N.A.Hintermann reviewed Necessity of Exile by Shaul Magid
Important book for reframing Exile
5 stars
This collection of essays dealing with Zionism and Exile is a timely addition to a necessary discussion to be had to re-think key terms in Modern Jewish thought, most notably the term of exile and it's relation to Zionism. Not all essays are as convincing, but I share many of Magid's assessments of the demise of liberal Zionism, the influence of R. Kook's thought on religious Zionism. A long-time reader of the works of R. Shagar, I mostly enjoyed the theological chapter on rethinking exile in a post-zionist framework that deals with Shagar's thought. Politically, I don't see a real possibility, but I found the theological reframing from a kookian towards a nachmanian field of discourse on the question of Zionism and exile to be extremely valuable. The collected essays surely show the diversity within Judaism with regard to essential terms that define Jewish life today.