Editor Assaf Sagiv First issue 1996 Company The Shalem Center | Frequency Quarterly Final issue
— Number 2011
46 | |
 | ||
Categories Jewish affairs, Zionism, philosophy | ||
Azure: Ideas for the Jewish Nation (Hebrew: תכלת) (Tchelet) was a quarterly journal published by the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, Israel. Azure published new writing on issues relating to Jewish thought and identity, Zionism, and the State of Israel. It was published in both Hebrew and English, allowing for the exchange of ideas between Israelis and Jews worldwide.
Azure was established in 1996 and was originally published twice a year, but grew into a quarterly. The journal's first editor-in-chief was Ofir Haivry, followed by Daniel Polisar and David Hazony. Assaf Sagiv was editor in chief from 2007 to 2012.
Notable contributors have included Michael Oren, Yoram Hazony, Yossi Klein Halevi, A. B. Yehoshua, Ruth Gavison, Amnon Rubinstein, Natan Sharansky, Alain Finkielkraut, Amotz Asa-El, David Hazony, Meir Soloveichik, Claire Berlinski, Robert Bork, and Moshe Ya'alon.
The journal published Hebrew translations of classic essays by authors such as Immanuel Kant, David Hume, William James, G. K. Chesterton, Martin Luther King, Jr., C. S. Lewis, Alasdair MacIntyre, Winston Churchill, Matthew Arnold, and Leo Strauss.
The emphasis of the journal was on strengthening Jewish and Zionist values. It was highly critical of post-national and radical trends in academia, opposed judicial activism in the Israeli legal system, and supported free-market reforms in the Israeli economy.
The publication ceased operations with the Autumn issue, no. 46, alerting its subscribers to this fact mid-2012. According to the letter sent to its subscribers, "circumstances and resources no longer enable [the magazine] to continue publication."