American Jewry’s Comfort Level: Present and Future
The challenges confronting American Jewry are multiple. Jewish continuity has many disparate aspects, among which are issues such as Jewish identity, education, marriage, aging, gender relations, the strengthening of communities, leadership, mobility, attitudes toward Israel, philanthropy, outreach, government relations, anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, building alliances, interfaith relations, and many others. In a postmodern society, fragmentation of views on these issues is likely to increase further.
The U.S. Role in Delaying Sino-Israeli Relations: Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd
Although by the mid-twentieth century no outstanding problems had existed between Israel and China and although both were interested in formalizing their ties, over four decades passed before diplomatic relations were finally established. The inevitable conclusion is that while bilateral issues had not been an obstacle, the interference of third parties had been responsible for the delay, notably by the United States.
The Future of Holocaust Studies
Holocaust awareness has become a worldwide phenomenon, and an international free republic of Holocaust researchers has emerged. Among long-term trends in the field of Holocaust studies are the universalization of victimhood and the extension of the circle of perpetrators.
How the Jewish Community Defeated the Banks and Stock Exchange in the 2000 Dutch Restitution Negotiations
In the mid-1990s there was a sudden renewed public interest in the issue of looted Jewish possessions during the war and their very partial restitution afterward. In the Netherlands, public interest in restitution issues gradually reemerged after several decades of almost total silence. In the late 1990s, public inquiries focused on the government, banks, insurers, and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange was controlled by the major Dut
Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic Roles of Jews in Swiss Society
Numbering just under eighteen thousand, Jews constitute a tiny fragment of Switzerland’s population of 7.7 million. Nevertheless, Swiss public discourse is preoccupied with things Jewish. This goes back at least as far as the first centralized Swiss state. The Helvetic Republic, founded in 1798, fell apart largely over the issue of Jewish emancipation. This issue remained at the very center of the Swiss political discourse up to 1868 when, under U.S. and French pressure, Switzerland granted equ
Soldiers in the War of Ideas
With cracks appearing in the U.S.-Israel relationship, the need to explain Israel’s case clearly and cogently has become more important than ever for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Antiracism for Anti-Jewish Purposes?: Reflections on the Swedish Mana Affair
At the beginning of 2008, a debate erupted in the Swedish media after members of the Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet) had, among other things, accused the left-wing journal Mana of anti-Semitism. Mana’s reaction was a categorical denial of all allegations, while suggesting it was the victim of a politically motivated witch-hunt. Although a survey of the journal shows that the accusations were justified, Mana’s claims that the criticism was policy-driven appealed to many of its defenders, and
Rivkah Fishman-Duker on How Jewish Is Jewish History?
How Jewish Is Jewish History? by Moshe Rosman, Littman Library
of Jewish Civilization, 2007, 220 pp.
Reviewed by Rivkah Fishman-Duker
Sarah Schmidt on Jewish Immigrants and American Capitalism, 1880-1920: From Caste to Class
A Revisionist History
Jewish Immigrants and American Capitalism, 1880-1920: From Caste to Class, by Eli Lederhendler, Cambridge University Press, 2009, 132 pp.
Reviewed by Sarah Schmidt
Wolfgang G. Schwanitz on Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald
America and the Third Reich
Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1935-1945, edited by Richard Breitman, Barbara McDonald Stewart, and Severin Hochberg, Indiana University Press, 2009, 359 pp.
Reviewed by Wolfgang G. Schwanitz
Yisrael Medad on Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr. and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust
Enemies in Washington
Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr. and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust, by Rafael Medoff, Purdue University Press, 2009, 157 pp.
Reviewed by Yisrael Medad
Chaim I. Waxman on Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America
Women Who Marry Out
Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America, by Keren McGinity, NYU Press, 2009, 256 pp.
Review by Chaim I. Waxman
Gabriel A. Sivan on “From One End of the Earth to the Other”: The London Bet Din
Rabbi Levy’s Journey
"From One End of the Earth to the Other": The London Bet Din, 1805-1855, and the Jewish Convicts Transported to Australia, by Jeremy I. Pfeffer, Sussex Academic Press, 2008, 355 pp.
Reviewed by Gabriel A. Sivan
Laurence Weinbaum on Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine
A Lost World
Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine, by Omer Bartov, Princeton University Press, 2007, 232 pp.
Reviewed by Laurence Weinbaum
Winston Pickett on A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad, by Robert S. Wistrich
On First Looking into Wistrich’s A Lethal Obsession
A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad, by Robert S. Wistrich, Random House, 2010, 1,184 pp.
Reviewed by Winston Pickett
