What Is the Jewish Enlightenment?

Dec. 12 2023

In the final decades of the 18th century, Berlin became the nerve-center of a movement of Jewish intellectuals across the European continent who wanted to bring the recent achievements of Christian science and philosophy to their fellow Jews, to encourage them to become literate in Gentile languages, and also to revive Judaism with a return to the Hebrew Bible. This movement became known as the Haskalah, a translation of the German Aufklärung, or Enlightenment. J.J. Kimche discusses the Haskalah’s ideas, its figurehead Moses Mendelssohn, and its many paradoxes with Michah Gottlieb. (Audio, 69 minutes.)

 

Read more at Podcast of Jewish Ideas

More about: Haskalah, Moses Mendelssohn

The Mass Expulsion of Palestinians Is No Solution. Neither Are Any of the Usual Plans for Gaza

Examining the Trump administration’s proposals for the people of Gaza, Danielle Pletka writes:

I do not believe that the forced cleansing of Gaza—a repetition of what every Arab country did to the hundreds of thousands of Arab Jews in 1948— is a “solution.” I don’t think Donald Trump views that as a permanent solution either (read his statement), though I could be wrong. My take is that he believes Gaza must be rebuilt under new management, with only those who wish to live there resettling the land.

The time has long since come for us to recognize that the establishment doesn’t have the faintest clue what to do about Gaza. Egypt doesn’t want it. Jordan doesn’t want it. Iran wants it, but only as cannon fodder. The UN wants it, but only to further its anti-Semitic agenda and continue milking cash from the West. Jordanians, Lebanese, and Syrians blame Palestinians for destroying their countries.

Negotiations with Hamas have not worked. Efforts to subsume Gaza under the Palestinian Authority have not worked. Rebuilding has not worked. Destruction will not work. A “two-state solution” has not arrived, and will not work.

So what’s to be done? If you live in Washington, New York, London, Paris, or Berlin, your view is that the same answers should definitely be tried again, but this time we mean it. This time will be different. . . . What could possibly make you believe this other than ideological laziness?

Read more at What the Hell Is Going On?

More about: Donald Trump, Gaza Strip, Palestinians