Obviously, according to Oren, the right is to be feared more than the left historically. No doubt that's true, but it is the historically tolerant left that is all about the dreaded nationalism now, as long as it is Palestinian. It seems that a rejection of religion is what is required, again, except for Islam. Yet Islam is the sole, remaining state religion exercised by brutal force. Why is that preferable? Hamas, is above all, about subjugation to power, including the Palestinian people and capitulation to it will bring freedom to no one, from the river to the sea. Or anywhere else.
There doesn't seem to be a rational foundation for deadly anti semitism throughout history except regarding a determined religious group that identifies itself, doggedly, as a birthright community. It will secularise, it will assimilate, but it will not forgo its exclusiveness. It will not totally bow down. That seems to be what ultimately makes it a target.
It stands in the way and it always has. It must yield. Or, else. Look no further than it's historical uniqueness, millennial survival, brilliance, pride. That's its sin. Long live Judaism, a beacon of inspiration and courage for all time. Reason has nothing to do with anti Judaism; human thirst for power, does.
You make a good point about the Western far left being enamored with fascist radical Islam. I am guessing two forces are at work here. The first is ignorance as mentioned in the last paragraph of the article. Western youth are clueless about the history of European fascism and how it gave rise to radical Islam after WWII. They also are ignorant of the history of Israel and its struggle to survive post war indifference and the hostility of its Arab neighbors. When I was growing up, Israel was the darling of the Western left with its socialist kibbutz movement and liberal government. Somewhere along the way, that changed and Israel changed.
Israel was essentially founded by and formed by secular reformed Jews, but over the decades, Israel has become more Orthodox and right wing. The feisty Jewish freedom fighters have been replaced by right wing religious fanatics openly calling for the ethnic cleansing and “purification” of Israel of secular and Islamic influences. This new Orthodox Zionism is repugnant to far left Westerners and Hamas has co-opted the narrative by playing the oppressed victim role appealing to the left. This is a stunning role reversal highlighting the changing narrative thesis of this article.
“Never waste a perfectly good disaster.” Israel has so far drifted off course that radical Islamists are preferred over Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. It is time for Israel to fully embrace the reality that it is now a modern secular state in a globalized world. Like the rest of the West, Israel needs to separate church from state. Its original mandate as a state for stateless Jews has outlived its purpose and now religion needs to fade into the background and the Star of David symbol removed from its flag (replaced by a dove with an olive branch). “Shift happens” and Israel has no other choice but to ride the wave of change.
I literally just read a comment from a pro Hamas fool on the Times of Israel posting of Yossi Klein Halevi's latest piece. This person said the Palestinians have been in a concerntration camp for 70 years. They obviously have NO IDEA what a concentration camp was, is or really anything else. As we are rapudly approaching the time when there will be no living witnesses to the Nazi Holocaust, it is imperative that something seriously change. WIth that said, I was in Italy last summer and as is my custom when in Europe, I visit the old Jewish quarters of every city I am in. I can report that Rome, Florence and ESPECIALLY Venice all memorialize the deportation of the Jews and their subsequent murder. the Jewish museum in Rome notes that it is the only city in Otaly that did not permit the mass deportation. Venice as plaques outside the houses of the murdered Jews with their names.
As a non Jew growing up in the 1970's in California I grew to have an appreciation for the "Holocaust." It serves as a grim reminder of the evil that men can do. And with that evil we learn of the great compassion and courage shown, and needed, in achieving good. Our individual search for meaning must somehow be translated into a common meaning valued by our civilization. I think Dr. Oren is contributing to that end.
Thank you for this well written piece. As you know, my parents were Holocaust survivors. My father survived Auschwitz and 6 other concentration camps. He was barely alive when he was liberated from Wobbelin on May 2, 1945, five and a half years after the Nazis marched into his city, Lodz. My mother survived by fleeing into Germany, from Lvov (now Lviv) and working as a maid in a German household. You may be interested in reading The Birds Sang Eulogies: A Memoir where I memorialized their experience prior to, during and after the war. The story about the photo on the cover of the book is particularly fascinating. Mirla Geclewicz Raz
This was fascinating and made me want to do a deep-dive comparative literary analysis of the authors mentioned, particularly the Israeli ones. I am woefully ignorant of Israeli literature and I need to fix that.
I remember when, in the 1960s, Shoah awareness promoters abandoned that label and adopted “Holocaust.” Perhaps they did know of the Holocaust of 1845-1850 Ireland. Like in Gaza today, the main weapon was forced starvation.
Michael Davitt, James Fitzgerald, and other writers of the 1800s labeled it “Holocaust.” So did the Cork (now Irish) Examiner newspaper. Starting on May4, 1846 and continuing until November 19, 1955 that newspaper reported it as “Holocaust.”
Its perpetration required the deployment into Ireland of more than half (67 regiments) of Britain’s 126-regiment empire army.
