversial ballot measure to prohibit circumcision of males under eighteen years of age, which will be up for a vote in San Francisco in November.
Subscribe to the RSS feed for Judaism
