David N. Myers is a Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA. He is the co-author (with Nomi Stolzenberg) of “American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York” (2022) and a member of the Haredi Research Group.
David N. Myers
By David N. Myers
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Opinion Climate change, inequality, anti-Semitism, occupation: Corona is a chance for a reset
Previous Article Next Article Never has the period between Passover and Shavuot been like this. The 49 days of counting the Omer, to which I have been a bit too episodically attentive over the years, have never had more significance to me. Today, these seven weeks provide a measuring stick for our confinement during the…
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Opinion Coronavirus is no excuse to demonize Haredim
In the endless stream of stories about the COVID-19 pandemic, an unsettling sub-plot has been the actions, or lack thereof, of various Haredi groups in the New York metropolitan area. Reports of a swarm of positive test results in Borough Park and Williamsburg have raised fears of a cluster outbreak, triggered by a small number…
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Opinion Dear Jewish Supporters of Donald Trump: What More Evidence Do You Need?
Dear Jewish Supporters of Donald Trump, The last few weeks have been deeply troubling ones for our country. There is, of course, the ongoing impeachment drama involving an American president who, in an act of remarkable audacity, appears to have recruited foreign allies to join in attacking his political rivals at home. This is profoundly…
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Opinion Israel Will Be Liberal Again, One Day.
This is the Bibi-Trump moment. The recent Israeli elections not only reinforced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ironclad grip on his country’s political life, but affirmed the mutual benefits of the bromance between these two pillars of the global movement of illiberal democrats. Netanyahu’s pro-settlement agenda pumps up President Trump’s evangelical base; and Trump bestows…
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Culture The Path to Enlightenment: Muslims, Brothers, Jews
During a recent visit to Paris, I had a remarkable encounter that affirmed my faith in humanity. At a dinner party hosted by dear friends Annie Cohen-Solal and Marc Mézard, my wife and I met two extraordinary octogenarians whom Le Monde calls “les jumeaux de l’Islam,” the twins of Islam.) Adel Rifaat and Bahgat Elnadi…
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Opinion Why I Really Left The Center For Jewish History
Appearances can deceive. One year ago, on July 1, 2017, I started a new job as President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History (CJH) in New York. A mere two months into the job, in early September, I began receiving a torrent of threatening emails from P.R. executive Ronn Torossian, memorably described by…
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Opinion Inside The Satmar Plan To Win Independence For Kiryas Joel
Once again, Kiryas Joel is in the news. The latest is that the Town of Monroe had voted overwhelmingly to agree to the secession of the Satmar enclave, which will form a new all-Hasidic town of Palm Tree. On the face of it, this seems like a bold new phase in the political history of…
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Opinion Sometimes ‘Un-American’ Is Actually Ultra-American
America’s proud tradition of tolerance has lately been put to the test. Islam is the current target, succeeding Catholicism and Judaism as the religion bearing the brunt of a less proud tradition of “Americanism.” Religious intolerance is not, of course, a peculiarly American phenomenon. What makes the American experience of intolerance distinctive is that it…
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