What’s the purpose of the 1939-1946 Holocaust retrospective if not to conceal the ongoing Holocaust of Gaza? What was the murder or ejection of all foreign reporters, and the expulsion of Al Jazeera, if not to conceal the planned Final Solution Holocaust of Palestinians?
This U.S. Army veteran is stunned by the
moral and legal collapse of the once-revered USA. Our social and financial collapse can’t be far off.
On October 7, the Hamas terrorists were armed, the Israelis massacred were defenseless. The unanswered question is why did Israel disarm its citizens most of whom are IDF veterans and leave them vulnerable to mass rape and murder by Hamas? An incredibly stupid decision and the Israeli government is clearly culpable. Every Jewish family in Israel (and the US) should have a 9 mm handgun, an AR15 rifle and plenty of ammunition for both. Every adult and teenage member of the family should be proficient in their use. Have anti-gun Jewish politicians in both countries learned nothing from the Holocaust and the latest slaughter? Isn't it time for the Jewish people to tell them to go fuck themselves?
Fear of the radical right, but no mention of the demonic Left. The universities are unilaterally far left, leading the Anti-Semitic charge, threatening and at times, assaulting Jews, creating an unsafe environment. Yet nowhere does the author pursue that line of thought.
A shame as Mr. Oren is indeed a brilliant historian and thinker.
I think we're coevals. MY Hebrew school learning had almost nothing about modern Israel and nothing about the Holocaust. And all my teachers were young men in Orthodox synagogues....modern secular observant Jews. At one school, some of us asked for instruction in basics of Modern Israeli Hebrew. He complied. At the 92nd YMHA in a teen discussion group, one young woman said what is so special about the suffering of Jews....didn't Americans suffer at Valley Forge. At college, another young woman said being in Israel was like being in Nazi Germany. So if Jews for Palestine...."Jews say ceasefire now" are always on camera....always cited as ....even Jews participate in the encampments so how can they be antisemitic?" NOne if this is new. Jews will continue to look with disdain on their own record of mass extermination as Israelis did....and prioritize the alleged suffering of the innocent "Palestinians" who are the subject of "genocide" from the people who have "Not learned the lessons of the HOlocaust." the Lessons apply only to Jews. Was it a European project? No. It was a lesson that the arrogant insufferable Jews have still yet to learn....so don your keffiyahas with King Slutzky and be sure to eat vegan.
Obviously, according to Oren, the right is to be feared more than the left historically. No doubt that's true, but it is the historically tolerant left that is all about the dreaded nationalism now, as long as it is Palestinian. It seems that a rejection of religion is what is required, again, except for Islam. Yet Islam is the sole, remaining state religion exercised by brutal force. Why is that preferable? Hamas, is above all, about subjugation to power, including the Palestinian people and capitulation to it will bring freedom to no one, from the river to the sea. Or anywhere else.
There doesn't seem to be a rational foundation for deadly anti semitism throughout history except regarding a determined religious group that identifies itself, doggedly, as a birthright community. It will secularise, it will assimilate, but it will not forgo its exclusiveness. It will not totally bow down. That seems to be what ultimately makes it a target.
It stands in the way and it always has. It must yield. Or, else. Look no further than it's historical uniqueness, millennial survival, brilliance, pride. That's its sin. Long live Judaism, a beacon of inspiration and courage for all time. Reason has nothing to do with anti Judaism; human thirst for power, does.
You make a good point about the Western far left being enamored with fascist radical Islam. I am guessing two forces are at work here. The first is ignorance as mentioned in the last paragraph of the article. Western youth are clueless about the history of European fascism and how it gave rise to radical Islam after WWII. They also are ignorant of the history of Israel and its struggle to survive post war indifference and the hostility of its Arab neighbors. When I was growing up, Israel was the darling of the Western left with its socialist kibbutz movement and liberal government. Somewhere along the way, that changed and Israel changed.
Israel was essentially founded by and formed by secular reformed Jews, but over the decades, Israel has become more Orthodox and right wing. The feisty Jewish freedom fighters have been replaced by right wing religious fanatics openly calling for the ethnic cleansing and “purification” of Israel of secular and Islamic influences. This new Orthodox Zionism is repugnant to far left Westerners and Hamas has co-opted the narrative by playing the oppressed victim role appealing to the left. This is a stunning role reversal highlighting the changing narrative thesis of this article.
“Never waste a perfectly good disaster.” Israel has so far drifted off course that radical Islamists are preferred over Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. It is time for Israel to fully embrace the reality that it is now a modern secular state in a globalized world. Like the rest of the West, Israel needs to separate church from state. Its original mandate as a state for stateless Jews has outlived its purpose and now religion needs to fade into the background and the Star of David symbol removed from its flag (replaced by a dove with an olive branch). “Shift happens” and Israel has no other choice but to ride the wave of change.
Which is why the book of Esther is the quintessential Jewish story.
I can't imagine writing about Holocaust authors and no mention of Viktor Frankl.
That surprised me as well.
