There’s a Russian proverb that goes, “He who looks to the past is in danger of losing an eye. But he who ignores the past is in danger of losing two eyes.” I don’t know if that’s really a Russian proverb. I heard it from Lord Bullock, the historian, biographer of Hitler and Stalin, who was speaking at the Van…
Holocaust Days
Last week across Europe, Holocaust Day was marked with various ceremonies. In most places the official Muslim communities stayed well away, and you can bet on it that neither Fascist Skinheads nor Holocaust deniers would have participated. I have not been in favor of Holocaust Days any more than I am of making Holocaust denial a crime. Indeed I have…
Jewish Mothers
Jewish mothers tend to get a bad press. It’s not just Philip Roth and Portnoy’s Complaint. It’s a much wider issue. In Western literature, the Jewish Mother has become an object of scorn, even worse than the dreaded Mother-in-Law. And did you know that the Yiddish for a Father in Law, Shver, also means “tough”!! The fact is that its…
Freedom Writers
I love idealists, even the crazy ones, just so long as they don’t harm other people and that’s getting rarer nowadays. I’ve spent most of my life struggling for my ideals and dreams and I’ve always been amazed at how little support we idealists get. This week I saw a film called Freedom Writers, starring the talented actress Hilary Swank.…
Thank Goodness for Bar Ilan
I was studying in yeshiva in Israel in 1956 when Bar Ilan, which had been founded the year before, opened its campus. It was, at the time, a sort of Junior College built on American lines and with the support of American rabbis together with the Mizrachi Religious Zionist party in Israel. At first it was not taken very seriously…
Apocalypto
Many Christians are devoted to the idea of Apocalypse. A catastrophe ends this evil world and replaces it with perfect bliss. It’s not that far removed from some of our own ideas of Messianism. It conveniently solves all the problems and relieves us of responsibility. So I wondered if Mel Gibson was going to follow his film about the end…