Habitus

David Gutherz

by David Gutherz · 09/28/10

For a number of complex reasons (analyzed with remarkable insight in Steven Aschheim’s newest book Beyond the Border:The German-Jewish Legacy Abroad) Hannah Arendt has become, in certain segments, something of an intellectual icon. However, it seems that many in the Jewish community–and the Israeli Jewish community in particular–have still not forgiven her scathing critiques of the Zionist establishment, especially in her controversial Eichmann in Jerusalem. And just when you think everything that could have been said about this subject has been, Eurozine has unearthed a never before published correspondence between Arendt and the Israeli historian Leni Yahil.  Their brief, but intellectually stimulating, relationship only lasted through the stormy years of 1961-63. Unfortunately, it could not survive, as the Eurozine editors put it, “The Arendt Controversy.”

In the last published letter, from 1971, Yahil writes (after 8 years of silence), “I basically always regretted the breaking off of our relationship, but since you never sent me a sign of life – I just left things as they stood. In the meanwhile much has happened – in the world, in this country, in one’s personal life. This further increases the distance from the things and reactions that were predominant 10 years ago.”

It makes one wonder, after 40 years, at how much time is needed to heal some wounds. In 1963, Karl Jaspers wrote that “A time will will come…when the Jews will a erect a monument to you in Israel…and they will proudly claim you as there own.” Clearly, that time has not yet come. Yet–to echo Prof. Aschheim, who drew my attention to that remark–”surely the time for greater–critical and sympathetic–engagement is upon us.”

by David Gutherz · 09/28/10

Nathalie Handal’s new Words Without Borders series “The City and the Writer” is one blog that Habitus readers will not want to miss.  Handal is traveling around the world to talk to writers about the cities that have housed, inspired, and–sometimes–infuriated them. “Since I was a young girl,” she writes,  ”authors and their books have made me long to visit the places and cultures they described. Not just to experience the stories and people they introduced me to, but to discover the parts, certainly more vast, they couldn’t.” This month: Antwerp through the eyes of the Netherlands’ poet laureate, Ramsey Nasr.

by David Gutherz · 09/16/10

On this day, 200 years ago,  Father Miguel Hidalgo gave the sermon of his life. “My children:” he cried, “a new dispensation comes to us today. Will you receive it? Will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen by three hundred years ago from your forefathers by the hated Spaniards? We must act at once… Will you defend your religion and your rights as true patriots? Long live our Lady of Guadalupe! Death to bad government! ”

With these words, which came to be known as the Grito De Dolores (after Hidalgo’s parish site) or Grito De Independencia, the Mexican struggle for independence officially began. It is worth noting, too, that despite the obviously Catholic character of Hidalgo’s words and goals, this day was also a significant event in the life of Mexico’s Jews. For the war against Spain also meant a war against the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Mexico, which–after a failed attempt at its abolition–embarked on its last reign of terror from 1813 to 1820. And so, during a holiday season where many have found it difficult to celebrate, perhaps we could all pause to appreciate this connection between the nationwide ringing of church bells today, and blowing of shofars on Yom Kippur.

by David Gutherz · 09/13/10

“I would hold my mind hostage if I didn’t allow it to wander. I don’t like making mistakes on facts and avoid them as much as possible. But erring is human. Much worse is making the mistake of not daring…”

Ilan Stavans–friend of, advisor for, and repeat contributor to  Habitus–is known for being something of a literary omnivore. In an academic environment where, as Mordechai Drache says, “scholars know more and more about less and less,” Stavans’ list of interests (and interesting publications!) grows longer and longer–wider and wider. Which is perhaps why it so surprising to hear him admit that, until 2004, he “had never read the Bible as a book.”

Then again, reading through excerpts of Stavans’ most recent work, “With All Thine Heart”–a collection of interviews between him and M. Drache on love in the Bible–one gets a taste for the benefits of being a “late-bloomer” in Biblical matters. For Stavans finds things in the Bible that would never occur to your average “specialist.” To him, The characters of Genesis and Exodus are not specimens to be dissected but friends. Friends who have to be introduced to all the other pals Stavans made over the years studying the literature of Kafka, Singer, Cortazar, Borges, and many, many others. In short, its a wild, wild party–and, thanks to Drache, we’re all invited.

by David Gutherz · 09/04/10

“The problem in Hungary is not that anti-semites are allowed to speak freely,” says Agnes Heller, in a recently translated interview for Salon” but that nobody tells these people to shut up.”  For those interested in exploring of the complex inter-connections between government, media, and culture in Hungarian anti-semitism (and, mutatis mutandis, the recent outburst of American Islamophobia) Heller’s ever-insightful analysis is not to be missed. And after that, be sure to re-read our interview with her in issue 1.

