Displaying posts tagged with

“Israeli”

May
28
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 17 comments

AJN 3: StandWithUs and Interfaith Peace

Two articles caught our attention in this week’s AJN (May 28).
The first article, on page 6 of The AJN, details the virtues of one Michelle Rojas, emissary for StandWithUs, an organisation devoted to the rehabilitation of Israel’s image on campuses throughout the world. These folk are worth googling, because they run a plethora of websites, [...]

May
27
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 22 comments

Reader Response 7: Responding to our Non/Anti-Zionist Readers

The Sensible Jew has received two comments from two separate readers over the last 24 hours. These readers have in common a non- or anti-Zionist perspective. We think it is important that we address some of their questions/statements.
Reader, Gustavm, writes “You need to address “the elephant in the room” which you seem to want to [...]

May
26
2009
Life By Alex Fein | 5 comments

Reader Response 5: Israel, Kangaroo Courts, Unity, Speaking Out, and Subheadings

Today, we’ve not only experienced a major spike in readership, we have also seen a plethora of comments, some of which we’ll answer in this post.
Firstly, Israel is clearly integral to a Jew’s identity – whether said Jew is pro- or anti-Zionist. We find it hard to imagine a Jew without an opinion either way. [...]

May
24
2009
Current Events By Alex Fein | Comments turned off

The New Week: Ideas from SJ Readers 2 – Jewish Priorities, the Media, Jewish Schools, and our Leadership

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Ideas from SJ Readers

While we strongly agree with Yoram on this, we do not agree with his extrapolation that we should not focus too much on the media, or get caught up in its “glamour.” Yoram believes that we are not in any danger of an imminent “pogrom,” and with this we would also agree.

…That does not mean that relations between our community and the Muslim community have not deteriorated considerably. There are many unpleasant actions and events that can take place before large scale violence occurs. It’s also important to remember that communal violence of any stripe never erupts without a long lead-up of perceived insults to honour. One of the hopes of The Sensible Jew is to catch the destructive tendencies of our leadership before any lasting and long term damage is done. Indeed, danger is not imminent, so we are blessed in that we have this opportunity, during a time of peaceful relations with other communities, to build networks and on-the-ground relationships that will prevent a slide into inter-communal animus.

May
24
2009
Current Events By Alex Fein | 2 comments

The New Week: Ideas from SJ Readers 1 – Yoram’s Report from Auburn Rd Shul

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Ideas from SJ Readers

Firstly, Yoram, of the Auburn Rd Shul, conducted a discussion among the Shul’s congregants regarding some of the themes raised on this blog. We thank him for doing that. For more information on that discussion, you can read Yoram’s comment here. The congregants, diverse in age and background seemed to agree that the community requires some form of leadership; however, Yoram contends that even though such a forum was effective at promoting discussion, the “Town Hall” style of meeting may not be best suited to establishing tangible changes.

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?

May
20
2009
Opinion By Alex Fein | 6 comments

Reader Response 3: Media and Anti-Semitism

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series reader response

Firstly, the observation has been made on more than one occasion that there are genuine anti-Semites (some of whom are Jewish) active in the media. The Sensible Jew believes that this point is moot. Apart from the impossibility of determining exactly which journalists and editors are indeed anti-Semitic, we must acknowledge that certain people with various ideological agendas will always abuse their positions in the media. Such people cannot be “rooted out.”

May
19
2009
Opinion By Alex Fein | 2 comments

So What Do We Do? Jews and the Media

It often seems that we’re in an impossible bind. As commenters, Blistering, Paroggan, and Frochel have asked, how does our community deal with a media that is (The Australian excluded) either hostile or indifferent to us? How do we best approach matters such as the 8 minute play, and other issues rife with propagandising on both sides? We’ll begin with some of our ideas for change, but this is by no means an exhaustive list and we ask our readers to contribute their ideas.

May
19
2009
Opinion By Alex Fein | 23 comments

Michael Fagenblat’s Presentation at the Seven Jewish Children Reading

Seven Jewish Children is not an anti-Semitic play. On the contrary, its challenging message deserves to be heard, especially by Jews, Israelis and Zionists. However in the context of a Nakba commemoration for Australian Friends of Palestine, the play risks degenerating from being challenging and useful to useless self-validation. Here, then, are seven responses to Seven Jewish Children in the context of a commemoration marking what Palestinians call the Nakba–the Catastrophe–of 1948.

May
18
2009
Opinion By Alex Fein | 8 comments

Reader Response 2: Incompetence, Negligence, and Legitimacy

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series reader response

One needn’t be planning the overthrow of ECAJ. Or the abolition of AIJAC as self appointed spokespeople for our community. We only seek to make public what has traditionally been private: disquiet with the direction our community’s leadership, and our interaction with the wider public. If this should inspire concrete change for the better, that would be wonderful, but that is not our job, nor has it ever been the brief of this site.

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