Ultra-orthodox Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, and philosopher, jazz artist and ex-Jew Gilad Atzmon, met to discuss hard questions about Judaism, Jewish politics and the meaning of Jewishness at Theatre 80 in New York City last month…
Only rise up if they attack our religion. Christianity is not an attack on the Jewish religion. it is an affirmation of it.
If the good rabbi understood that he would look into it instead of shunning it.
All jews should look to Gilad Atzmon and be inspired. I read his book “The Wandering Who” and was impressed by his sincerity and honesty – a trait of which most jews are not known for.
His book is an investigation of Jewish identity politics and Jewish contemporary ideology using both popular culture and scholarly texts. Jewish identity is tied up with some of the most difficult and contentious issues of today.
His book opens many of these issues up for discussion. Since Israel defines itself openly as the ‘Jewish State’, he asks what the notions of ’Judaism’, ‘Jewishness’, ‘Jewish culture’ and ‘Jewish ideology’ really stand for. Gilad examines the tribal aspects embedded in Jewish secular discourse, both Zionist and anti Zionist; the ‘holocaust religion’; the meaning of ‘history’ and ‘time’ within the Jewish political discourse; the anti-Gentile ideologies entangled within different forms of secular Jewish political discourse.
He questions what it is that leads Diaspora Jews to identify themselves with Israel and affiliate with its politics.
Only rise up if they attack our religion. Christianity is not an attack on the Jewish religion. it is an affirmation of it.
If the good rabbi understood that he would look into it instead of shunning it.
All jews should look to Gilad Atzmon and be inspired. I read his book “The Wandering Who” and was impressed by his sincerity and honesty – a trait of which most jews are not known for.
His book is an investigation of Jewish identity politics and Jewish contemporary ideology using both popular culture and scholarly texts. Jewish identity is tied up with some of the most difficult and contentious issues of today.
His book opens many of these issues up for discussion. Since Israel defines itself openly as the ‘Jewish State’, he asks what the notions of ’Judaism’, ‘Jewishness’, ‘Jewish culture’ and ‘Jewish ideology’ really stand for. Gilad examines the tribal aspects embedded in Jewish secular discourse, both Zionist and anti Zionist; the ‘holocaust religion’; the meaning of ‘history’ and ‘time’ within the Jewish political discourse; the anti-Gentile ideologies entangled within different forms of secular Jewish political discourse.
He questions what it is that leads Diaspora Jews to identify themselves with Israel and affiliate with its politics.