Albert Wachtel, at The Blogs

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Nov 27, 2023, 11:05 AM

Bereshit (GENESIS 1.1), A VALID RESPONSE TO TERROR

The very beginning of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis 1.1), offers a reasoned alternative to the all-powerful, all-seeing, and merciful divinity conventionally worshipped in this mangled world. The Hamas murders, woundings, tortures, rapes and abductions of over twelve hundred Israelis and...

Nov 1, 2023, 5:33 AM

Proposing A Positive Result From The War On Hamas

To save some shred of decent regard from his once impressive but now lost rightwing reputation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must move in the direction his international allies and liberal Israeli opponents have been advocating for decades. He must...

Jul 15, 2023, 9:10 AM

Blind moral certainty

BLIND MORAL CERTAINTY: THE KEY FEATURE OF ANTI-SEMITISM'S WRONGHEADEDNESS There are facts that can change reasoning minds, but others, convinced of their moral righteousness, cheat and lie, thinking their corruption moral because it advances their "righteous" cause. They are beyond help. That's...

Dec 12, 2020, 3:01 AM

Moving forward as one

The anger, unjustified accusations, rage and occasional violence on both the right and left that darkened this year's political campaigns and the days of vote-counting we have endured have done no good. Both the extreme right and the extreme...

Nov 11, 2020, 9:06 AM

Moving forward as one

The anger, unjustified accusations, rage and occasional violence on both the right and left that darkened this year's political campaigns and the days of vote-counting we have endured in America have done little good. There was this: both the...

Apr 25, 2020, 5:04 AM

Vaccinations against COVID-19 and greed

As the world races to develop treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the motive must be helping people and not a money grab. Through collaboration and shared best practices, we can put a quicker end to Covid-19’s reign of terror,...

Mar 12, 2020, 8:37 AM

Peace for Israel, and the creation of Palestine

The unworkable Trump plan for a patchwork Palestinian state between Israel and the Jordan River could have been responded to with a counter proposal by the Palestinian Authority, as Jarod Kushner suggested. But that did not happen. The Palestinian...

Sep 16, 2019, 10:32 AM

The why of Jewish accomplishments

"Anti-Semitism by Numbers" determined that, far from being privileged, Jews and Israel accomplish what they do under constant threat. Accounting for Israeli and generally Jewish accomplishments in light of the violent prejudice against them was an issue left for...

Sep 8, 2019, 9:31 AM

Anti-Semitism by Numbers: Honoring Hate

The wolves are howling again. The extreme right’s raw viciousness injures and kills what is in front of it, but it does not attract decent people. An extreme-left version of anti-Semitism, garbed in rational sheepskin, is more dangerous. The...

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About Me

Albert Wachtel , a PROFESSOR EMERITUS at Pitzer College, one of the Claremont Colleges in Southern California, writes essays on politics, social and literary situations and short stories, often concerning Jews and Israel. His ongoing lectures, short and long are available at YouTube: ProfessorWachtel

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