Seichel

.
An interesting new word - Seichel.

It is Yiddish for wisdom, but it means more than that: It connotes ingenuity, creativity, subtlety, nuance.

According to Jeffery Goldberg,“Jews have always needed seichel to survive in this world; a person in possession of a yiddishe kop, a ‘Jewish head`, is someone who has seichel, someone who looks for a clever way out of problems, someone who understands that the most direct way — blunt force, for instance — often represents the least elegant solution, a person who can foresee consequences of his actions.”

After the recent botched raid on Mavi Marmara, the very notion of seichel lies in shambles.

However, the good news is that amidst the throng of jingoistic Israeli`s celebrating the widely denounced military action in international waters, there are sensible folks out there who foresee the wider repercussions of this blunder...

It is such a relief to see contrarian views coming from Israel itself, as well as the Jewish diaspora worldwide -


`GAZA FLOTILLA DRIVES ISRAEL INTO A SEA OF STUPIDITY`, Gideon Levy, Haaretz

On the Disappearance of Jewish Wisdom, Far Out at Sea, Jeffery Goldberg, The Atlantic, 31 May 2010

`CHOSEN, BUT NOT SPECIAL`, Michael Chabon, New York Times, 4 June 2010

LOST TRIBE - Are Israel`s Battles Costing the Country its Soul? , Ehud Eiran, Newsweek, 5 June 2010