Difficult Jewish Texts and Contemporary Political Crisis

This essay considers the phenomenon of public Jewish biblical quotation, such as, for instance, “justice, justice shall you pursue,” in times contemporary political crisis. I argue that these references tend to employ a sanitized and selective hermeneutics which overlooks bypasses violent or otherwise “difficult” themes works suggest there is parallel between our refusal come terms with frequent violence many texts, inability acknowledge intensity scope “real world” crises we texts respond to. Delving into complex narrative Korach as an example, propose particular attention difficult invites communities not only confront darker parts textual tradition, but also provides communal model acknowledging true depths crisis, political, instead turning quickly palliative solutions.