Overview

"A timely, progressive collection of essays on the Jewish relationship to Zionism and exile. What is exile? What is diaspora? What is Zionism? Jewish identity today has been shaped by prior generations' answers to these questions, and the future of Jewish life will depend on how we respond to them in our own time. In The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance, celebrated rabbi and scholar Shaul Magid offers an essential contribution to this intergenerational process, inviting us to rethink our current moment through religious and political resources from the Jewish tradition. On many levels, Zionism was conceived as an attempt to ""end the exile"" of the Jewish people, both politically and theologically. In a series of incisive essays, Magid challenges us to consider the price of diminishing or even erasing the exilic character of Jewish life. A thought-provoking work of political imagination, The Necessity of Exile reclaims exile as a positive stance for constructive Jewish engagement with Israel|Palestine, antisemitism, diaspora, and a broken world in need of repair."

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Reviews

"Praise for the author's Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical ""[An] important and insightful new book."" --David N. Myers, Los Angeles Review of Books ""Meir Kahane remains one of the most fascinating, if disturbing, American Jewish figures of the late twentieth century. Shaul Magid does a remarkable job of explaining not just the man and his thought but the ways in which his ugly legacy haunts us still."" --Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism ""Shaul Magid's excellent book is not a guide to opposing the world-view of Kahane. It is a rich resource for understanding how deeply this world-view is rooted in the two centres of modern Judaism: the American Jewish community and Israel. And understanding opens the door for tikkun, or repair."" --Uri Dromi, Times Literary Supplement ""[An] excellent biography . . . which presents provocative arguments aimed at reassessing the Kahane phenomenon."" --Itamar Ben Ami, Haaretz ""According to a new biography by scholar Shaul Magid, Kahane represented the 'underbelly' not only of American Orthodoxy, but of American Jewry writ large. In Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical Magid . . . invites all mainstream American Jewish institutions to grapple with their role in creating Kahane and perpetuating his ideas today."" --Hadas Binyamini, +972 Magazine ​​​​​​​ ""Magid's fascinating book is important in sharpening our understanding regarding the sea change and extremism that has taken place in Israeli society and politics from the 1980s to the twenty-first century."" --Avi Shilon, Israel Studies Review ""One of the great scholars of Judaism of our day, Shaul Magid, presents one of the most despicable characters to emerge in postwar Jewish life. Arising in the aftermath of the Holocaust, Meir Kahane fostered a racist ideology that has influenced and poisoned Jewish politics in the United States and Israel to this day. Magid's analysis is deeply disturbing and extremely important."" --Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College ""Meir Kahane has long been dismissed as an outlier in American Jewish history, but as Shaul Magid demonstrates in this excellent book, he is an indicator of core trends and tensions that plague modern Jewish life. Magid is the ablest interpreter there is of the intense emotions and hypocrisies that drove Kahane and the movement he sought to create."" --Lila Corwin Berman, author of The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex ""Enlightening and accessible . . . a nuanced and eye-opening portrait of an overlooked figure in Jewish political history."" --Publishers Weekly ""If it wasn't clear already, these essays establish Shaul Magid as America's most insightful writer on the relationship between Zionism and Judaism."" --Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism ""With great precision and lucidity, these essays lay the groundwork for a desperately needed Jewish liberation theology of exile."" --Rachel Z. Feldman, author of Messianic Zionism in the Digital Age: Jews, Noahides, and the Third Temple Imaginary"

