The No-State Solution

A Jewish Manifesto

De: Daniel Boyarin

Narrado por: John Lescault

A provocative manifesto arguing for a new understanding of the Jews’ peoplehood

Today there are two seemingly mutually exclusive notions of what “the Jews” are: either a religion or a nation/ethnicity. The widespread conception is that the Jews were formerly either a religious community in exile or a nation based on Jewish ethnicity. The latter position is commonly known as “Zionism,” and all articulations of a political theory of Zionism are taken to be variations of that view.

In this provocative audiobook, based on his decades of study of the history of the Jews, Daniel Boyarin lays out the problematic aspects of this binary opposition and offers the outlines of a different—and very old—answer to the question of the identity of a diaspora nation. He aims to drive a wedge between the “nation” and the “state,” only very recently conjoined, and recover a robust sense of nationalism that does not involve sovereignty.

©2023 Daniel Boyarin (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

A very important book

This book will make waves. An important understanding of and contribution to contemporary Jewish forms of life.

Thought provoking!

Daniel Boyarin has presented a deep analysis of the matter of "Zionism" and the millennia-old reality of the Jewish Diaspora. This cannot be summarized in a few glib words. For my part, I can say that I feel affirmed in my identity as a member of the Diaspora who has realized that the Diaspora is my proper environment, not the sliver of land on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean.

Very thought provoking

There are many good things about this book. Boyarin does a fascinating thing: he shows that our conception of religion is a deeply Christian one. By this, he allows Judaism to transcend simply “doing” or “belief”, but also a “being”. However, he also veers into biological essentialism, saying that it is inherently male to have a penis and therefore circumcision when as a rabbi he should know that Judaism has eight genders. Overall a good book though.

Interesting ideas, annoying postmodern language

As a longtime admirer of Boyarin, and as a nonzionist, I was sympathetic to the argument but found the performance and writing of this book almost unbearable to get through. So many asides and almost incomprehensible sentences.

Self-indulgent, boring, pretentious

This guy talks down to his readers. He weaves fairy tales—but not interesting ones.
Wish I could get my credit back.