Freedman on ‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism
Rosenfeld Is Right
‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism, by Alvin H. Rosenfeld, American Jewish Committee, 2007, 29 pp.
Reviewed by Shalom Freedman
The International Commission of Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims: Excellent Concept but Inept Implementation
The International Commission of Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) failed to meet its promises to Holocaust victims and their heirs to compensate in speedy fashion policies that remained unpaid for some sixty years. When the claims process will have been completed only about 3 percent of the $15 billion value of unpaid life insurance Holocaust-era claims will have been paid, few unpaid nonlife policies will have been considered, and the process will have taken at least eight years instead o
Restitution of Holocaust-Era Assets: Promises and Reality
Less than 20 percent of the value of Jewish assets stolen by the Nazis and their collaborators has been restored. At least $115-$175 billion (2005 prices) remains unreturned despite numerous clear and explicit international agreements and country promises made during World War II and immediately thereafter. Even the highly publicized resurgence of restitution efforts since the mid-1990s resulted in the return of only 3 percent of Holocaust property.
Françoise Ouzan on Les frontières d’Auschwitz
Europe’s Jewish Problem
Les frontières d’Auschwitz: Les ravages du devoir de mémoire by Shmuel Trigano
Reviewed by Françoise Ouzan
The Eichmann Trial and American Jewry: A Reassessment
The Eichmann trial had an impact on American Jewry as well as on Israel. The debates on the court proceedings raised the issue of the allegedly exiled status of Diaspora Jews. Some Zionist intellectuals interpreted the post-Holocaust emergence of a Jewish state in terms of a redemptive vision of history.
The Jewish Resistance in France during World War II: The Gap between History and Memory
More than sixty years after World War II, the French are still obsessed with the memory of the Holocaust. Nevertheless, they give only minor attention to the important chapter of the Jewish Resistance in France. The Organization Juive de Combat, which played a crucial role in saving part of French Jewry, is almost absent from formal and public discourse.
Hiding Jewish Children during World War II: The Psychological Aftermath
Jewish children were hidden in the Netherlands from 1942-1945 to save them from Nazi deportation. After the war the few surviving Jewish parents, deeply traumatized, began the difficult search for their children. The children’s return home involved many psychological problems both for themselves and for the parents. Often the hidden children had had to change addresses several times, leading them to “turn off their feelings” so as not to be overwhelmed by grief. After the war many of them could
Sarah Schmidt on Nations United: How the United Nations Is Undermining Israel and the West
The Power of Words
Nations United: How the United Nations Is Undermining Israel and the West, by Alex Grobman, Balfour Books, 2006, 192 pp.
Reviewed by Sarah Schmidt
Sarah Schmidt on On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend
Dangerous Friends
On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend, by Timothy P. Weber, Baker Academic, 2004, 329 pp.
Reviewed by Sarah Schmidt
Michelle Mazel on Les mosquées de Roissy: nouvelles révélations sur l’islamisation en France
Prophet of Muslim Doom or Farsighted Politician?
Les mosquées de Roissy: nouvelles révélations sur l’islamisation en France (The Mosques of Roissy: New Revelations about Islamization in France), by Philippe de Villiers, Albin Michel, 2006, 233 pp. [French]
Reviewed by Michelle Mazel
Michelle Mazel on Etre de droite: Un tabou français
A Voice in the Wilderness
Etre de droite: Un tabou français (A French Taboo: Belonging to the Right), by Eric Brunet, Albin Michel, 2006, 270 pp. [French]
Reviewed by Michelle Mazel
Michelle Mazel on Les penchants criminels de l’Europe démocratique
A Chilling Analysis
Les penchants criminels de l’Europe démocratique (The Criminal Tendencies of Democratic Europe), by Jean-Claude Milner, Editions Verdier, 2003, 155 pp. [French]
Reviewed by Michelle Mazel
Daniel J. Elazar: Federalism, Brit, and Implications for Israeli Society
Daniel J. Elazar saw the idea of societal partnership-rooted in the Judaic idea of brit, a key explanatory element in the Jewish political tradition-as the basis of federalism. In his view, brit as the foundation of federalism essentially concerns interaction and relationships. Elazar’s approach to federalism has possible applications to contemporary schisms in Israeli society.
The Voice of Judaism in the Conversation of Mankind: Thoughts on Michael Oakeshott
Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) was a leading British social and political theorist, often credited as a father of libertarian thought. His wide-ranging oeuvre engaged fundamental problems in philosophy, such as epistemology and the analysis of experience, aesthetics, as well as the nature of human conduct and the modern state. Above all, he theorized the necessary postulates of human liberty. Oakeshott’s thought was characterized by areas of agreement and of tension with the Jewish political tr
The Dönmes: Crypto-Jews under Turkish Rule
The dönmes (converts) are a community descended from the disciples and adherents of Sabbatai Tsevi, who abandoned Judaism and adopted Islam in the late seventeenth century. Wary of their Muslim neighbors, they kept to themselves, maintaining strict secrecy in all their religious practices and general behavior. Our knowledge of the dönmes is therefore rather limited.
