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Articles by David Ellenson
Plight of the Abayudaya: 'They are our brothers, our flesh' - opinion
Amid the plethora of political and ethical problems that currently confront the State of Israel, there is a moral challenge to the concept of Jewish peoplehood that has been overlooked – the plight of the Abayudaya Jewish Community of Uganda, as they seek recognition as Jews by the State of Israel.
Echoes of McCarthyism in Smear Campaign Against New Israel Fund Backers
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin is a name that is infamous in American history. The senator hurled scurrilous innuendos and attacked the character of those he opposed. He routinely labelled them as “Communists” in an attempt to squelch all political views at odds with his own. In the spring of 1954, when his power was at its zenith, McCarthy charged that the Army was lax in its security. He demanded that its leaders appear before him in Senate hearing.
Ireland and the Promised Land
Most American Jews are deeply convinced that religion ought to be a private matter, so when battles over the Sabbath or conversion or kashrut erupt in the Jewish state, they are often befuddled. Why isn’t Israel more like America, they wonder. In his ambitious new book, Alexander Kaye instructivelyraises the question of why Israel isn’t even less like the United States.
Opinion | Love Israel? Oppose annexation.
In both my professional and personal life, there has never been a time when I have not proudly been a Zionist. My relationship to Israel has been defined by an abiding understanding that to be a Jew is to live in connection to our historical homeland and the modern political state that has emerged in its place.
Immigration Policy and the Cry of the Stranger
The biblical commentator Rashi often observed that certain passages in the Torah scream out, “Darsheini — interpret me.” In Parashat Mishpatim, the words of Exodus 22:20-22 surely demand such exposition. In these verses, God calls out to the Israelites and tells them, “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were a stranger in the land of Egypt. You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan.
Michael Chabon’s Sacred and Profane Cliché Machine
In the institution’s most controversial graduation ceremony since the infamous “Trefa Banquet” in 1883, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Michael Chabon took the podium at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles and exhorted his audience to “knock down the walls.” This meant, first and foremost, Israeli security checkpoints and barriers, but by the end of the talk, Chabon had extended his demolition to-do list for these future rabbis and Jewish communal...
Why We Invited a Critic of Israel to Speak at a Jewish University’s Graduation
(JTA) — At the 2018 commencement of the Skirball Campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, graduation speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon spoke out strongly, even provocatively, against Israeli policies in the West Bank. In the same address, Chabon also articulated deeply Jewish and Zionist commitments (not merely abstract or literary in nature, but specifically religious, communal and even tribal).
Why we invite political debate over Israel at a Jewish university
Not surprisingly, responses have mirrored the range of Chabon’s comments, running the gamut in both position and stridency. Some said it was important for graduates of a Jewish institution to hear views on Israel with which they might disagree. Others said they preferred to walk out rather than hear a “reductionist” view of Israel.
Why we invited a critic of Israel to speak at a Jewish university’s graduation
In the same address, Chabon also articulated deeply Jewish and Zionist commitments (not merely abstract or literary in nature, but specifically religious, communal and even tribal). Not surprisingly, responses have mirrored the range of Chabon’s comments, running the gamut in both position and stridency. Some said it was important for graduates of a Jewish institution to hear views on Israel with which they might disagree.
Why we invited a critic of Israel to speak at a Jewish university's graduation - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Novelist Michael Chabon, shown with his sponsor Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, received a Doctor of Humane Letters honor and gave an address at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion commencement ceremonies in Los Angeles on May 14, 2018.
Why we invite political debate over Israel at a Jewish university
JTA — At the 2018 commencement of the Skirball Campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, graduation speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon spoke out strongly, even provocatively, against Israeli policies in the West Bank. In the same address, Chabon also articulated deeply Jewish and Zionist commitments (not merely abstract or literary in nature, but specifically religious, communal and even tribal).
Center For Jewish History Chief Comes Under Fierce Attack By Right Wingers
Two prominent public relations operatives are calling for the firing of the newly-installed head of Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History over his links to left-wing advocacy groups that are critical of Israel and the occupation. The operatives, Ronn Torossian and Hank Sheinkopf, published a column Tuesday condemning David Myers, the academic tapped in recent weeks to lead the CJH, for his seat on the international board of the left-wing not-for-profit New Israel Fund.
No, David Myers Is Not A Radical. He Is The Embodiment Of The Center
We were deeply distressed to read the articles in Arutz Sheva and The Jewish Press as well as in a blog of the Algemeiner calling upon the Center for Jewish History to terminate David Myers as President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History on account of his views concerning the State of Israel. We found the conclusion of the Algemeiner blog, “Individuals who hold views such as Myers’ should not hold positions of leadership in the Jewish community.
