"What Smotrich and Ben Gvir tell you is Christian or foreign is actually the essence of Judaism. Don't reject it, embrace it."

Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis · Sep 4, 2025 · 52m

Across the West, battles rage over whether liberalism and liberal values (liberal in the sense of John Locke, not liberal in the sense of “left wing”) will continue to shape society and government. In the United States, Canada, the UK, France and Germany, to say nothing of Scandinavia, the tectonic plates are crashing and grinding, and in each, the shockwaves are being felt in numerous ways.

In Israel, the same battles rage, but with a twist. Is liberalism really Jewish? Or is it a Christian idea that has somehow insinuated itself into the heart of what should be a more authentically Jewish…