Jewish history

As More Schools Ban "Maus," Art Spiegelman Fears Worse to Come

“It’s a real warning sign of a country that’s yearning for a return of authoritarianism,” Spiegelman tells Post columnist Greg Sargent of the challenge made against his graphic-format Holocaust history by residents of Nixa, Missouri. 

Leon Uris's "Exodus" Shaped Jewish Identity for a Generation—Does it Matter Today?

By fictionalizing many of the events surrounding the founding of the Israeli state (and ignoring others), Uris helped launch a profoundly influential view of Israel's place in the world and Jews' relationship to Israel. But a younger generation of Jewish readers seems indifferent. 

Daniel Boyarin's Argument for a Non-Zionist Jewish Nationalism

by Joshua Abramson Cohen

Boyarin's latest work makes provocative arguments that there is a real collective identity of the Jewish people as a nation, but that it is independent of the Israeli state and territory. 

Who Attacked Jascha Heifetz in 1953?

Although ties to Jewish extremist organizations were suspected, the person who attacked a violinist in 1953, allegedly for performing the works of Richard Strauss, has never been found. The story resonates with conflicts in Israeli society today. 

Is Holocaust Education Making Antisemitism Worse?

by Dara Horn

It's becoming clear that more lessons about the Holocaust won't address the problem of antisemitism in contemporary America, because it places both Jews and prejudice against them in another time and place. 

A Prominent Story about How "Diversity" Entered College Admissions is Wrong

by Charles Petersen

The plaintiffs in a case seeking to outlaw affirmative action in admission policies are relying on a false narrative that "diversity" entered Harvard's admissions criteria as a way to limit the number of Jews admitted. While the existence of Jewish quotas is documented, the two aren't connected. 

How Superman Became a Christ-Figure

by Roy Schwartz

How did the comic book creation of two American Jews, whose origin story incorporates Moses, come to be understood as a stand-in for Jesus? Mostly through the movies. 

Will the Right Wing Israeli Government Break American Jews' Relationship with Israel?

Shaul Magid, Distinguished Fellow of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth, argues that the new government's agenda will force American Jews to recognize that Israel has become an illiberal country, while historian Hasia Diner says it has long been so. 

Philosopher Lewis Gordon's Impact on Black Jewish History

Gordon said for him, “Black consciousness links to all oppression and that’s exactly the kind of Jewishness I was raised in. It was always explained as connected to the ethical, the political dimensions of what it was to be Jewish."

Parallels and Divergences in Jewish and Asian American History

by Joel Kotkin

"The fate of Asians and Jews in America is about more than two minority groups. It is about the efficacy of equal and fair treatment under the law, and a democratic system based on merit rather than ethnicity."

How the Russian Jews Became Soviet

The novelist Gary Shteyngart, who emigrated from the USSR to the US as a child, reviews Sasha Senderovich's "How the Soviet Jew was Made," a work that gives short shrift to neither the "Soviet" nor "Jewish" sides of the question. 

Antisemitism is Resurgent. Why are News Organizations Screwing Up the Story?

When journalists turn to representatives of legacy Jewish organizations as authentic voices of American Jewry, they often end up generating reporting about antisemitism that strips away historical nuance and fails to accurately describe the forces driving attacks on Jews today. 

Eric Alterman on the Shifting Debate over Israel-Palestine in America

The writer discusses his conclusions about the evolution of the debate among American Jews about the nature of their relationship to Israel and the moral status of American policy. 

Beinart: Antisemitic Zionism Isn't a Contradiction in Terms

Conservative Zionists have reached accommodated American evangelicals' demands for a Christian-dominated America in exchange for support for a Jewish greater Israel. The media are reluctant to discuss this connection.

Adolfo Kaminsky, 97: Forger of Identity Documents Saved Thousands of Jews

Experience as a stain-remover in laundry work helped the teenaged Kaminsky to remove supposedly indelible ink from French ID cards, enabling Jews to escape deportation. 

Can Religious Zionists Reject the Religious Zionist Party?

by Gil Troy

Can religious Zionism survive being hijacked by a party of anti-democratic and anti-humanist zealots? One historian of Zionism says he's not on board with the Israeli far right.  

Will MAGA Be the Last Straw for Conservative Jews' Partnership with the Christian Right?

by Eric Alterman

Since the 1970s, an alliance between Christian and Jewish conservatives has been brokered over mutual support for Israel's occupation and settlement of the West Bank. Are changing attitudes toward the occupation among American Jews and the naked antisemitism of the MAGA right breaking the alliance? 

Enjoying the Christmas Lights? Thank Jewish Refugees from the Ottoman Empire

by Devin E. Naar

The story of Christmas lighting in America follows the paths of Sephardic Jewish immigrants from Turkey, who coped with nativist prejudice, linguistic difference, and labor exploitation to find community and work—including in light bulb factories. 

Jews of Color have Made Traditions of "Untraditional" Hanukkah Celebrations

by Samira Mehta

Jews from outside Ashkenazi heritage present celebratory and food practices that show the diversity in Jewish communities and the navigation of tradition in interfaith families. 

Israel's Religious Right Pushes for Restrictive Changes to Law of Return

As Jews around the world are considering Israel as a refuge from antisemitism, that country's religious fundamentalist parties have the political leverage to decide that many fewer people are Jewish enough to qualify for immigration and citizenship. American Reform Jews are particularly affected.