The Jewish Condition: Challenges and Responses - 1938-2008

by Rosenblum,Mark

• ISBN13: 9781412808026
• ISBN10: 1412808022
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2008-07-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This brilliant set of essays poses the paradigmatic question: are Jews in grave danger today or not? Concern is rooted in the storm clouds of 1938, when the same question arose just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War and the Holocaust.  The contributors do not presume that the events of seventy years ago are identical with those today, or that they emanate from the same sources. However, the shared feeling is that Jewish communities worldwide are very much, once again at risk. In post-1938 Germany, the Nazi state began its march toward world conquest, with the destruction of European Jewry as its centerpiece. In an act of willful blindness, Western democratic leaders chose to negotiate and appease the Hitler regime. Many Jewish leaders also chose to minimize the risks. Seven years later, over 50 million people, including six million Jews had been killed. In 2008, extremist Islamic forces have spawned a global Jihad. State-sponsored terrorism, a war against the West as well as against moderate Islamic states, once again holds the destruction of the Jewish people, and in particular the State of Israel, as a critical goal. The Iranian leadership proclaims that "a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible." Against such a diplomatic and historical background a conference was organized resulting in these essays written by Alan Dershowitz, Norman Podhoretz, Michael Walzer, Leonard Fein, and David Pryce-Jones among others. The results are varied at the policy level, but unified in apprehending a disturbing revival of inherited hatred and anti-Semitic outbreaks against Jews both within and outside of Europe. The is a compelling effort that merits the attention of social scientists, policy makers, and those interested in international relations.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
Cognitive Dissonance or Denial?-Perhaps Both	p. xiii
Back to the Future: Is it 1938 Again?	p. 1
Lessons from the Past: Hopes for the Future	p. 13
What is Living and What is Dead in Jewish Twentieth-Century History?	p. 21
Can We Choose Politically between Right and Left?	p. 33
Echoes of 1938	p. 39
The Case for Bombing Iran	p. 45
The Right of World Jewry to Criticize Israel	p. 57
The Ethical Limits and Ways of Criticizing Israel	p. 61
Diaspora Criticism and Advocacy	p. 67
Saving American Jewry: Demography, Politics, and Destiny	p. 75
1938 as a Paradigm	p. 91
From Hatred to Love: Is it Good-or Bad-for the Jews?	p. 99
Facing Armageddon-Evangelicals and the Jews	p. 103
Social Justice and Jewish Survival	p. 111
Europe's "Terrible Transformation?"	p. 119
If Israel Ceased to Exist	p. 127
Challenges and Dangers Facing American Jewry	p. 139
Dilemmas of Jewish Survival as Seen through the Prism of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice	p. 145
Contributors	p. 153
Index	p. 159
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