by David Gutherz · 09/02/10

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by David Gutherz · 08/31/10

It uncommonly difficult, these days, to find a fresh perspective on Israel–but that is precisely what former Habitus editor Samuel Thrope offers in his new translation of, and commentary on, the Persian author Jalal Al-e Ahmad’s 1964 essay “Velayat-e Esrael.” Translating roughly  as “The Israeli Republic” Ahmad’s piece attempts to situate Israel in a “Republican” tradition that (as Thrope astutely observes) has more in common with Plato and the Ayatollah Khomeni” than Jefferson and Rousseau. As Ahmad puts it, “Ben Gurion lacks not from Enoch, and Moshe Dayan is no less than Job: these new guardians, each one a prophet or—at least—a clear-visioned seer, built a Republic in the land of Palestine and called to it all the Children of Israel, of whom two million live in New York and eight million others in the rest of the world.”

More than the curious musings of one renegade Iranian intellectual, these words are a poignant reminder of an Israel (and Iran) long gone, and a call to reflect on the ever-controversial relation between religion and politics in the Middle East. In Thrope’s words:

“The Israel Al-e Ahmad visited and to which it was possible to ascribe these semi-mystical qualities, even if he was naive in so doing, is long gone. Who today could confuse Israel’s political leaders—even those not on trial for corruption—with prophets and guardians? This is no place to speculate on precisely what changed or why. My point is only that Al-e Ahmad’s strange vision is a memorial not only to a lost relationship between Israel and Iran, but also a testament to the way that Israel once saw itself and was seen by the world, as a light unto the nations.

This essay is also a warning. As we debate Israel’s future, we would do well to consider the ultimate outcome of the left-religious coalition Al-e Ahmad advocated for Iran. As much as that dynamic and invigorating fusion of theology and politics propelled the 1979 revolution, it also led directly to the repressions and injustice of the Islamic Republic. For those on the right and on the left who argue that Israel’s policies should be grounded in Jewish texts and values, who claim that Judaism is us and not them, who advocate constant traffic, intellectual and physical, between the political demonstration and the beit midrash, Jalal Al-e Ahmad should give us pause. Fusion IS explosive not only in a nuclear bomb.”

by David Gutherz · 08/31/10

Margo Glantz, whose piece “Shoes: Andante With Variations” appears in our most recent issue, has just been awarded the 2010 Literature Prize in Romance Languages at the Guadalajara International Book Fair. In a statement released with the award, the jury lauded Margo’s “extensive literary career,” her ability to combine fluidly the “language of different disciplines” and commented that, “Margo Glantz has demonstrated that Latin American identity is a finished and unfinished journey of multiple social realities that generate a moving continent giving language its force and its multiple connections to the world.”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves!

by David Gutherz · 08/31/10

As New York recovers from “Rock The Bells,” it seems our Jewish brethren in Budapest are just getting warmed up. The Budapest Jewish Summer Festival, which began on August 26th, is now in its 13th year and only getting stronger. Based in the spectacular Dohany Street synagogue–one of the biggest synagogues in Europe–the festival features an eclectic array of movies, music, and cultural events. Past attendees include Shlomo Artzi, Habitus contributor George Konrad, and the mind-blowing 100 Member Gypsy Orchestra. Aside from the wonderful opening night performance by Serbian “gypsy-brass” band Boban Markovic (a touching display of solidarity between the Jewish and Romani communities, so often partners in persecution) some of the biggest highlights this year should be the performances by the Israeli Beer-Sheva theater, Matisyahu, and  acclaimed cellist Gavriel Lipkind.

by David Gutherz · 08/24/10

One of our founding principles here at Habitus is that the Diaspora is not only–as Ahad Ha-Am conceived of it–a web of roots strengthening the tree of some (material or spiritual) Jerusalem. It is also rhizome: a constantly shifting multiplicity of connections across and between several centers, several worlds. And so it is always with great pleasure that we hear of things like the current Bi-Centennial Celebration of Jewish Life in Argentina at the Jewish Museum of Berlin. Tracing the evolution of the Argentine Jewish community from the first recorded Jewish wedding in 1860 through to the present day, the exhibition employs a number of multimedia elements including a mesmerizing presentation of contemporary Argentine Jewish film. The guiding theme, however, is that most paradigmatic Jewish medium: The Book. At the “heart” of the exhibit lies “Book Store of Memories,” a collection of several hundred biographies that showcases the singular diversity and richness of Argentine-Jewish culture. Mirroring this celebratory monument, however, there is also the “Underground Library II,” a re-imagining of Israeli artist Micha Ullman’s memorial to Nazi book burnings.  All in all, the exhibit goes far beyond its stated aim of “illustrating the integration of the Jewish community into Argentine society.” It is powerful homage to the continued vibrancy of Diaspora existence in general, and in Argentina and Germany specifically.

The exhibition runs through October 10th.