Between the profound crisis surrounding Israel’s judicial reform—a crisis that some predicted could lead Israel to civil war—and the pogrom of October 7 which led to the war that has followed, 2023 has been, without a doubt, the worst year in Israel’s history.
Given that, it might seem difficult to answer the question which is the subtitle of my recent book—”75 Years After Its Creation, Has Israel Fulfilled Its Founders' Dreams?—in the affirmative. Strange though it may seem, however, as horrible as 2023 has been, there have been extraordinary demonstrations of devotion to Israel, to its democracy, to its unity and to its fundamental purpose—the creation of a “new Jew.” That Jew is on vivid display hour by hour, day by day in this agonizing period, as is much else that is wondrous about the Jewish state.
So, 75 Years After Its Creation, Has Israel Fulfilled Its Founders' Dreams? I believe that in the midst of all our sadness, we can assert with confidence, despite many disappointments along the way, that the answer is YES. In this podcast recorded with Dr. Shira Weiss, Assistant Director of the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University, she and I explore the thesis of Impossible Takes Longer, and evaluate it in light of today’s earth-shattering events.
We invite you to listen, and if you’re in the New York area, to join us at either or both of the two events below, on December 17 and December 19.
Dr. Shira Weiss is the Assistant Director of the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership. Dr. Weiss teaches Jewish Thought at Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School and has previously taught at Stern College for Women. She also oversees admissions and curricular innovations at The Frisch School, where she served as Assistant Principal. Dr Weiss holds a PhD in Jewish Philosophy from Revel, an EdD from Azrieli, a BA from Stern College, and has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment of Humanities, The Templeton Foundation, Oxford and Ben Gurion Universities.
Dr. Weiss is the author of Joseph Albo on Free Choice (Oxford University Press, 2017), Ethical Ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible (Cambridge University Press, 2018), co-author of The Protests of Job: An Interfaith Dialogue (Palgrave, 2022), as well as articles in academic journals and anthologies.
As for the events mentioned above ….
The first event requires registration (via the red button below); the second event is open to the public with no need for pre-registration.
On Sunday, December 17, at 8:00 in Cedarhurst:
On Tuesday, December 19, at Weissberg Commons, Yeshiva University campus, Washington Heights:
If you’re just joining us, Israel from the Inside typically posts a written column on Mondays and a podcast on Wednesdays. That is obviously irrelevant for the time being.
We’ve delayed all the podcasts that were ready to go, because the people whose stories they tell deserve to tell them when we all have the bandwidth to hear. Hopefully, that will return some day.
In the interim, we’ll post as possible. Here in Israel, there are non-stop funerals to go to, shiva homes to visit, grandchildren to help care for while sons and daughters are in the army, so we’ll see.
Schedules are the least of our worries.
Impossible Takes Longer is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and at other booksellers.
Our Threads feed is danielgordis. We’ll start to use it more shortly.
