I write to respond to Allan Nadler’s discussion of my recent book, “Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora.” In his May 20 review, “Cities of Jewish Success, Crushed,” Nadler appears to have fallen into a classic trap: He measures my book not against its own ambitions but against the book he wishes I had written. As…
Debra Nussbaum Cohen’s June 24 article (“Major Effort To Promote Day Schools Shows Mixed Results”) captured the vital importance of day schools and the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education’s critical role in strengthening them as a major community asset. The business of Jewish day schools is not just a numbers game. Rather, it’s about…
As a survey specialist who has been involved in several dozen political and demographic studies of American Jews, I read with great interest Nathan Guttman’s June 14 article, “Are Jews Warming to the Tea Party?” The piece uses the results of a recent poll to suggest that Jews might be increasingly drawn to that mouthpiece…
Leah Koenig (and Gil Marks whom she used as her source) have, through no fault of their own, contributed to perpetuating the myth of cream cheese’s origin and development in America. (“Deconstructing Cheesecake,” June 10th). My forthcoming article in the journal, Food, Culture and Society, puts to rest these myths. Cream cheese was not “accidentally…
Eric Alterman is entitled to his opinion (“The Republicans Heart Netanyahu,” June 17), but to my mind Benjamin Netanyahu was not sticking his finger in the eye of the American president nor playing patsy to the Republicans. Truthfully, it was high time to react vehemently to the timing of the administration’s call to “negotiate.” It…
With regard to your June 3 editorial, “Don’t Make Us Choose,” and the numerous other references to the Obama/Netanyahu squabble, I’m shocked and dismayed by the fact that nowhere is there a discussion of the joint statement issued by Secretary Clinton and Prime Minister Netanyahu on November 11, 2010, in which Secretary Clinton is quoted…
After reading Efraim Zuroff’s May 27 op-ed, “Hunting Demjanjuk,” I find it painful and frustrating that both Israel and the United States could screw up a simple trial of a Ukrainian collaborator like John Demjanjuk. It took Germany finally to convict him. And there are dozens of Demjanjuks still alive in the U.S., Canada, U.K….
Deborah Lipstadt’s May 13 article “Eichmann’s Lessons for Bin Laden is interesting and informative, but her key analogy between Eichmann and bin Laden is weak. The circumstances which led to the ultimate fate of each are sufficiently different that her regret that bin Laden was never “shown the wonders of a democratic system of justice”…
Eli Ungar-Sargon’s claim (“Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews?” May 20) that the health benefits of circumcision are only “purported” is sadly misinformed, and his analogy to mastectomy is just plain silly. Numerous studies by the World Health Organization, as well as independent studies published in the Lancet, Scientific American and the New England Journal…
The May 6 op-ed by Israel Finkelstein, “In the Eye of Jerusalem’s Archaeological Storm” underscores some problems and misconceptions surrounding the “City of David” in the Palestinian village of Silwan. Much of the site lies beneath village houses. It is this intermingling of ancient remains and modern homes that makes archaeology in the City of…
The Forward’s May 13 article, “Survey of Campus BDS Finds Few Serious Cases” unfortunately focused solely on the failures of Israel’s campus detractors to implement boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) against Israel. But this misses the critical context that support for Israel on campus has never been greater, and the network of campus Israel supporters…
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