Words of the Week: Daniel Gordis and Cynthia Ozick

I found Ozick’s essay—obviously insightful and brilliantly written, since it’s Ozick—unfathomably depressing. Mostly, I think, because though it was written almost half a century ago, it could have been written this week. Ozick was simply prescient; if many of us are still surprised at the resurgence of antisemitism in America, Ozick would tell us that we shouldn’t be. After all, she said 47 years ago, all the world wants the Jews dead. And as for the distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Esquire Magazine saw fit to emphasize Ozick’s fundamental claim:

It almost seems that Sunrise DC took Ozick to heart.

Source: Daniel Gordis, “When ‘Unprecedented Times’ Are Not-at-All Unprecedented” (Israel from the Inside)

2 thoughts on “Words of the Week: Daniel Gordis and Cynthia Ozick

  1. Yes. I read this yesterday as well on Daniel Gordis’ blog and like him found it unfathomably depressing – which I have been feeling moments of – social despair – since January 6.

  2. Wim Hylen says:

    It’s certainly not encouraging news, but it’s not anything new. It’s been obvious for some time that anti-Semitism on both the right and left is real and growing. But it’s a huge leap from that fact to “the whole world wants the world dead.”
    Contrary to the claim in the article, the voices opposing both anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment continue to be loud and forceful, even though they might not be embodied in a single figure like Daniel Patrick Moynihan. We might not love the fact that much of that opposition comes from the religious right, but it doesn’t make it any less potent. For example, many states won’t give contracts to vendors who refuse to certify that they don’t boycott Israel, which is truly an exceptional requirement.

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