In November 2018, 250 mostly Iranian American Jews gathered at the Iranian American Jewish Federation for a first-of-its-kind program: the Taboo Summit.
In addition to the Taboo Summit, Maher fellows encounter and connect with experts, thought leaders, politicians and influencers in the Jewish, Iranian and greater American communities, and participate in a fully subsidized trip to the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D,C.
But the scene which has turned heads is one in which the protagonist’s father-in-law brushes off the taboo of doing business with Israelis.
I addressed many of these issues, along with the toxic history of ‘race science,’ in my book Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It.
JERUSALEM — An influential American commentator has sent shock waves through the Jewish establishment and Washington policy-making circles by breaking a long-standing taboo: He has endorsed the idea of a democratic entity of Jews and Palestinians living with equal rights between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, arguing that a two-state solution — Israel and Palestine — is no longer possible.
In 18 months as secretary general of the Muslim World League, I have traveled to the Vatican to elevate interfaith understanding with His Holiness, Pope Francis.
President Donald Trump has accelerated the collapse of taboos on all issues including Israel’s standing and relations within the U.S. political landscape.
The Cold War allowed Israel to play an essential role in U.S. foreign policy, but the diligent and systematic organizing work of AIPAC and American Zionist organizations translated the alliance of convenience into an untouchable taboo in American politics and media discourses.
The push to commit U.S. troops directly in the Arab world and the move toward military operations in the region is directly connected to the collapse of the political taboos related to Israel and Zionism.
The consequences of direct U.S. military intervention and troop deployment into the battlefields in Iraq was the beginning of the cracks in public discourses around Israel and Zionist taboo in politics.
As long as the debates in the U.S. were confined to AIPAC’s efforts to cement the alliance with Israel, increase foreign aid, provide protection for Israel against international consequences and isolate the Palestinians regionally and globally, then the taboo and limits in public discourse were maintained.
However, once the U.S. committed troops and became involved militarily, then all bets were off, whereby discussions and debates regarding Israel and the political taboos on its role in U.S. foreign and domestic policies were no longer sustainable.
Initially, it was on the margins of America’s political landscape, but as the military deployment dragged-on and the complexity of the conflicts became apparent, Israel and its lobby were no longer in a position to maintain the political taboos, which included a split within the ranks of the American Jewish community itself.
The current realignment in the Democratic Party is a definite indication of the shattering of the political taboos in relation to Israel and Zionism underway in the country.
This process started much earlier than the arrival of the 2018 midterm elections and the newly elected class of Democrats, which includes a number that was not only ready to take Israel to task on human rights violations but also to speak on the untouchable taboo, namely the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The fact that democratic members in Congress are ready to push back against AIPAC and Israel is evidence of the breaking of the taboo and a readiness to shift the conversation.
Trump’s arrival on the political scene and his readiness to break all political, social, racial, gender and cultural taboos is another critical contributing factor to the shift.
Before that the fate of Greek Jews had become something of a taboo subject.
“It was a taboo subject,” said Ross.
Experiencing this “taboo” subject for a first time sparked in Ross an interest in learning about Judaism that has lasted a lifetime.
“How could we not include the one thing that is the most taboo, the most charged?”During 20 years of shepherding 12-year-olds through the bar/bat mitzvah experience, I can’t think of one instance when a family rejoiced when their child received Tazria and/or Metzora as their Torah portion.
At an early age, I was taught that a valid reason to eschew Orthodox Judaism was because women, even with just the possibility that they might be menstruating, were considered taboo, “unclean!” I learned as an adult that the beauty, romance and magic of living according to the laws of niddah and taharat ha’mishpacha is something to be treasured.
The text of this article was generated by the Breaking The Silence system that collected 15 news articles posted on the web from January 2019 to September 2020 and clustered for the taboo subject of jewish people
