History & Politics
Anti-Semitism and Man at YaleTuesday, May 21, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Continuing our retrospective, we revisit Alex Joffe's critique of the unwillingness of Western universities to confront contemporary anti-Semitism, first published June 13, 2011.
A Time CapsuleTuesday, May 7, 2013 by Glenn Dynner | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Petitions (kvitlekh) addressed to the 19th-century miracle worker Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher provide something almost never found in hoary Hebrew tomes or official Polish documents: windows into the struggles and secret anxieties of everyday Jews in Eastern Europe.
“They All Could Have Been Saved”Thursday, May 2, 2013 by Lance J. Sussman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus personally rescued 50 Jewish children from Nazi-era Vienna and brought them home to Philadelphia. A new documentary tells their story—and contrasts it with the apathy shown by their community.
The Betrayal of Salonika’s JewsThursday, April 18, 2013 by Andrew Apostolou | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When the Germans entered Salonika on April 6, 1941, they found a willing cadre of collaborators and a broad section of Greek Christian opinion hostile to the Jews.
Enigmas of Modern Jewish IdentityTuesday, April 9, 2013 by Stephen J. Whitfield | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Over the course of a lifetime facing modernity's conflicting demands, how might Jewishness affect the struggle to sustain identity, and how might this struggle mark the contours of Diaspora history?
Marking the Day–But Which Day?Monday, April 8, 2013 by Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
If it's the 27th of the month, it must be Holocaust Remembrance Day. But what are we remembering, and why? Differences in memorializing the Holocaust reflect fundamentally differing perspectives on Jewish history.
The Jewish Civil WarThursday, April 4, 2013 by Diane Cole | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
One of the tragedies of the American Civil War was that it pitted friends and family members against one another. American Jews were not immune from the internecine bitterness. A new exhibition tells their story.
Eizenstat on the Jewish FutureFriday, March 15, 2013 by Jerome A. Chanes | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In his new book on the Jewish future, Jewish diplomat Stuart Eizenstat sees Jewish destiny evolving in the friendly competition between the sovereignty of Israel and the pluralism of America.
World War II and the Impossibility of Polish HistoryWednesday, February 27, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Must any history of Poland in the Second World War therefore put the Jews and the Holocaust at the center? If it does not, is that originality or revisionism?
Speaking What Must Be SpokenThursday, February 14, 2013 by Diane Cole | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The sheer number of books on the Holocaust has long demanded a guide to Holocaust literature that would be as accessible as it was comprehensive and scholarly. Now we have one.
Editors' Picks
"I Was a Nazi, and Here's Why" Helen Epstein, New Yorker. In 1963, Melita Maschmann published a memoir of her Nazi youth. Fifty years later, she is remembered by her best childhood friend—and first victim.
Kindertransport Remembered Lucy Ward, Telegraph. This year, Britain marks the 75th anniversary of a mass evacuation of Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe.
Renaissance in Budapest Andrew Connelly, Helene Bienvenu, Christian Science Monitor. The anti-Semitic demagoguery peddled by Hungary's fascist Jobbik party has prompted fresh Jewish cultural and political engagement.
Bordering on Collapse Dore Gold, Israel Hayom. As a result of the Syrian civil war, Middle East borders that have lasted since the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 are on the verge of erasure—and the vultures are already circling.
How Rational Is Iran? Steven David, American Interest. Saddam Hussein torched Kuwait's oil fields. Bashar al-Assad has killed 70,000 of his own people. Why assume that Iran's autocracy will act rationally?
Fear in France Clémence Boulouque, Tablet. Anti-Semitic attacks in France are becoming deadlier and more frequent, but the French public remains indifferent.
Kissinger the Jew Gil Troy, Tablet. “The outsider even as an insider, he endured the president’s anti-Semitic rants—and then endured the same contemptuous cries of ‘Jew-boy’ from harsh critics in Israel.”
Hamas Rampant Costanza Spocci, Eleanora Vio, Atlantic. A new law forbidding coed schools marks the latest victory in the terrorist organization’s campaign to impose its writ on all of Gaza’s institutions.
Hizballah Reeling? Phillip Smyth, Foreign Policy. Based on casualty reports from its own media, Hizballah is losing both young fighters and seasoned commanders in the Syrian civil war.
Lone Survivor Marc Pitzke, Spiegel. Refused entry into Palestine in 1942, set adrift by Turkey in the Black Sea, the Struma was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing all 800 of its Jewish passengers—except one.