Donna Robinson Divine Archives

Donna Robinson Divine

Donna Robinson Divine is the Morningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Government Emerita at Smith College's Department of Government.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addresses attendees at a Trump Tax Town Hall hosted by Tax March at Events on Jackson in Phoenix, Ariz., in February 2019. Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.

Oct. 7 is apocalypse now

A language of lies and hate threatens to conquer the mind of the West.

Donna Robinson Divine

April 9, 2024

A rally at Tulane University in New Orleans got violent after a pro-Palestinian supporter hit a Jewish student in the face on Oct. 26, 2023. Photo by Pnina Sasson.

A specter haunting the university

The emphasis on feelings over facts is undermining the legitimacy of academia.

Donna Robinson Divine

November 26, 2023

A protest against Focus on the Family's "Stand for the Family" event at the Xcel Energy Center, planned by OutFront Minnesota. Credit: Tony Webster/Wikimedia Commons.

Judaism can show the way on abortion

Between the furious extremes, most Americans want a reasonable compromise on abortion, and Judaism can offer hope and guidance

Donna Robinson Divine

July 25, 2022

Demonstrators in front of the White House protesting the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Credit: John Smith/Shutterstock.

Fuzzy language can’t change Afghanistan reality

Efforts to divert attention from what is actually happening have thus far not succeeded.

Donna Robinson Divine

September 10, 2021

A Students for Justice in Palestine march. Credit: JCPA.

Settler colonialism backfires

Told repeatedly that they confront an enmity so implacable and evil in character that only a totally mobilized world can destroy it, Palestinians can logically conclude that the independence enjoyed by other nations is beyond their reach.

Donna Robinson Divine and Asaf Romirowsky

July 23, 2021

Israeli founding father and first prime minister David Ben-Gurion declares independence beneath a portrait of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, at the Tel Aviv Museum (today, Independence Hall) on May 14, 1948. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Jewish state: Zionism’s success, not failure

Substituting action for prayers gave Zionism its purpose. Work, rather than textual study, would be the vehicle for legitimizing possession, creating community and for transforming sites holy in scripture into a homeland.

Donna Robinson Divine

August 13, 2020

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