Tony Judt’s Particularism Problem
First, historian Tony Judt griped that the character of the Israeli state was too Jewish, labeling it the “an anachronism.”
Now, he’s complaining that the lens through which we view the Holocaust is too Jewish. He warns that we’re exaggerating the threat posed by contemporary antisemitism, and that in tying “the memory of the Holocaust so firmly to the defense of a single country — Israel — that we are in danger of provincializing its moral significance.”
Read Tony Judt’s latest New York Review of Books polemic against particularism (Jewish particularism in particular) here.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
