Comments on: Amos Elon, Israeli Journalist and Historian, Dead at 84

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 05:05:10 +0000

I meant the language they speak now & have spoken for their entire lives (after age 8). I presume Peres isn’t still speaking Yiddish or Polish unless to an audience of native speakers of those languages.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:10:53 +0000

Just for the historical record, Shimon Peres’ native languages were Yiddish and Polish, he moved to Israel at age 8.

By: pam

pam — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:39:18 +0000

and you do not have permission to use my e mail address at all

By: pam

pam — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:34:31 +0000

[comment deleted for violation of comment rules]

By: Lazynative

Lazynative — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:55:34 +0000

Thanks Richard, I really liked Elon’s book “Blood Dimmed Tide” and enjoyed reading his articles. I was expecting something more from Ha’aretz given the links he had with the paper; especially from somebody like Segev who could have given a much deeper insight into Elon and his thought. But I guess you are right, in that the Hebrew version would have been probably have been richer in details. I hope we see something in English from them, the English language ones I saw in the Torygraph and LA Times were kind of skimpy and didn’t do justice to Elon imo.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:35:35 +0000

I’m sure they will. And keep in mind that all English articles in Haaretz are translations of usually longer (sometimes much longer) Hebrew articles. English Haaretz is a pale imitation of the Hebrew edition. So the original article prob. was much longer & more comprehensive. At least I hope so.

By: Lazynative

Lazynative — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:07:05 +0000

Nobody who is identified as a Labour Zionist is going to be regarded as a universalist of any kind; whether they speak English or Hebrew; it won’t make a difference even if they speak Arabic.

I haven’t read the Pity of it All; but this kind of nostalgia is hardly unknown amongst the yekke; part of it goes back to their treatment as secondary pioneers by the original Ashkenazi elite in the Zionist project, something Elon makes very clear was one of his motivations in writing the book.

Richard – it is a shame that Ha’aretz only did such a small obtiuary, I would have thought that the passing of a figures like Elon would have required a much bigger piece; will they be publishing something more in-depth later?

By: bar_kochba132

bar_kochba132 — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:51:24 +0000

You know what I mean. They didn’t want to speak Hebrew because they don’t view their Jewish/Israeli identity as important and that was the message they were conveying to the world. They spoke English because it gives them a more “cosmopolitan” image. This is part of the whole crisis of Labor Zionism that I referred to earlier. On another blog I am constantly accused of being a “tribalist” (in addition to being a “Zionist agent”), as if I am supposed to lose sleep over that. For many “progressives”, though, this is a deeply wounding accusation. One is supposed to be “universalist” and anti-nationalist (except, of course, for the Palestinians). In the circles with whom people like Peres and Rabin wanted to be identified, these are the important values.