Defining Anti-Semitism: A Conversation With the EU Coordinator on Combating Anti-Semitism

On June 1, The European Parliament adopted a working definition of anti-Semitism for the first time. The definition, borrowed from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, serves as a politically important descriptor of the phenomenon. “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” the definition reads. “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/ or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

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RFK and Morris Abram

Morris Abram: The Man Who Unmasked the KKK and Helped Establish “One Person, One Vote”

by Cecily Abram Those who remember Morris Berthold Abram may recall his tenure as president of Brandeis University during the tumultuous years of 1968-1970. Yet many of his accomplishments during the time of the Civil Rights Movement that preceded his presidency are not widely known. Throughout his life, Morris became the trusted adviser to five U.S. presidents—both Democratic and Republican—each seeing in him his dedication to justice and the rule of law, his commitment to civil rights and human rights and his deep interest in Jewish causes. His proudest legal accomplishments include the establishment of the historic principle “one person, one vote” and the laws that led to the unmasking of the Ku Klux Klan. Born in 1918, Morris spent his first 16 years in rural South Georgia. Founded in 1896, Fitzgerald was a colony city for aging Union veterans...

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Mendy Samstein (1938-2007), Unsung Hero of Freedom Summer

Editor's Note: This story is part of our yearlong anniversary coverage of Jews' involvement in the American Civil Rights Movement. By Dina Weinstein In the winter of 1963, a 25-year-old doctoral student at the University of Chicago traveled to Atlanta, Georgia. There, Mendy Samstein connected with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and activist academics who were a part of the movement, participating in sit-ins and organizing marches. In many ways, his story was not unique: Like thousands of others in Chicago and throughout the North, he wanted to help with the struggle against segregation and violence. But Samstein would become one of the movement’s few core, long-time Jewish staff members and one of the architects of Freedom Summer. Mendy Samstein quickly connected with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and met Bob Moses, one of SNCC’s black leaders,...

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