Notes on "The Modern Jewish Canon: Jewish Politics and the Public Square"

Here's the link for the video of our class on Jewish Politics and the Public Square. I enjoyed our spirited conversation. For those who want to read the freshman class term paper that i wrote on the topic, you can find it here. Here is the syllabus for our class. And here are the links to some of the readings discussed, by Walzer, Beinart and Gordis / Brous. if you are looking for the photos from the 1987 Soviet Jewry Rally in Washington, you can find them here. Links to my Rosh Hashanah first day sermon, which echoes Walzer's focus on utopian vs gradual societal transformation. Some key quotes from our readings: “Messianism is the great temptation of Western politics. Its source and spur is the apparent endlessness of the Exodus march.”  - Walzer. "History is a burden from which we long to escape, and messianism guarantees that escape; a deliverance not only from Egypt but from Sinai and Canaan too." Cites Maimonides on the need for a gradualistic messainism:

And finally, read more about Beinart - Gordis at TBE in 2017. Or better yet, watch it.