David Ellenson column: A tale of three governors: Lessons of leadership from Southern history
I grew up in Newport News during the tumultuous years of the 1950s and later graduated from both the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia. Like millions of others, I have watched the horrific events in Charlottesville and its aftermath during these past three weeks and, as one with Virginia roots, have paid particular attention to the debate that has raged over how the past is to be remembered. As a historian raised during a period of racial crisis in the wake of Brown v.
Charlottesville: A Personal and Historical Reflection
I grew up as an Orthodox Jewish boy born in 1947 in Newport News, Virginia. I was aware from my earliest years that Newport News had welcomed my immigrant grandparents and their children from the ravages of Eastern Europe when they first arrived in Tidewater during the early years of the 20th century. My grandmother was grateful her entire life to Virginia for the shelter it provided.
Senator Tim Kaine, Anne Holton, and the Meaning of Character: A Personal Reflection
I was born in 1947 and am more than a decade older than Senator Tim Kaine and his wife Anne Holton. However, as I listened to the Vice-Presidential acceptance speech the Virginia Senator delivered at the Democratic National Convention and watched his wife Anne Holton, current Secretary of Education of the Commonwealth, sitting next to her father, former Governor of Virginia Linwood Holton, I thought back to my own formative years in Newport News, Virginia.
Eugene Borowitz, teacher to generations of rabbis, defined dilemma of the modern Jew
In Ethics of the Fathers, the rabbis teach that we must grant respect and honor to an individual who teaches us even the smallest bit of knowledge. For those of us who were the students of Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who died two weeks ago at the age of 91, the obligation is increased a thousandfold because of the wisdom and insight, the counsel and the judgment, the inspiration and direction he provided us.
A spiritual guide to a generation of rabbis
In Ethics of the Fathers, the rabbis teach that we must grant respect and honor to an individual who teaches us even the smallest bit of knowledge. For those of us who were the students of Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who died Jan. 22 at the age of 91, the obligation is increased a thousand fold because of the wisdom and insight, the counsel and the judgment, the inspiration and direction he provided us.
Eugene Borowitz Defined Dilemma of the Modern Jew
In “Ethics of the Fathers,” the rabbis teach that we must grant respect and honor to an individual who teaches us even the smallest bit of knowledge. For those of us who were the students of Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who died last week at the age of 91, the obligation is increased a thousandfold because of the wisdom and insight, the counsel and the judgment, the inspiration and direction he provided us.
Eugene Borowitz, teacher to generations of rabbis, defined dilemma of the modern Jew
WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) — In Ethics of the Fathers, the rabbis teach that we must grant respect and honor to an individual who teaches us even the smallest bit of knowledge. For those of us who were the students of Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who died last week at the age of 91, the obligation is increased a thousandfold because of the wisdom and insight, the counsel and the judgment, the inspiration and direction he provided us.
Eugene Borowitz Appreciation
(JTA) — In Ethics of the Fathers, the rabbis teach that we must grant respect and honor to an individual who teaches us even the smallest bit of knowledge. For those of us who were the students of Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who died last week at the age of 91, the obligation is increased a thousandfold because of the wisdom and insight, the counsel and the judgment, the inspiration and direction he provided us.
Echoes of McCarthyism in Smear Campaign Against New Israel Fund Backers - Forward.com
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin is a name that is infamous in American history. The senator hurled scurrilous innuendos and attacked the character of those he opposed. He routinely labelled them as “Communists” in an attempt to squelch all political views at odds with his own. In the spring of 1954, when his power was at its zenith, McCarthy charged that the Army was lax in its security. He demanded that its leaders appear before him in Senate hearing.
Echoes of McCarthyism in Smear Campaign Against New Israel Fund Backers
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin is a name that is infamous in American history. The senator hurled scurrilous innuendos and attacked the character of those he opposed. He routinely labelled them as “Communists” in an attempt to squelch all political views at odds with his own. In the spring of 1954, when his power was at its zenith, McCarthy charged that the Army was lax in its security. He demanded that its leaders appear before him in Senate hearing.
The Rock from Which They Were Cleft
Zera Yisrael (Seed of Israel) by Haim Amsalem Mekabetz Nidchei Yisrael, 456 pp., 120 NIS Mekor Yisrael (Source of Israel) by Haim Amsalem Mekabetz Nidchei Yisrael, 388 pp., 120 NIS Over the last two decades more than a million people from the former Soviet Union have immigrated to Israel through the Law of Return, which grants citizenship to anyone (and their spouse) with at least one Jewish grandparent.
Ralph Gibson
By Ralph Gibson, Rabbi David Ellenson, Moshe Safdi, Martin Cohen Publisher : Publisher : Lustrum Press 2020 | 216 pages Ralph Gibson's diptych portrayal of Israel, a land at once deeply modern and incredibly ancient. The American photographer Ralph Gibson traveled throughout Israel and the surrounding region to create a portrait of a land where the past is vividly part of the present.
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