“…the dominant conversation nowadays in American Judaism is about politics”

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…the dominant conversation nowadays in American Judaism is about politics. Mostly it’s Middle Eastern politics: Israel and the Palestinians, the violence in Gaza or the West Bank, or the Lebanese border, or Syria, and, always, Iran. But also European anti-Semitism, and, of course, American politics, but almost only the JStreet/AIPAC issues, which is to say American politics as it affects Israel. I haven’t conducted a scientific survey, but a cursory glance at our important American-Jewish publications: Tablet, Forward, Commentary, Times of Israel, and quick run through my various social media threads shows the extraordinary dominance of politics in our discourse. We talk about little else.

Philip Graubart, “The Victory of Politics Over Spirituality”, The Times of Israel (28 January 2015) [http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-victory-of-politics-over-spirituality]

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