Sephardic Heritage Update 581

[David Shasha]

Friends,

 

            I would like to wish our readers a Happy Shabuot.

 

            We begin this week’s newsletter with an important article by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren on Zionism and Jewish sovereignty.  The article shows us once again the innovative understanding of Jewish history and Jewish identity that is presented in Zionist thinking.  It remains a strong challenge to traditional concepts as understood in Torah Judaism.

 

            In this same vein, Elli Fischer marks the new Zionist perspective as a transformation in Jewish self-understanding.  Zionism presents to us an updated Jewish calendar with Israel’s Independence Day becoming the “new” Rosh Hashanah.

 

            Summing up the whole Zionist transformation, Tiffanie Wen looks at the happy nature of Israelis.  It is interesting to see how a society that sees itself as under siege and which is rife with violence and cruelty finds itself at ease and happy.

 

            Ilan Ben Zion unpacks Israel’s national anthem Hatikvah and finds its roots in Eastern European culture.

 

            Rabbi Daniel Bouskila shows us the sad truth of Sephardim who measure their culture by that of the Ashkenazim.  In a discussion of the writing of Haim Sabato we see how Sephardim have in many ways sought to become variations of Ashkenazim.

 

            Andrew Apostolou has written a bold article on the Holocaust in Salonica.  The article looks at the role of the Greeks, but ignores the role of Salonica’s Ashkenazi rabbi in the tragedy.

 

            Jacky Hugi reports on the renewed interest in Jewish culture among Egyptians.  The place of Arab Jews in the discussion is duly noted.

 

            Since the passing of Carmen Weinstein, the Jewish community in Egypt has elected a new leader, Magda Haroun.  It will be interesting to see how Ms. Haroun’s leadership affects the situation there.

 

            The great Joseph Stiglitz attacks the current American tax system which unfairly, but quite predictably, favors the wealthy and powerful.

 

            We end with yet another excellent piece from the ever-reliable Matt Taibbi.  This time he exposes the noxious doings of Dan Loeb in the area of pension funds.  It is a story that has sadly become all too common in the financial world: using and abusing the money of others to gain personal profit and exposing investors to losses which you take all the gains.

 

 

 

David Shasha

 

 

 

The Challenge of Sovereignty

By: Michael B. Oren

 

The New Rosh Hashanah

By: Elli Fischer

 

Why are the Israelis so Damn Happy?

By: Tiffanie Wen

 

How an Unwieldy Romantic Poem and a Romanian Folk Song combined to Produce ‘Hatikvah’

By: Ilan Ben Zion

 

A Sephardic S.Y. Agnon

By: Rabbi Daniel Bouskila

 

The Betrayal of Salonica’s Jews

By: Andrew Apostolou

 

Egyptians Show High Interest in Israel Literature, Culture

By: Jacky Hugi

 

New Leader Elected to Head Egypt’s Jewish Community

By: Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

A Tax System Stacked against the 99 Percent

By: Joseph E. Stiglitz

 

Dan Loeb Simultaneously Solicits, Betrays Pension Funds

By: Matt Taibbi