On opposite ends of the political spectrum, this week, there have been signs of Jews behaving sensibly – together.
The AJN (page 6) reported on the AIJAC sponsored Inter-religious Coordinating Council of Israel’s members’, Rula Shubeita, Issa Jaber, and Dr Debbie Weissman, visit to Australia.
After overcoming the cognitive dissonance, there are many elements of this initiative [...]
Aug
21
2009
21
2009
In the AJN 2 – Congratulations and Caveats: AIJAC
Jul
15
2009
15
2009
Jul
13
2009
13
2009
Thank you, and Good Night
The Sensible Jew is about to go on indefinite hiatus.
Before I sign off, however, I would like to thank our guest writers, Yoram Symons, Malki Rose, Frochel, Hasid, and Paroggan for keeping the site filled with content over the last couple of weeks.
I would also like to thank Yvonne Fein for her invaluable input, suggestions [...]
Jun
25
2009
25
2009
Loewenstein: Why Bother?
Antony Loewenstein has provided fodder for this blog on a number of occasions. Some of our readers have asked whether writing about Loewenstein serves any function, or indeed, whether such posts provide him with oxygen or legitimacy.
Let me state for the record: I have no personal beef with Mr Loewenstein. I met him once, quite [...]
Jun
25
2009
25
2009
Australian Jews, a New Format, and Later Today
This blog began as a forum for for discussion of Australian Jewish issues. Because it began in Melbourne, its has tended to focus on Victorian governance and media shenanigans.
We hope, however, to commission posts soon from writers outside this city. Each community shares a number of challenges and some of these are national in scope.
Jun
19
2009
19
2009
Shabbat Shalom Redux
A very brief, but still heartfelt Shabbat Shalom to all our readers.
As always, The Sensible Jew will break for the Sabbath, but feel free to peruse and comment on the day of rest if that is what relaxes you. We cannot guarantee such activities’ Halachic bona fides, however.
We will return on Sunday and look forward [...]
Jun
15
2009
15
2009
Talking Tachles 2: In Defence of the Right to Responsive Representation and Transparency
In the first post in this series, we asked a number of questions regarding representation, legitimacy and transparency. Some of the responses touched on themes such as apathy and whether there is indeed any “right” to representation at all.
Firstly, a straw man has been created in the suggestion that we are somehow disciples of Joseph [...]
Jun
14
2009
14
2009
Antony Loewenstein: Easily Startled
Today’s Sunday Age has published a letter from Antony Loewenstein.
We’ve written before that our objections to Mr. Loewenstein lie not only in the flawed intellectual foundations of his anti-Zionism, but also in his utterly vapid arguments which he so often supports with factual errors.
Let’s examine his latest contribution to the public discourse on Australian Jewry [...]
Jun
2
2009
2
2009
Who are the Sensible Jews? A Partial Coming Out
We have received numerous emails and a number of comments since we began this blog expressing disquiet about our anonymity. We have always sympathised with this sentiment; however, we believed that keeping our personalities out of the debate was the best way to ensure the discourse could stay on-topic. Unfortunately, the issue of anonymity seems [...]
May
31
2009
31
2009
SJ Signs off – temporarily
Dear Readers,
As you will have noticed, over the past couple of weeks, all posts have been written by contributing writers (Yoram, Malki, Frochel, The Hasid, Malki, and Paroggan).
The same reasons that initially forced me to conceal my identity have forced me to cease writing completely and suddenly. Fortunately, a wonderful group of people enabled the [...]