"""If it wasn't clear already, these essays establish Shaul Magid as America's most insightful writer on the relationship between Zionism and Judaism."" --Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism ""The complex relationship between exile and diaspora, so brilliantly articulated with regard to Afro-Caribbean experience by George Lamming, is fruitfully and rigorously revisited in Shaul Magid's forceful essays on contemporary Jewish thought and politics. His efforts to bend difficult pleasure toward transformative necessity deserve admiration and rigorous critical attention."" --Fred Moten, Cultural Theorist, Poet, and Scholar at New York University ""Shaul Magid's essays on exile, Israel, and Zionism make a vital contribution toward reimagining Jewish futures unmoored from the moral failures of so-called liberal Zionism. Well-argued, well-written, and deeply nuanced, these essays collectively move us forward on the most vital dialogues that Jews must be having right now. "" --Daniel Boyarin, author of The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto ""The Necessity of Exile reopens urgent intra-Jewish conversations concerning the meanings of Jewish self-determination, exile, antisemitism, and sovereignty. Most profoundly, Magid invites the reader to consider and interrogate how Jewish redemption narratives came to be predicated on Palestinian dispossession. In this timely collection, Magid powerfully rethinks proprietary Zionism by reading exile back into Jewish history, ethics, and spirituality--offering an essential critique and alternative to state violence."" --Atalia Omer, author of Days of Awe: Reimagining Jewishness in Solidarity with Palestinians ""Countering both Israeli ethnonationalism and American diasporism, Magid calls on Jews everywhere to renew their sense of estrangement from the current state of the world--to rediscover The Necessity of Exile."" --Elad Lapidot, Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Lille and author of Jews Out of the Question: A Critique of Anti-Antisemitism ""With great precision and lucidity, these essays lay the groundwork for a desperately needed Jewish liberation theology of exile."" --Rachel Z. Feldman, author of Messianic Zionism in the Digital Age: Jews, Noahides, and the Third Temple Imaginary Praise for the author's Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical ""[An] important and insightful new book."" --David N. Myers, Los Angeles Review of Books ""Meir Kahane remains one of the most fascinating, if disturbing, American Jewish figures of the late twentieth century. Shaul Magid does a remarkable job of explaining not just the man and his thought but the ways in which his ugly legacy haunts us still."" --Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism ""Shaul Magid's excellent book is not a guide to opposing the world-view of Kahane. It is a rich resource for understanding how deeply this world-view is rooted in the two centres of modern Judaism: the American Jewish community and Israel. And understanding opens the door for tikkun, or repair."" --Uri Dromi, Times Literary Supplement ""[An] excellent biography . . . which presents provocative arguments aimed at reassessing the Kahane phenomenon."" --Itamar Ben Ami, Haaretz ""According to a new biography by scholar Shaul Magid, Kahane represented the 'underbelly' not only of American Orthodoxy, but of American Jewry writ large. In Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical Magid . . . invites all mainstream American Jewish institutions to grapple with their role in creating Kahane and perpetuating his ideas today."" --Hadas Binyamini, +972 Magazine ""Magid's fascinating book is important in sharpening our understanding regarding the sea change and extremism that has taken place in Israeli society and politics from the 1980s to the twenty-first century."" --Avi Shilon, Israel Studies Review ""One of the great scholars of Judaism of our day, Shaul Magid, presents one of the most despicable characters to emerge in postwar Jewish life. Arising in the aftermath of the Holocaust, Meir Kahane fostered a racist ideology that has influenced and poisoned Jewish politics in the United States and Israel to this day. Magid's analysis is deeply disturbing and extremely important."" --Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College ""Meir Kahane has long been dismissed as an outlier in American Jewish history, but as Shaul Magid demonstrates in this excellent book, he is an indicator of core trends and tensions that plague modern Jewish life. Magid is the ablest interpreter there is of the intense emotions and hypocrisies that drove Kahane and the movement he sought to create."" --Lila Corwin Berman, author of The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex ""Enlightening and accessible . . . a nuanced and eye-opening portrait of an overlooked figure in Jewish political history."" --Publishers Weekly"

"Praise for the author's Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical ""[An] important and insightful new book."" --David N. Myers, Los Angeles Review of Books ""Meir Kahane remains one of the most fascinating, if disturbing, American Jewish figures of the late twentieth century. Shaul Magid does a remarkable job of explaining not just the man and his thought but the ways in which his ugly legacy haunts us still."" --Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism ""Shaul Magid's excellent book is not a guide to opposing the world-view of Kahane. It is a rich resource for understanding how deeply this world-view is rooted in the two centres of modern Judaism: the American Jewish community and Israel. And understanding opens the door for tikkun, or repair."" --Uri Dromi, Times Literary Supplement ""[An] excellent biography . . . which presents provocative arguments aimed at reassessing the Kahane phenomenon."" --Itamar Ben Ami, Haaretz ""According to a new biography by scholar Shaul Magid, Kahane represented the 'underbelly' not only of American Orthodoxy, but of American Jewry writ large. In Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical Magid . . . invites all mainstream American Jewish institutions to grapple with their role in creating Kahane and perpetuating his ideas today."" --Hadas Binyamini, +972 Magazine ""Magid's fascinating book is important in sharpening our understanding regarding the sea change and extremism that has taken place in Israeli society and politics from the 1980s to the twenty-first century."" --Avi Shilon, Israel Studies Review ""One of the great scholars of Judaism of our day, Shaul Magid, presents one of the most despicable characters to emerge in postwar Jewish life. Arising in the aftermath of the Holocaust, Meir Kahane fostered a racist ideology that has influenced and poisoned Jewish politics in the United States and Israel to this day. Magid's analysis is deeply disturbing and extremely important."" --Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College ""Meir Kahane has long been dismissed as an outlier in American Jewish history, but as Shaul Magid demonstrates in this excellent book, he is an indicator of core trends and tensions that plague modern Jewish life. Magid is the ablest interpreter there is of the intense emotions and hypocrisies that drove Kahane and the movement he sought to create."" --Lila Corwin Berman, author of The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex ""Enlightening and accessible . . . a nuanced and eye-opening portrait of an overlooked figure in Jewish political history."" --Publishers Weekly ""If it wasn't clear already, these essays establish Shaul Magid as America's most insightful writer on the relationship between Zionism and Judaism."" --Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism ""The complex relationship between exile and diaspora, so brilliantly articulated with regard to Afro-Caribbean experience by George Lamming, is fruitfully and rigorously revisited in Shaul Magid's forceful essays on contemporary Jewish thought and politics. His efforts to bend difficult pleasure toward transformative necessity deserve admiration and rigorous critical attention."" --Fred Moten, Cultural Theorist, Poet, and Scholar at New York University ""With great precision and lucidity, these essays lay the groundwork for a desperately needed Jewish liberation theology of exile."" --Rachel Z. Feldman, author of Messianic Zionism in the Digital Age: Jews, Noahides, and the Third Temple Imaginary"

Author Information

Shaul Magid is Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, Kogod Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University, and rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue. He works on Jewish thought and culture from the sixteenth century to the present, focusing on the Jewish mystical and philosophical tradition. Author of numerous books, his most recent work is Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical (Princeton University Press, 2021). He writes regularly for Religion Dispatches, +972, and other topical journals. Magid is an elected member of the American Academy for Jewish Research and the American Society for the Study of Religion, and lives in Thetford, Vermont.

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