The Case of Looting

 

If you have read any of the post-Zionist “revisionist” historians, then Loot: How Israel Stole Palestinian Property, by Adam Raz, will not be overly shocking.   Like every conflict, civilians on the losing side, in this case Palestinians, suffered special depravations.  Like all armed forces, the pre-state Jewish militias and then the IDF engaged in looting Palestinian property.  Also, scores of Israeli civilians engaged in widespread theft.  This is well known at this point.  Why it happened is the rub.  Was it inevitable?

Raz’s thrust is that Ben-Gurion knew of the looting, but did not move to address it because these thefts fit with his strategic and ethnic goals.  With their property and possession gone, Palestinians would have nothing to return to at the conclusion of the war.  Raz’s proof is when Ben-Gurion ‘saved’ Nazareth from looting and ethnic cleansing – so as not to inflame Christian anger toward the new Jewish state.   When he wanted to preserve a Palestinian population, and stop looting – he was able to do so. 

How to Deal with the World

 

If you want to get an excellent introduction to Stoicism with a modern lens, then you can’t go wrong with Stoicism for Inner Peace Paperback by Einzelgänger.   How do we train ourselves to handle the shocks of life?  How do we get to the point where we expect our lives, at certain points, to be bad?  In this confusing world that wants to take everything from you, how can you find peace?  Open this book. It may help you in your quest.

Revolutionary Retellings

 

Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the Rabbi's Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud does just this – and to great effect.  Fine takes some very famous Talmud stories which feature woman, pouring them into novel molds.   

Take the story of Yalta and the wine.  This tale has often been cast as the classic “shrew,” narrative, or the story of a disagreeable woman.  Shrew stories are designed to display unflattering features of women's dispositions.  However, Fine contextualizes the literary trope of the shrew, and in the process, shows us how Yalta is fighting for her treatment at the hand of callous and unthinking men.  Fine does this again and again with familiar Talmud stories.  The new spin she gives to these stories is nothing short of revolutionary.

Pragmatic Judaism

 

Yochanan's Gamble: Judaism's Pragmatic Approach to Life by Rabbi Marc Katz take us on a journey through the evolving landscape of Rabbinical Judaism.   Once the temple was destroyed, and the sectarian violence of the Jewish Rebellion abated, certain Jews had to pick up the pieces of Judaism if it was to survive. 

The Rabbinical tradition grew up without political power, territory, a cultic center – so under these circumstances, the Rabbi’s developed a flexible approach to governance that was guided by the a majority rules pragmatism that would become its hallmark until the modern period. 

A Judaism stripped of territory, political power, and a cultic center, had no other option but to hit what was pitched.  Rabbi Katz’s book explores the many ways that pragmatism forged a new form of Judaism.

Getting a Handle on Essentials

 

The Beginner's Guide to Stoicism: Tools for Emotional Resilience and Positivity, by Matthew Van Natta is an excellent introduction to thinking and acting like a Stoic.  I have been exposed to Stoic philosophy since my early twenties, but I find handbooks like this extremely helpful.  Stoic philosophy is easy to learn, and hard to practice.  A book like Van Natta’s helps the beginner, or even more advanced practitioner, get a handle on the essentials. 

An Admirable Effort!

 

Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish by Joshua Leifer is an earnest effort by this (relatively) young author to get at the heart of the issues that American Jewish communities currently face.  This is a big project, and Leifer does an admirable job.  I do, however, see two major flaws in this work.

The first is that the author appears to have written this work (mostly) before the October 7th attacks.  He mentions the attacks briefly, but his conclusion is that Israel no longer requires the United States for approval or support (or the American Jewish community).  Then he mentions the attacks, and explains this assumption is wrong.  But the book is largely written with his assumption.  He probably wrote most of the book before the attacks and then had to make changes.  So, there is a strange disconnect on this topic. 

The second is a fundamental premise about the nature of Judaism.  Liefer sees Judaism as hierarchical.  The Jews of his wife’s Yeshivish New Jersey community are rigorous Jews, and the rest of us struggle with identity.  Yes, he criticizes all varieties of Judaism, but you can sense the longing he has for more “traditional” forms of Jewish expression (like studying the Talmud all day) where communities do not struggle for identity.  Progressive Jews, however, do. I am a progressive Jew, and belong to a progressive shul.  We are not in danger of losing our Jewish identity.   We struggle with identity issues, as all Jews do, but we are firmly Jews, with or without daily Talmud study.

Despite its flaws, it is wonderful to see this author sort through such difficult issues.  It is a thankless task!

God's Body

 

Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy, by Marla Segol, is an academic treatment of the creative role God has in the kabbalah, especially related to characterizations that can be called sexual.  The author writes an academic work here, although the interested amateur with some background in this area does well in this text.  If we allow our academic study of God to fulfil the literal sense of a divine body, instead of the spiritualizing elements found in Jewish philosophy, and in modern academic studies, we open new pathways.  This book explores those new avenues of approach.