Albert Murray and Leo Strauss
20 Sep
Uncategorized

Essay | Leo Strauss, Bigotry and the Blues

The progress of equality is arguably the mainspring of modern political history. Alexis de Tocqueville considered the spread of equality to be the inexorable tendency of Western societies, and the 20th-century wars with Nazism and Communism can be interpreted as struggles over the principle’s validity and scope: Nazism fought to establish racial hierarchy in place of equality, while Communism fought to extend equality to the economic sphere, at least in theory.

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19 Jan
Latest, Zoominars

What to Do About Antisemitism & Racism with Eric K. Ward

Eric K. Ward, an internationally known expert on the intersection of white nationalism with anti-Semitism, is in conversation with Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein about how anti-Semitism is at the core of white nationalism—and how combatting anti-Semitism is the most efficient way of fighting white nationalism. They discuss the anti-Semitism evident in the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol, the relationship between authoritarianism and white nationalism, racism, Black Lives Matter and more.

This event is a tribute to the memory of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose work inspired Ward in his lifelong pursuit of Civil Rights, hosted by Moment Magazine with the support of the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.

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02 Nov
Culture, Latest, Misc

Sustainable Tzedakah

By Steven Philp Now that we have entered the month of November, many of us look forward to the prospect of spending time with loved ones for Thanksgiving. Yet during times of celebration, Jews are also called to remember the needy through the commandment of tzedakah. Tzedakah often takes the form of charitable giving–small donations to help the less fortunate meet their most basic needs. Yet many people continue to struggle to make ends meet, and every year we are given the difficult task of counting our blessings in the face of endemic poverty. It is written in the Talmud that the highest forms of tzedakah are those gifts that enable another person to become self-sufficient. As Jews, we ask ourselves: how can we give in a way that contributes toward a permanent solution? In 2009, activist...

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18 Oct
Uncategorized

A Familiar Injustice

by Ben Goldberg Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  If that’s the case, Italy and France’s recent treatment of Roma (aka gypsies) should give us pause. Originally from South Asia, the Roma are a nomadic people who have settled all across Europe.  Often linked to crime, the Roma have a long history of being persecuted.  In the Holocaust, they suffered proportional losses greater than any ethnic group besides the Jews. 65 years later, they are being persecuted once again. France has deported more than 1,000 Roma to Bulgaria and Romania, linking the ethnic group to high incidents of crime. Despite condemnation from Human Rights watchdog groups, the Italian city of Milan quickly followed suit, demolishing and bulldozing several Roma camps.  Meanwhile, the Serbian government has forcefully evicted Roma gypsies from their...

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20 Apr
Latest

UN Racism Conference Starts Today–Ahmadinejad Accuses Israel of Genocide

By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Well, it's not as if the United Nations Durban II conference against racism was ever going to avoid controversy. The primary storyline going into the conference was the contentious--if not by any means surprising--abstention by the United States and Israel (as well as Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, and Holland).  But news has just come out about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech earlier today that we must post first. JTA has the scoop on the speech, which occurred a few hours ago, in which European diplomats walked out in protest: In a speech at the U.N.-sponsored anti-racism conference in Geneva, the Iranian president first blamed the West for injustice, then went on the offensive against Israel, calling it the “racist perpetrators of genocide.” “Under the pretext of Jewish suffering, they have helped bring to power the most oppressive, racist regime in Palestine,”...

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