Derek Penslar - End of the Affair? The Changing Character of the Zionist-Diaspora Romance
Derek J. Penslar is the Stanley Lewis Professor of Modern Israel Studies at the University of Oxford and the Samuel Zacks Professor of Jewish History at the University of Toronto. Penslar’s publications focus on modern European Jewry, the history of the Zionist movement, and the state of Israel. This paper conceives of diaspora Jewry's feelings about Israel as a romance and explores that romance’s affective base. Dr. Penslar argues the romance’s origins date back to the years immediately prior to Israel’s establishment and it continues to this day, although the balance of emotions that sustains it has changed over time.
Derek J. Penslar is the Stanley Lewis Professor of Modern Israel Studies at the University of Oxford and the Samuel Zacks Professor of Jewish History at the University of Toronto. Penslar’s publications focus on modern European Jewry, the history of the Zionist movement, and the state of Israel. This paper conceives of diaspora Jewry's feelings about Israel as a romance and explores that romance’s affective base. Dr. Penslar argues the romance’s origins date back to the years immediately prior to Israel’s establishment and it continues to this day, although the balance of emotions that sustains it has changed over time.