After writing about Midge Decter’s death yesterday, I looked up her husband Norman Podhoretz. I was pretty sure he was still alive, and sure enough, he is – at 92. Decter was 94. So there’s a lot of longevity in … Continue reading →
Hatred of Jews isn’t a new thing for Russia, which in addition to all the rest of its propaganda has specialized in anti-Jewish propaganda for a long time. The Tsarist-era fabrication “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is the … Continue reading →
[The following is a slightly edited repeat of a previous post.] Tonight is the beginning of the Jewish holiday Passover. I’ve been impressed by the fact that Passover is a religious holiday dedicated to an idea that’s not solely religious: … Continue reading →
It’s complicated: Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky declared Tuesday that, when the war is finally over, Ukraine would emerge from the rubble a “big Israel.” He meant that the war would never really be over, that Ukraine would be on a … Continue reading →
I was very surprised, when Zelenskyy was elected, to learn that he was Jewish. The first surprise was that there were any Jews left in Ukraine at all, given the history of Jews there. The second was that the Ukrainians … Continue reading →
Let me start by asking whether anyone has accused Whoopi Goldberg of cultural appropriation regarding her stage name? Not only was her birth name Caryn Johnson, but her Jewish last name – and of course her silly first name – … Continue reading →
The initial articles’ descriptions of the end of the Texas synagogue standoff were so murky that I wondered what really happened. Had law enforcement been instrumental in freeing the hostages, or not? Had they been let go? Had they escaped? … Continue reading →
[NOTE: The topic of the two-volume graphic novel Maus came up in a recent thread, and I’ve decided to republish a review that I first wrote in 2009. So here it is.] I recently reread the two-volume graphic novel Maus, … Continue reading →
[Hat tip: commenter “Barry Meislin.”] The left would like Jews to believe it’s the right they have to fear: As director of Georgetown University’s Center for Jewish Civilization who also taught at the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Interdisciplinary … Continue reading →
It is the most solemn holiday for Jews. For the observant and particularly for the Orthodox, it involves fasting and atonement and is usually spent entirely in a synagogue. This is a Leonard Cohen song that’s based on one of … Continue reading →
Sometimes the great and the famous are arrogant, or they become arrogant. But not Fred Astaire: His perfectionism was legendary, but his relentless insistence on rehearsals and retakes was a burden to some. When time approached for the shooting of … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a reposting of an old piece of mine that I think could use another go-round. The reason is that I often see people reference the idea that the Jews of Germany ignored or rationalized or denied or … Continue reading →