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Update on surveys of American Jews on Israel/Palestine for Jewish Currents
I have a new piece up at Jewish Currents: Recent Polls of US Jews Reflect Polarized Community They reached out to me around eight months ago to ask if I would be willing to write an update to my 2020 piece. After many interviews (I think nine total? I wisely used transcription software this time!),…
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Pro-Israel Donor Influence as an Antisemitic Trope
Is simply pointing out large pro-Israel donors — without reference to their Jewishness — invoking an antisemitic trope?
Thoughts on the Kenneth Roth / Harvard Kennedy School debacle
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A Tale of Two Kenneths: A Brief History of Campus Antisemitism in U.S. Civil Rights Law, 2004–present
Or: Why the Executive Order on Antisemitism Does Matter Written in collaboration with Isaac Brooks Fishman and cross-posted to Jewschool Earlier this month, President Trump issued an executive order on antisemitism, which created more confusion than policy. It is not clear from the face of the order what it is doing, or why it was…
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NCSY discusses Jewish identity, Zionism, & a binational state after the Six-Day War
Highlights from a 1968 NCSY Guide to Israel — an unapologetically Religious Zionist text that also promotes intellectual engagement with ideological opponents — with editing contributions from Meir Kahane
While in my shul’s library over Shavuot, I found a paper booklet published in June 1968 by the National Council of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), the primary Modern Orthodox youth group. Titled Israel: Eretz Israel, Land of Promise, it provides a fascinating picture of how American Modern Orthodox Jews saw the State of Israel in the…
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How Not to Talk About the Israel-Palestine Conversation
Last week I read a piece in Tablet, “How to Talk About Israel and Palestine” by Carly Pildis. Having spent a good few years involved in this very issue (within largely American, college/university-based Jewish communities), I have what to say whenever anyone writes about it. I have a lot of disagreements with the piece, which…
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Last remaining member of Meimad offers brief post-election thoughts
NAHLAOT, JERUSALEM — The Zooming Etrog found the last remaining member of Meimad, Meir Ben-Oni, walking out of Nahlaot’s heavily Anglo shul Kol Rina after Shacharit on Wednesday morning. Meimad is a left-leaning religious party founded by Rabbi Yehuda Amital in 1999. It is largely considered to be defunct, not having run in this year’s…
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Hillel CEO, who has previously threatened legal action against students for controversial speakers, decries ‘crisis’ of free expression on campus
Dramatic reversal as Hillel International president and CEO Eric Fingerhut announces support of open discourse, shocking Jewish student activists. WASHINGTON — Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of Hillel International, recently spoke on a panel at the Bipartisan Policy Center entitled “Crisis on Campus: The Future of Free Expression and Intellectual Diversity.” In a stunning about-face,…