By the time you read this, the neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville will likely be old news. Although news cycles now fly by fast and furious, blurring and short-circuiting our memories, I still want to talk about these young white supremacists.
Although such comparisons remain rare, for Jews and non-Jews the golem serves as a concept uniquely suited to expressing the fears and insecurities of the modern era. As Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote in 1984, “The golem story appears less obsolete today than it seemed one hundred years ago. After all, what are the computers and robots of our times if not golems?”
Israeli novelist Dorit Rabinyan was enjoying a peaceful afternoon at home on December 30, 2015, when a phone call from an old friend, Haaretz journalist Or Kashti, changed her life. “I have something to tell you,” he said. “It may be the biggest story I will ever break.” “Good for you!” replied Rabinyan. “No,” said Kashti quietly, “it is very good for you.”
Dani Dayan has an unusual background for an Israeli diplomat. The Argentinian-born secular Israeli and successful tech entrepreneur was Israel’s chief advocate for the settlers from 2007 to 2013 as chairman of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Sheldon Adelson’s newspaper, Israel Hayom, changed the course of Israeli politics and moved the country further right.
Will the hard-charging casino magnate have the same luck in Las Vegas?
INDEPENDENT: Time is an invitation. Both words share the same root: z’mahn. It is written: “The life of man is like a breath exhaling; his days are like a passing shadow” (Psalms 144:4).
The future of Europe’s dwindling Jewish communities is bleak.
But can President Trump and his special Middle East envoys accept anything less?
A few days after we finished Moment’s last issue, I got on a plane to China, a country I had never visited. There is so much to say about China. To begin with, it is no longer the shattered country I studied in college in the years following Mao’s death and the end of the Cultural Revolution.
The term “anti-Semitism” has evolved. As scholarship on the subject grew, the available vocabulary expanded. Today, its definition—and its boundaries—are uncertain. “Anti-Semitism” is but one of a convoluted, interconnected web of similar words—including “anti-Judaism,” “anti-Zionism,” “Judeophobia” and “Zionophobia.”
“Keep reminding yourself: This is not normal,” warned comedian John Oliver on Last Week Tonight. It was less than a week after Election Day, and the country was just beginning to process Donald Trump’s unexpected victory. Opponents of the president-elect were scrambling to discern what had changed in a world they thought they understood.
We should learn from our sages.
