Hanna Arendt (1906–1975), the German-born American political theorist, was a regarded as a major influential thinker. In her day, she was the symbol of liberal intellectuality, lionized in academic circles. She is now largely out of fashion, because her ideology does not fit into today’s dogmatic and prejudiced liberal, academic world. I admit my bias against her. She was once the mistress of Nazi…
Most of the time, the Haredi world get a really bad press. Extremism. Lack of social responsibility, religious coercion, dirty party politics, and corruption. Everywhere politics are so dishonest, so one-sided, so immaturely simplistic and aggressive. In my opinion there is a great deal in the Haredi world that deserves criticism, even condemnation. Even so, I think the Haredi world…
Our task on Yom Kipur is to spend time thinking about where we stand in this world. Who are we? What are we? Every year we should go through this cathartic experience. This painful process of self-examination. In my case, it is all the more necessary and painful, because I really am a crazy, mixed-up kid. I live in two…
When young people arrive at college, nowadays, they are likely to be confronted by a new, dogmatic orthodoxy. It has nothing to do directly with religion, but has all the negative hallmarks of fundamentalism: my way or no way. It is the theory of intersectionality. This says, in a nutshell, that every form of oppression must unite us all in…
This month before the Yamim Noraim, Days of Awe, is the time to start thinking about our souls rather than our politics. I have always loved words, their sounds and their meanings, in Hebrew and English. So that when I reflect on myself and ideas that I value, the first thing I do is examine what I mean by the…
I am a member of the New York Museum of Modern Art. It is a cultural icon. I have always believed that public art galleries and museums ought to be neutral on matters of politics, even if individual artists obviously are not. Once upon a time museums and galleries in the free world showed art without political judgment. Their values…