No Longer Giving Beinart the Benefit of Any Doubt

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Last week, just before Rosh Hashanah, I ran across Peter Beinart’s “The American Jewish Cocoon” online. Uh-oh, I thought, when I first saw the article’s title. Happy New Year to us.

But, as I’ve tried to do for some time (see the mention in “Among the Literati” from January 2012), I wanted to at least attempt to absorb what Beinart had to say. Because back when my primary acquaintance with his overall critique was “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment,” I sensed in his writing an authentic concern for Israel’s long-term health and viability–and I believed that I might be able to learn from his work.

Alas, I’ve since realized that I’m not Beinart’s therapist, and I can’t presume to know what motivates him. All I can say with any surety is that my faith in learning from his work had begun to erode even before this new opus appeared.

Some of the uneasiness came with the launch of his book, The Crisis of Zionism (I found Rabbi David Wolpe’s take on that situation at the time quite persuasive). Some of it had to do with Beinart’s March 2012 New York Times op-ed advocating a “settlement boycott,” a commentary rendered even more troubling by the fact that its publication coincided with a deadly attack on a Jewish day school in France, prompting Jeffrey Goldberg to comment: “You know what? I find it unpleasant to talk about boycotting Jews on a day when Jewish children have been murdered for being Jewish.” And some of it had to do with some of the writings I noticed over time on Beinart’s “Open Zion” blog.

Then came this new piece. (more…)

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • In Jewish Woman magazine, Sandee Brawarsky introduces a slew of fall books, including Dara Horn’s latest novel, Jillian Cantor’s Margot, and Ruchama King Feuerman’s In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist, all of which are on my tbr list.
  • And speaking of Dara Horn–icymi, you may want to read her essay in last week’s New York Times Book Review.
  • Etgar Keret has annotated for one of his stories. (via Galleycat)
  • Adam Kirsch reviews Jonathan Lethem’s Dissident Gardens, a novel that “traces three generations of an American Jewish family, showing how its tradition of radicalism mutates to meet the fashions of each new decade, and leaving us with the question of whether that radicalism still exists in any meaningful form.”

    • Shabbat shalom and shana tova!

    Words of the Week: David Horovitz

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    In an Israel beset by threats and challenges in almost every direction, an Israel whose northern border is just an hour’s drive from Assad’s toxic Damascus, an Israel being urged by the international community to take territorial risks for peace in a vicious, WMD-using, phenomenally unstable Middle East — in that Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be feeling a further bitter vindication of his long-held and oft-stated conviction that, ultimately, against all dangers, Israel needs to be able to take care of itself, by itself.

    Source: David Horovitz, The Times of Israel

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    7

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Just in time for Rosh Hashanah: a new issue from JewishFiction.net.
  • Etgar Keret recalls writing his first short story.
  • Tent: “immersive, intense, free, week-long workshops for anyone, ages 21 to 30, who’s curious about the connections between Jewishness and modern culture.” Offerings include workshops in creative writing and journalism.
  • “Starting in September, Lizzie Skurnick Books, an imprint of Ig Publishing, will begin rereleasing the classic Y.A. literature that Skurnick has already made a career of celebrating.” Including the All-of-a-Kind Family series.
  • And finally, an essay by yours truly, “Childless Does Not Mean Clueless,” on The Forward’s “The Sisterhood” blog.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Recent Viewing: “The Law in These Parts”

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    As I’ve written: “I know Israel isn’t perfect. I will listen to criticisms arising from a sincere concern for Israel’s health and security.” There are serious criticisms embedded within THE LAW IN THESE PARTS, a documentary from Israeli filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz that’s available for online viewing until September 18. And I’m not at all sorry to have watched it.

    I learned a lot from this documentary, described as “a tour-de-force examination of the system of military administration used by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967 — featuring the system’s leading creators.” It made me think and question (and agonize), and it may do the same for you. (It also made me look for other viewers’ reactions: this piece from Jewish Ideas Daily provides some cautionary notes.)

    In the end, what the film has done is this: It has made me pray even more fervently for an especially swift, secure, and somehow satisfactory resolution to the West Bank part of the ongoing negotiations. Wishful thinking? Perhaps.

    If you watch the film, let me know your reaction.