Unprecedented polarization, or has Israel been here before? With Meir Soloveichik
b'Are you pessimistic about Israel\\u2019s future? Optimistic? Or somewhere in between? My new book \\u2013 which I co-authored with Saul Singer \\u2013 will you give you reasons for optimism. And there is a special pre-order campaign for my loyal podcast listeners. If you order the book between now and this Friday, simply email confirmation of your purchase to book@dansenor.com and we\\u2019ll email you right back a special chapter sampler (in the form of a PDF document) that deals with some of the issues being debated in Israel \\u2013 and about Israel \\u2013 now. It may seem that everyone around you is arguing about what is happening in Israel, and this chapter sampler will give you the relevant historical context for these discussions. \\n\\nIf you spent time at synagogue over Rosh Hashana this past weekend, chances are you heard a sermon about Israel. Many rabbis \\u2013 in services across the U.S. and the broader Diaspora \\u2013 focused on the challenges facing Israel today (specifically, internal challenges). What so many are talking about is the unprecedented polarization over reforms to Israel\\u2019s judiciary. But it goes beyond that. This unprecedented division is really about competing \\u2013 perhaps irreconcilable - visions, for what it means to have a Jewish sovereign democracy. \\n\\nToday \\u2014 and in the chapter sampler we will send you \\u2014 we focus on whether these events are actually unprecedented. Is Israel facing unprecedented division? We do not think it is. Israel has been deeply divided before. And just as these divisions in previous eras appeared to push Israel to the brink, Israelis somehow pulled back, and their country hung together. \\n\\nThe next book by Saul Singer and me is focused on Israel\\u2019s societal resilience. It\\u2019s called: \\u201cThe Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World.\\u201d There are a lot of areas and metrics we discovered in writing this book that spoke to the health and vibrancy of Israeli society. But there is one chapter, in particular, that speaks to this period in which there seems to be a sense of despair about what is happening in Israel. In this chapter, Saul and I look at Israel\\u2019s history and show that there have been comparable periods of despair. This is the chapter we will send you today to read in advance of the book\\u2019s publication. \\n\\nToday\\u2019s guest, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, has strong views on Israel\\u2019s history and its relevance to the current moment. He is the senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. He is also director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. \\n\\nRabbi Soloveichik has a must-listen daily podcast called Bible 365, and he writes a monthly column in Commentary magazine, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Mosaic, the Jewish Review of Books, and many other outlets. He is also the author of a superb book of his own, called \\u201cProvidence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship.\\u201d'