In 1938 the Austrian Jewish community, one of the richest in Europe, numbered 200,000 souls. After the Holocaust only a handful remained. Neither the Germans nor the Austrians felt responsible for rebuilding this once flourishing community, nor for restituting communal property that had been Aryanized.For nearlyRead More
Wondering why the media has been so uncritical of an administration that went to war on circumstantial evidence, and cut taxes for the rich but not the poor? Look no further than this week’s Federal Communications Commission decision to reward the country’s principal media players by making it easier for them to control all of what youRead More
Last month saw the release of two highly anticipated, albeit quite different, sequels: the “Matrix Reloaded,” the Wachowski brothers’ follow-up to their first “Matrix” film, and the American-sponsored “road map,” the latest installment in an ongoing series of Israeli-Palestinian peace plans.A mere coincidence, no doubt. But there areRead More
It turns out that the first version I heard had been embellished. Back in 1999, so the story was told to me, then Toronto and now Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shawn Green came up to bat when one Jesse Levis was catching for the Cleveland Indians. (Levis spent nine relatively undistinguished years in the majors.) The umpire behind the plate was Al…Read More
A year ago American Jewish newspapers were ablaze with headlines reporting the desperate plight of Jewish students on college campuses. The communal fire brigade was brought in to douse the perceived explosion of antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement.With the situation in the Middle East heating up again and antisemitism on the riseRead More
A few days before Faisal Husseini left last year for Kuwait, where he would suddenly pass away, we spoke about conducting negotiations under fire. Husseini, until his death the Palestine Liberation Organization’s representative in Jerusalem, asked why Israel conditioned renewal of the political negotiations on a cessation of terrorism. IRead More
All seats were sold for this month’s “Old Demons, New Debates: Anti-Semitism in the West” conference at the Center for Jewish History in New York. It was addressed by a glittering assemblage of academics, journalists and activists from the United States, England, France, Poland, Israel, Italy, Canada, Mexico and even Iran. MuchRead More
One of the best known of the newish Jewish songs is “Kol Ha’olam Kulo,” the lyrics commonly attributed to Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, the haunting melody by Boruck Chait. The first line — there are only two — tells us that “the whole world is a very narrow bridge,” and the melody for those words is doleful. The second line tellsRead More
The recent conviction of Lemrick Nelson in the stabbing of Yankel Rosenbaum, the final spectacle of the Crown Heights riots of 1991, has been described by some as not just the nadir but the effective end of the alliance between blacks and Jews.Observers such as Samuel Freedman, associate dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, are arguingRead More
On the face of it, the nomination of Daniel Pipes by President Bush to be one of the 15 directors of the United States Institute of Peace seems weird. The nomination, which now awaits confirmation by the Senate, has quite predictably outraged Arab Americans, who see Pipes as their enemy. But though it is curious that Bush wouldRead More
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