Holocaust – Excerpted

“Invoking the word does not demean the memory of the Holocaust. Instead, the lessons of the Holocaust will be lost if we refuse to engage with them.”

24 June 2019 Drew KaplanPolitics in America

…it’s important to note that despite the contemporary association of concentration camps with the Shoah, they are not a Nazi invention. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various imperial forces — including the[…]

“The phenomenon of a minority people arising out of the ashes of Auschwitz to reframe not only their world but to also profoundly impact the broader culture may best summarize this century of Jewish influence”

10 April 20188 April 2018 Drew KaplanJews

…out of the trauma and tragedy of the earlier decades of the 20th century, Jews redefined their image and reconstructed their roles in the post-World War II period. This represented a point in time when[…]

“Should Auschwitz or Sinai be the orienting category shaping our understanding of the rebirth of the State of Israel?”

24 February 201622 February 2016 Drew KaplanIsrael

One of the fundamental issues facing the new spirit of maturity in Israel is: Should Auschwitz or Sinai be the orienting category shaping our understanding of the rebirth of the State of Israel? There are[…]

“The Shoah, it seems, has come to be read for portents and interpretation as much as for history itself”

2 December 201527 October 2015 Drew KaplanEurope

The Shoah, it seems, has come to be read for portents and interpretation as much as for history itself. Yet one reason that the small scholarly details matter is that they provide an arsenal for[…]

In the 1990s, “the relative ordinariness of Israel left room for other topics – and spirituality made the most sense”

23 February 2015 Drew KaplanIsrael

The mini (and short lived) spiritual explosion… took place in the 90’s, the era of Oslo, of Yitzhak Rabin, of what seemed like real negotiations with the Palestinians. Israel appeared to be on the path[…]

Judaism is not about the Holocaust

29 July 2014 Drew KaplanJewish Community

So which statistic surprised me? A statistic that, while overlooked by many, says much about the state of contemporary American Jewry. The Pew survey asked respondents to answer the following: What is essential to your[…]

“If “remembering the Holocaust” is an essential part of what it means to be Jewish, then it follows that a substantial core of Jewish identity is primarily defined by heinous acts committed by Nazis upon Jews”

13 January 2014 Drew KaplanJewish

If “remembering the Holocaust” is an essential part of what it means to be Jewish, then it follows that a substantial core of Jewish identity is primarily defined by heinous acts committed by Nazis upon[…]

“People will observe the Shabbas if it actually works for them”

16 October 2013 Drew KaplanJews

I am actually not interested in simply furthering that we represent the Jewish people. I understand that it was a blip, a modern blip, exacerbated by the Holocaust, the Jewish peoplehood and “more than the[…]

Yom HaShoah and Yom Ha’Atzmaut’s Timing Seems Like Shiva

14 July 20133 March 2014 Drew KaplanIsrael

There are seven days between Yom HaShoah and Yom Ha’Atzmaut. It is as if the entire country sits shiva, mourning the tragedy of the Holocaust, then rises to be comforted by the existence of the[…]

Excerpted

Excerpts of Interest

Tag: Holocaust

“Invoking the word does not demean the memory of the Holocaust. Instead, the lessons of the Holocaust will be lost if we refuse to engage with them.”

“The phenomenon of a minority people arising out of the ashes of Auschwitz to reframe not only their world but to also profoundly impact the broader culture may best summarize this century of Jewish influence”

“Should Auschwitz or Sinai be the orienting category shaping our understanding of the rebirth of the State of Israel?”

“The Shoah, it seems, has come to be read for portents and interpretation as much as for history itself”

In the 1990s, “the relative ordinariness of Israel left room for other topics – and spirituality made the most sense”

Judaism is not about the Holocaust

“If “remembering the Holocaust” is an essential part of what it means to be Jewish, then it follows that a substantial core of Jewish identity is primarily defined by heinous acts committed by Nazis upon Jews”

“People will observe the Shabbas if it actually works for them”

Yom HaShoah and Yom Ha’Atzmaut’s Timing Seems Like Shiva