I literally just read a comment from a pro Hamas fool on the Times of Israel posting of Yossi Klein Halevi's latest piece. This person said the Palestinians have been in a concerntration camp for 70 years. They obviously have NO IDEA what a concentration camp was, is or really anything else. As we are rapudly approaching the time when there will be no living witnesses to the Nazi Holocaust, it is imperative that something seriously change. WIth that said, I was in Italy last summer and as is my custom when in Europe, I visit the old Jewish quarters of every city I am in. I can report that Rome, Florence and ESPECIALLY Venice all memorialize the deportation of the Jews and their subsequent murder. the Jewish museum in Rome notes that it is the only city in Otaly that did not permit the mass deportation. Venice as plaques outside the houses of the murdered Jews with their names.
As a non Jew growing up in the 1970's in California I grew to have an appreciation for the "Holocaust." It serves as a grim reminder of the evil that men can do. And with that evil we learn of the great compassion and courage shown, and needed, in achieving good. Our individual search for meaning must somehow be translated into a common meaning valued by our civilization. I think Dr. Oren is contributing to that end.
Thank you for this well written piece. As you know, my parents were Holocaust survivors. My father survived Auschwitz and 6 other concentration camps. He was barely alive when he was liberated from Wobbelin on May 2, 1945, five and a half years after the Nazis marched into his city, Lodz. My mother survived by fleeing into Germany, from Lvov (now Lviv) and working as a maid in a German household. You may be interested in reading The Birds Sang Eulogies: A Memoir where I memorialized their experience prior to, during and after the war. The story about the photo on the cover of the book is particularly fascinating. Mirla Geclewicz Raz
This was fascinating and made me want to do a deep-dive comparative literary analysis of the authors mentioned, particularly the Israeli ones. I am woefully ignorant of Israeli literature and I need to fix that.
A beautifully written and most insightful piece.
I remember when, in the 1960s, Shoah awareness promoters abandoned that label and adopted “Holocaust.” Perhaps they did know of the Holocaust of 1845-1850 Ireland. Like in Gaza today, the main weapon was forced starvation.
Michael Davitt, James Fitzgerald, and other writers of the 1800s labeled it “Holocaust.” So did the Cork (now Irish) Examiner newspaper. Starting on May4, 1846 and continuing until November 19, 1955 that newspaper reported it as “Holocaust.”
Its perpetration required the deployment into Ireland of more than half (67 regiments) of Britain’s 126-regiment empire army.
What’s the purpose of the 1939-1946 Holocaust retrospective if not to conceal the ongoing Holocaust of Gaza? What was the murder or ejection of all foreign reporters, and the expulsion of Al Jazeera, if not to conceal the planned Final Solution Holocaust of Palestinians?
This U.S. Army veteran is stunned by the
moral and legal collapse of the once-revered USA. Our social and financial collapse can’t be far off.
Catastrophe upon catastrophe!
On October 7, the Hamas terrorists were armed, the Israelis massacred were defenseless. The unanswered question is why did Israel disarm its citizens most of whom are IDF veterans and leave them vulnerable to mass rape and murder by Hamas? An incredibly stupid decision and the Israeli government is clearly culpable. Every Jewish family in Israel (and the US) should have a 9 mm handgun, an AR15 rifle and plenty of ammunition for both. Every adult and teenage member of the family should be proficient in their use. Have anti-gun Jewish politicians in both countries learned nothing from the Holocaust and the latest slaughter? Isn't it time for the Jewish people to tell them to go fuck themselves?
Fear of the radical right, but no mention of the demonic Left. The universities are unilaterally far left, leading the Anti-Semitic charge, threatening and at times, assaulting Jews, creating an unsafe environment. Yet nowhere does the author pursue that line of thought.
A shame as Mr. Oren is indeed a brilliant historian and thinker.
Leib Rochman is another Holocaust author in Israel who should be included. In his life he traveled and spoke extensively about the Holocaust.
I think we're coevals. MY Hebrew school learning had almost nothing about modern Israel and nothing about the Holocaust. And all my teachers were young men in Orthodox synagogues....modern secular observant Jews. At one school, some of us asked for instruction in basics of Modern Israeli Hebrew. He complied. At the 92nd YMHA in a teen discussion group, one young woman said what is so special about the suffering of Jews....didn't Americans suffer at Valley Forge. At college, another young woman said being in Israel was like being in Nazi Germany. So if Jews for Palestine...."Jews say ceasefire now" are always on camera....always cited as ....even Jews participate in the encampments so how can they be antisemitic?" NOne if this is new. Jews will continue to look with disdain on their own record of mass extermination as Israelis did....and prioritize the alleged suffering of the innocent "Palestinians" who are the subject of "genocide" from the people who have "Not learned the lessons of the HOlocaust." the Lessons apply only to Jews. Was it a European project? No. It was a lesson that the arrogant insufferable Jews have still yet to learn....so don your keffiyahas with King Slutzky and be sure to eat vegan.
Interesting article. Your last line, however, left me wanting…why no mention of Jewish pride and a strong Jewish army?
Thank you!