By Yaakov Mascetti*
Aharon represents, throughout his life, a character which tendentially is passive, quiet, and follows the instructions provided to him from above. The Mishna in Messechet Avot famously defines Aharon’s nature as that of a man who loves …
By David Bidussa*
The widespread conviction maintains that the State is not on the side of its citizens, that the authorities are not performing their tasks, that the citizen is alone and that only one choice exists: to die or …
By David Bidussa*
Ian Fleming is back in the bookstores with all his 007 work. In the past I would have said “Hooray! Heroes never pass!” Today, I feel the atmosphere is different and the protagonist is conspiracy and the …
By David Bidussa*
Culture is created by words and images more than by ideas and ideologies. Culture is a mirror of images, projects and dreams that we hold within us. Therefore I wonder: What is our vocabulary today? What are …
By Yaakov Mascetti*
For once I am not going to be addressing here Jewish matters, in the strenuous effort to justify humanistic values, the inevitable presence of the “Other,” and a staunchly iconoclastic conception of the Divine. What I am …
By David Bidussa*
Amos Oz would have turned 80 last week end. The absence of his voice is felt, and it makes a difference.
*David Bidussa is a historian of social ideas.…
By Daniela Fubini*
In the local supermarket, three days before Pesach, among a frenzy crowd there are three women: an Israeli, a French and an Italian. And this is not the beginning of a joke, it is my 72-hours-to-matzah moment, …
By David Bidussa*
To think does not mean to tweet compulsively. To think with others means to re-establish and redesign a vision of goals that are worthy of being pursued through the means of reason and critical thinking. This is …
By David Bidussa*
“Words can become like little doses of arsenic: ingested unconsciously they might seem of no consequence, but after a while the toxic effect emerges,” (Viktor Klemperer, The Language of the Third Reich). What language are we speaking?…
By David Bidussa*
On April 1, 1979, Iran woke up as an “Islamic Republic”. The results of the referendum on the matter doesn’t leave any doubts: 98% of the votes in favor and 2 % opposed. We have not entered …