Moment Magazine and A Mask with a Message

September/October 2021 In the 1930s, Nazi Germany's treatment of its Jewish population went largely unchallenged in the United States because of concerns that a stand would jeopardize U.S. political and economic interests. Eighty-plus years later, another minority population faces the prospect of extermination, this time in China, and once again the victims are on their own. The Uyghur people, a predominantly Muslim group in northwest China, are being herded into detention camps, their leaders imprisoned, their culture, religion and language suppressed, and their women subjected to forced sterilization. As was the case with Nazi Germany, China is simply too important and powerful to be held accountable for its criminal actions, even when they rise to the level of genocide. In Moment's September/October cover story former NPR reporter Tom Gjelten, investigates why and how this is happening. In “An Inconvenient Genocide,” Gjelten offers a chilling take on this moral failure, juxtaposing past and present to see if the lessons of "Never Again" have been learned. The issue also features a powerful essay from Moment's editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein, “In the Shadow of the Lynching Memorial,” on her pilgrimage to the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial of Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, and how they reveal the enormity of America’s violent racist history. In "Perspectives," Thane Rosenbaum and Mia Brett debate whether critical race theory is a threat to education. Naomi Ragen writes about her decision to leave Jerusalem, Marshall Breger explores how the Temple Mount can be shared and Letty Cottin Pogrebin asks who needs an official definition of antisemitism? In "Literary Moment," Robert Siegel looks at the troubling life and legacy of Meir Kahane, as reflected in Shaul Magid’s new biography of this polarizing figure. Erika Dreifus reviews Dara Horn's new essay collection People Love Dead Jews and Lauren B. Strauss examines a major new biography of Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, one of the most important figures in recent Jewish American history. Plus we explore the power of “hallelujah” and how like all good things the Bundt cake stemmed from a Jewish mother. Visual Moment reflects on the New York Jewish Museum's exhibition on recovering the lost stories of looted art. Our rabbis tell us how to avoid the trap of self righteousness, and there's original fiction.