Letters to the Editor: Gordis, Brous, Fiscal Cliff

Published on December 6, 2012

I think that the strongest refutation of Rabbi Daniel Gordis (“When Balance Becomes Betrayal,” Nov. 30) and also of David Suissa (“War and Bickering,” Nov. 30) came from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who brilliantly used impressive intelligence gathering and precision bombing to minimize civilian casualties and thus avoided what most often happens with Israel in asymmetrical warfare — namely that Israel wins the military battle and loses the political war.

Rabbi Wolpe on Gordis vs. Brous: Don’t judge the rabbis’ Torah

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on December 4, 2012

Rabbis Daniel Gordis and Rabbi Sharon Brous are both friends of mine, good friends, long time friends.

Letter to the Editor: Rabbi Sharon Brous vs. Rabbi Daniel Gordis: Betrayal or compassion?

Published on December 3, 2012

Equating Rabbi Brous with Rabbi Gordis is almost laughable - if it weren't so sad.

Rabbi Gordis v. Rabbi Brous: Rabbis in the ring

By Danielle Berrin
Published on November 29, 2012

Peace and protection

By Rabbi Mordecai Finley
Published on November 29, 2012

I have tried to figure out why Rabbi Sharon Brous’ thoughts left me empty when I read them. As Rabbi Daniel Gordis has written, there is nothing objectionable in them.

Rabbi Sharon Brous vs. Rabbi Daniel Gordis: Betrayal or compassion?

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
Published on November 29, 2012

When Rabbi Sharon Brous first read an essay by Rabbi Daniel Gordis, a colleague and former teacher, accusing her of betraying Israel, she was shocked and angry, she said. Nevertheless, her initial instinct was to refrain from feeding the publicity machine.

All the families of the Earth

Published on November 29, 2012

A living Judaism demands an exquisite balance between inside and outside, concern for our own and concern for the other, particularism and universalism.

Lowering the bar

Published on November 29, 2012

Rabbi Danny Gordis brought the discourse on Israel to a new low this week.

When balance becomes betrayal

Published on November 29, 2012

Universalism, Cynthia Ozick once noted, has become the particularism of the Jews. Increasingly, our most fundamental belief about ourselves is that we dare not care about ourselves any more than we can about others. Noble Jews have moved beyond difference.

Heartache: an email from Rabbi Sharon Brous

Published on November 29, 2012

It has been a devastating couple of days in Israel and Gaza.

Gordis vs. Brous is not about ‘values’, and other notes

By Shmuel Rosner
Published on November 29, 2012

War and bickering

By David Suissa
Published on November 28, 2012

As the missiles were flying last week between Israel and Gaza, verbal missiles were flying between two prominent Jews: Rabbi Sharon Brous in Los Angeles and Rabbi Daniel Gordis in Jerusalem.

Brous, Gordis exchange heated words on Israel

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
Published on November 20, 2012

Letters to the Editor: Hotel Shangri-La, Daniel Gordis, Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project

Published on August 29, 2012

In Jonah Lowenfeld's article ("Young Jews Party for a Cause…" Aug. 24) it is disappointing that the unnamed "legal experts" apparently failed to have any knowledge of the California Court of Appeal's precedent-setting decision in Pines v. Tomson (1984), which held the Unruh Act applicable to protect Jews who had been victimized on the basis of their religion by any and "all business establishments of any kind whatsoever."

Fear and Gordis

By Rob Eshman
Published on August 22, 2012

For reasons I can’t quite understand, many leaders in the pro-Israel community continue to insist that the young generation of American Jews has abandoned Israel.

Is Israel giving in to Jewish fundamentalism?

By Shmuel Rosner
Published on August 15, 2012

The British Economist is conducting a public debate on the following: “Is Israel succumbing to Jewish fundamentalism?” You can vote (I’d expect Economist readers will largely vote yes), you can read the ongoing debate between Avraham Burg (the “left” — voting yes) and Daniel Gordis (the “right” — voting no). You can read the background material, including the special report on the state of Judaism and the Jews, written by my former boss, former colleague and current friend David Landau.

Note to boycotters: Israel is not a thief

By David Suissa
Published on July 3, 2012

There is an obvious way to respond to author Alice Walker’s refusal to allow her novel “The Color Purple” to be translated into Hebrew. In case you missed it, Walker accused Israel of being “guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories.”

‘Distancing’ from Israel is used to drive political and institutional agendas

By Shmuel Rosner
Published on April 2, 2012

Pick a Gordis, any Gordis

Published on June 21, 2011

Rabbi Daniel Gordis, I’m told, is perhaps the single most popular speaker on Israel to American Jewish audiences. He moved to Israel in 1998, after serving as founding dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, and in Jerusalem he serves as Senior vice president of the Shalem Center, a think tank. Gordis is thought to be a man of considerable distinction, but I fear we have here a case of a whole that is smaller than the sum of its parts, as a consideration of three of his recent essays will show.

No ‘Place’ Like Israel

By Rabbi Jack Riemer
Published on November 7, 2002

In the summer of 1998, Daniel Gordis and his family moved from Los Angeles to Israel. It was supposed to be just for a sabbatical. But after being there for a while, the family decided to become permanent residents. It was a time of euphoria in Israel. The economy was booming and peace seemed just around the corner.

False Alarms

Published on January 15, 1998

Never underestimate the propensity of American Jews to scare themselves silly. Here we are, in the midst of an unprecedented Jewish renaissance, enjoying the most favorable spiritual climate in more than a century, including shelf loads of Jewish books at every Barnes & Noble, and still our leaders are playing Stephen King, terrifying themselves (and us) with grim fairy tales and devil's food. Here are three recent exhibits.