Displaying posts tagged with

“future”

Dec
3
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 3 comments

Oh Dvir! Now It’s Official

Dvir Abramovich was at it again.
Yet another piece about how Jews and the Holocaust don’t get the respect they deserve.
Yet more responses from puzzelled or angry non-Jews.
Yet another attempt by me to demonstrate to non-Jews that Jews who cry wolf regarding anti-Semitism are not representative of the community as a whole.
Even I’m bored…
Or I would [...]

Sep
14
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 13 comments

An Interfaith Adventure: Evangelicals, Alcohol, and a Very Strange Night

Every so often, someone comes up with an idea so bizarre, it must have merit.
I have written before about my belief in the importance of grass roots inter-communal dialogue – the sort of interactions that do not take place in formal settings, in which difficult questions can be asked, and even occasionally answered.
So when a [...]

Sep
6
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 1 comment

AJN 1 – Transforming Trauma: Congratulations Nomi Blum

Nomi Blum has won the B’nai  B’rith Bernard Lustig scholarship (AJN, page 12), which enabled her to take part in a Monash intensive course in South Africa and Rwanda to study apartheid and genocide.
In itself, winning this scholarship was a commendable achievement. What struck me as particularly interesting, was Blum’s personal path to this academic [...]

Aug
18
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 2 comments

Part Three – The Axis of Honour: Honour and Shame

Honour and Shame

Parts one and two of this series have focused on how both right- and left-wing ideologies prevent us from understanding terrorism. I’ve mentioned that if we remove ideology from our analyses, we have a much better chance at tackling the issue, both theoretically and practically.
I’ve also suggested, “honour” as one framework that [...]

Aug
11
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 25 comments

The Axis of Honour: Honour, Communalism, and Islamist Suicide Terrorism – Introduction

This is a huge topic. I’ve decided to devote a number of posts to it, rather than compose one mega thesis.
It will read as a series – the political analysis equivalent of a Dickens serial, though probably less lucrative.
Unfortunately, the nature of this sort of blog (until I get someone with technical abilities to spruce [...]

Jun
2
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 22 comments

Zionism on Campus: a New Approach

There is no more fertile ground than the Western campus for all manner of anti-Zionist activity. How such activity can be countered is an important question, not only because Israel and Zionists are misrepresented, but because often, people come to university without eve having known or cared about Israel or Jews, and their formative experiences [...]

May
31
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 14 comments

An urgent request to Our Leadership for the Jewish reponse to anti-Indian violence

How is it that the only Jewish person to appear in the mainstream media condemning the recent violence against Indian students is David Vorchheimer? His letter to the editor, appearing in Saturday’s Age was a triumph of understatement, reason, and should be a template for the language with which our community’s leadership responds to this [...]

May
31
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 15 comments

Mazal Tov: A Very Sensible Community Prevails at Maccabi

The SJ would like to wish the Jewish community and Maccabi a hearty mazal tov on overturning the directive to rid the sports organisation of non-Jews.
As reported in today’s Age, due to community uproar, Harry Procel and his board were forced to abandon immediate plans to keep the clubs from being overrun by barbarians Gentiles. [...]

May
26
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 6 comments

An Email to our Leadership

We have just sent an email requesting comments from the leaders of some of our key institutions. These include, AIJAC, the ZFA, ECAJ, AUJS, Maccabi, and the JCCV. Below is a copy of the email that we sent.
“The Sensible Jew is a web log devoted to discussion of matters pertaining to the leadership and representation [...]

May
21
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 7 comments

Reader Response 4: Coups, Town Halls, and the Reluctance to Comment

It would seem prudent to gather some momentum, and to get a feel for the common ground shared by all Jewish moderates before storming Beit Weizman.

While the last sentence is somewhat tongue in cheek, it does allude to an idea that emerged at The Sensible Jew: what do people think of an open meeting, to which all Melbourne Jews are welcome, in which we could ask the leaders of the ZFA, ECAJ, AIJAC, and other bodies some questions regarding their recent media performance, and their claims to legitimate representation?

Would such a meeting do any good? Is it at all worthwhile? Are our institutions so rotten that attempting to graft democratic elements onto them would be futile? If so, by what mechanisms could an alternative leadership be established?

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