Tel Aviv Review

The giddy hopes of the Arab uprisings in 2011 have given way to resurgent authoritarian leadership in some states, while others are bleeding to death. These are not auspicious prospects for liberal democracy. But within each country lies a complex set of forces at work that differ from Tunisia to Morocco, or Egypt to Syria. In their collection "Arab Politics beyond the Uprisings: Experiments in an Era of Resurgent Authoritarianism," co-editors Thanassis Cambanis and Michael Wahid Hanna curate 20 articles considering constitutions and corporations, as well as cartoons, youth, women, football, and more. Michael Hanna explains what they learned. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Shulem Deen was raised in an ultra-orthodox sect, the Skverers, considered too extreme even for other Hasidic Jews. He grew up speaking Yiddish in the middle of New York, married in his teens and had five children. Then everything began to change. His book All Who Go Do Not Return is a tell-all of both of the extreme insularity of Hasidic life, and the journey of his soul from the Skverers to the secular world he lives in today. It is a path of great discovery, and tremendous sacrifice. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel. 

Dr. Omar Dajani, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Global Center for Business and Development at the University of the Pacific in California, analyzes Israel's ongoing seizure of the West Bank from a legal perspective: Has the occupation morphed into a de facto annexation? This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Shlomo Fischer, a sociologist of religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's School of Education, discusses the evolution of justifications presented by right-wing fringe groups who have lobbied to lift the ban on entering the Temple Mount, from the 1970s until today. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Why did the Nazis admire America? Yale University law professor James Q. Whitman started out asking why Hitler in Mein Kampf, and other Nazis in the 1930s, referred to American legal precedents on numerous occasions. What he discovered in the archives surprised him, and may shock readers of his book - or any American. Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law, raises existentially uncomfortable questions about the sources of racial laws in Nazi Germany and the US. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Jewish history professor Aron Rodrigue of  at Stanford University was the keynote speaker at an international conference held this week at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, dedicated to the Jewish history of Salonica. In the late 15th century, the then-Ottoman city (today the Greek city of Thessaloniki) welcomed large numbers of Sephardi Jews who had been expelled from Spain, making it very soon the largest Jewish city in Europe. A series of crises and disasters, culminating in the Nazi occupation in the 1940s, led to its ultimate destruction. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Larry Derfner, a veteran American-Israeli journalist, discusses his new memoir No Country For Jewish Liberals, chronicling the twin ideological journey that he, as well as Israel, have made since his aliyah in 1985. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel. 

Dr. Amir Engel, a lecturer in German language and literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the author of the newly published Gershom Scholem: An Intellectual Biography, analyzes the unique legacy of a leading scholar of Jewish mysticism and one of Israel's first public intellectuals. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

America has long been viewed as the quintessential broker of Israeli-Palestinian peace. In his book Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi argues that it's no accident peace has not yet materialized. He shows how the US undermines, rather than advancing an agreement, by playing the role of "Israel's lawyer," or perhaps its siamese twin. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Bernard Avishai, an essayist and lecturer at Dartmouth College and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discusses his book Promiscuous: 'Portnoy's Complaint and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness, outlining how Philip Roth's celebrated novel changed his life, as well as that of so many Americans of his generation. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Deborah Golden and Dr. Lauren Erdreich, anthropologists at the University of Haifa and the Levinsky College of Education, discuss their new book (co-authored with Dr. Sveta Roberman) Mothering, Education and Culture: Russian, Palestinian, and Jewish Middle-Class Mothers in Israeli Society. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel. 

Rabbi Jeffrey Saks, a series editor at the SY Agnon Library at Toby Press, discusses the soon-to-be completed 15-volume collection of stories by the famed Israeli author - some appearing in English for the first time. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Yael Ziegler, an assistant professor of Bible at Herzog College and the Matan Institute, discusses her book Ruth: From Alienation to Monarchy, which explores one of the Bible's most complex female characters. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Dana Mills, a political and cultural theorist, discusses her groundbreaking book Dance and Politics: Moving Beyond Boundaries, which seeks to analyze dance as primarily a political expression. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Talia Sagiv, a sociologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discusses her book On the Fault Line: Israelis of Mixed Ethnicity that focuses on Israelis of both Ashkenazi and Sephardi descent. On paper, they are the realization of the Zionist dream of the gathering of the diaspora, but in reality, their situation is no less troublesome. This episode originally aired on May 2, 2014.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Eitan Bar-Yosef of the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and author of A Villa in the Jungle: Africa in Israeli culture, talks about Israelis' fascination with Africa in the early decades of statehood. This episode was originally aired on April 4, 2014.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel

Noemi Schlosser, playwright and director, discusses her forthcoming documentary film The Youth of 1948, which seeks to document and tell the personal stories of the last remaining survivors of Israel's War of Independence. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Elad Segev of Tel Aviv University's Department of Communication discusses his recent studies, which have sought to establish whether Israel is really unfairly singled out in the Western media. The results, not surprisingly, are more ambiguous than you might think. This episode was originally aired on March 16, 2014.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Professor Aeyal Gross of Tel Aviv University's law school discusses his new book The Writing on the Wall: Rethinking the International Law of Occupation, and explains how classic categories in international law need to be adapted to a changing political, diplomatic and technological reality.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Adam LeBor, a journalist and author, discusses his new spy thriller novels featuring UN secret agent and former Israeli spy Yael Azoulay, the so-called "Israeli female James Bond." This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.