Tibbi’s Roundup: If You Knew What’s Going On in my Head You’d Blush

Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Office

Obama to Address Gay Marriage Stance You know what’s hilarious? Peggy’s Mom is religious and old fashioned and believes that her daughter moving in with a man without marrying him is immoral and unnatural. We the audience know that eventually Peggy’s Mom and Her Kind will die and the idea of a young couple moving in together before getting married will become normal. We can also safely assume that this same phenomenon will occur in our generation as well. The people today who oppose gay marriage are going to die. They will be replaced by more open minded little Peggys and Abes and today’s thorny issue will become tomorrow’s norm. I think this is called progress. DovBear

Alex Joffe takes us on a very learned tour of centuries past in search of I’m not so sure what. It’s a good read, well cited and factually correct. I believe the author’s intent can be summed in one paragraph near the end, which I bring here. Otherwise, it’s possible today is not one of my most patient times.

The Case of American Religious Zionism American Jews are now undergoing one of their periodic paroxysms over Zionism.  Liberal Jews are as unnerved by strong expressions of religious belief as they are by unapologetic nationalism.  Compounding matters are bad neighbors and perfectionist aspirations.  Secular American Zionism seems to have foundered on its own contradictory expectations and now contributes few to aliyah; religious Zionism thrives but is used for explicitly or implicitly illiberal ends. Alex Joffe, Jewish Ideas Daily

Anat Biletzki is professor of philosophy at Tel Aviv University and Albert Schweitzer Professor of Philosophy at Quinnipiac University. She has served as chairperson of B’Tselem. Now you can read:

Why I Am Not a Liberal Zionist: A response to the Huffington Post’s ‘Liberal Zionists Speak Out’ Within the hour phone calls started streaming in — to the TV station, to my home and to my mother, who is of that unique generation, the Palmach generation, credited with bringing the Jewish State into existence. The consensual attack was based on stupefaction: How could I deny Zionism? Anat Biletzki, MondoWeiss

Seriously, just good, well written comedy. That it also touches on the gay-liberal thing is merely a bonus. Or maybe everything in America is either gay or liberal or both or hates both. You be the judge, jury and executioner…

How do you play Jewish Geography?
If I don’t want the conversation to end before it has even begun I have to make it a two part answer. First I have to say that I live in San Francisco, I also have to make sure to mention that it’s a black hole of Judaism and take some crack at the Gays or Liberals (better if you do both at once) and then I have to say that I’m originally from New York. Of course this makes the entire conversation that much more complicated. You see, Jewish Geography is a necessary evil of the frum community and for some people it just leads to a whole mess of things.
Heshy Fried, Frum Satire