Torn between Earth and Sky: National Jewish Homeland

I sraeli poets are among the few to express in recent times what Aviezer Ravitzky describes as the Jewish tradition of dread of the land of Israel. While Zionism has marginalized this tradition in contemporary Jewish life and rendered it somewhat dubious, I suggest that it stimulates sage questions...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Shofar (West Lafayette, Ind.) Ind.), 2016-06, Vol.34 (4), p.53-70
Main Author:	Givens, Tommy
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1900-1999 Analysis Customs and practices Earth Ethics fear Goldberg, Leah Greenbaum, Elisheva Hakak, Balfour homeland Ideology Inheritances Israel Israeli literature Jewish identity Jewish life Jewish life & ethics Jewish nationalism Jewish people Jewish way of life Judaism Nationalism Nationalization poetry Pointing Political aspects Religious orthodoxy Social aspects Traditions Transnationalism Zionism
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	I sraeli poets are among the few to express in recent times what Aviezer Ravitzky describes as the Jewish tradition of dread of the land of Israel. While Zionism has marginalized this tradition in contemporary Jewish life and rendered it somewhat dubious, I suggest that it stimulates sage questions about the burden of modern state nationalism on Jewish life in Israel and abroad. After articulating in summary form this burden for Zionism and other strands of Judaism affected by the nationalizing effects of Zionism, I highlight its weight on Jewish diversity and Jewish ethics, pointing finally to the divisive pressure it applies through one of its key ideological features, the sublimation of the human. In light of this burden, the Jewish tradition of dread of the land of Israel might inform a more critical appropriation of modern nationalism and discern how it tears Jewish life between earth and sky.
ISSN:	0882-8539 1534-5165 1534-5165