Cameron and the Levitas

Elijah Levita was born in 1469 in Neustadt, near Nuremberg, he came from an observant Jewish family during the Renaissance period, where Europe was beginning to emerge out from the Middle ages through the period of the Enlightenment into the modern era. From Levita’s early childhood he excelled in the study of biblical texts and [...]

Secularizing Yom Kippur

A delegation of Israeli youngsters from Tel Aviv visit the United States to join their Diaspora Jewish counterparts on a Zionist youth movement summer camp. On the camp they take part in a program run by their leaders on Jewish festivals. Part of the program involves both the Israelis and Americans discussing which is their [...]

The End of Blind Support – Towards a New form of Israel Advocacy.

“Being critical of Israeli policy is perfectly legitimate and not anti-Semitic. I myself am a critic of Israel. I didn’t agree with Oslo, Camp David, Taba, The Road Map, Annapolis, the disengagement from Gaza, the withdrawal from Sinai, the Peace treaty with Jordan and think that we should have done more in the Second Lebanon [...]

Universalising the Particular

Judaism has throughout its history struggled between whether it is a Particularistic or Universalist religion. Theologians have battled with synthesizing the ever-prevalent schools of thought in the Jewish texts and commentaries for thousands of years. It has produced a vast array of scholarly debate stemming from the Houses of Hillel and Shammai to that of [...]

The Diaspora and the British Royal Family

Great Britain today is a Liberal Democracy and a multicultural society made up of hundreds of diverse religions, races and ethnic groups. But remnants of its historical past as a Monarchy still remain ever present through the continued existence of the Royal institution and the Queen as the Head of State. How many people in [...]

The BNP and Ethnicity

Leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin recently made some new statements of rebranding the policies of the BNP to the British Public in their European election manifesto. “Freedom, Security, Identity, Democracy. Nobody can criticize them, nobody can come at you and attack you with those ideas, they are sayable… So instead of talking [...]

The Anglo Aliyah

I realised from the moment during the process of making Aliyah when I was asked if I wished to change my name, now would be a good opportunity to do so, that my Aliyah experience was going to be a very different one to that of the Mizrachim, the Ethiopians and those from the Former [...]

Next year in Tel Aviv

We conclude the Pesach Seder and the Yom Kippur service every year with the line “Next year in Jerusalem.” For Zionism this line has been but one piece of evidence found within Jewish practices that the Jews never lost hope of returning to the land of Zion. Customs, prayers, psalms and traditions were put in [...]

A Post-Zionist Aliyah?

As my time in the UK is coming to an end and I already have my Israeli Oleh visa, one might imagine that this moment would be the highest point in a Zionists life, making Aliyah. But it comes at a time where my views on Zionism have undergone some changes. Not so much my [...]

The centrality of a Journey in Jewish experience: Has Zionism led the Jews to a dead end?

One of the critical arguments within the Israel Diaspora relationship is the argument of the essence of Judaism. Many have come to argue that one of the fundamental characteristics of being a Jew has been being rootless, a wanderer, viewing society as an outsider, being cosmopolitan, traveling from place to place. Throughout a large part [...]