Opinion // Ben Cohen
Blaming the Jews, Again: European intellectuals have come up with a nasty new twist to anti-Semitism.
Blaming the Jews, Again: European intellectuals have come up with a nasty new twist to anti-Semitism.
The ground is lurching beneath the feet of European Jews, with anti-Semitism rising up around them. We American Jews are rightly concerned at this alarming turn of events. We fear the spread of this new, especially virulent form of anti-Semitism to our own shores. We feel disgusted but helpless. What can we do?
An Israeli voter is not to be envied. So many parties to choose from, so many promises to be tempted by—the voter knows that most of these are empty promises—and so many post-election scenarios to take into account.
Eichman Before Jeruslem: The Unexamined Life ofa Mass Murderer / Bettina Stangneth / Translated from the German by Ruth Martin / Alfred A. Knopf / 2014, pp. 579, $35
Queen of Thieves: The True Story of “Marm” Mandelbaum and Her Gangs of New York by J. North Conway / Skyhorse Publishing / 2014, pp. 240, $24.95
Babel in Zion:Jews, Nationalism, and Language Diversity in Palestine, 1920–1948 by Liora R. Halperin / Yale University Press / 2014, pp. 328, $40
Leib’s brother was named Michael, after Michael Faraday, creator of the balloon and author of the work The Chemical History of the Candle. Faraday was a prominent chemist and physicist during the mid-1800s, and Leib’s father—a balloonist during the week, an aspiring inventor on weekends—found Mr. Faraday’s biography and rubbery inventions encouraging in both his personal and professional life.
Getting to the Root of Parsnip’s Unlikely Magic
How a Gay, Long Island-born mystery writer became Portugal’s Jewish conscience
THE ZONE OF INTEREST by Martin Amis // Alfred A. Knopf // 2014 // pp. 306
Jewish American Heritage // January/February 2015
How do you decide when a candidate for conversion is ready to become Jewish?