I recently participated in an online panel that accompanied the screening of the film documentary, Yiddish: the Mama Loshn, for the Boulder Jewish Film Festival. I was not invited to the panel as a Yiddishist or professor of Yiddish or Jewish history (the three other panel members were). Instead, director Pierre Sauvage asked me to […]
Why is the Israeli Supreme Court Deciding Who is a Jew?
Imagine this: American Christian denominations are battling tooth and nail over defining who is a Christian, including whether conversion performed by one may be recognized by the other. Imagine a country in which Southern Baptists refuse to marry Roman Catholics, and Unitarians refuse to marry Episcopalians. All because they refuse to recognize the other denominations […]
Palestinian Imam’s Grandson Abandoned Islam, Fabricating a Backstory to Become Orthodox Jew
NOTE: I just published a new piece for Middle East Eye on Israel’s roll-out of Covid19 vaccine and how it highlights medical apartheid. I hope you’ll give it a read and post it to your social media accounts. מונטאסיר חלאווה, נכדו של אימאם פלסטיני, נטש את האסלאם, פברק סיפור חייו, והוליך רמאות בתקשורת ישראלית ורבנות […]
Jacob De Haan: Zionism, Murder and Martyrdom
There are a number of figures who played major roles in the pre-State era who have unjustly faded into oblivion. Jacob De Haan is one of these. He packed more life into his short 43 years than others could pack in several lifetimes. He was a teacher, poet, journalist, lawyer and a close confidant of […]
