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Catholics, Jews, and Jewish Catholics Catholics, Jews, and Jewish Catholics
Monday, June 18, 2012 by Daniel Johnson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Jews and Catholics in the English-speaking world have so much in common that they ought to make common cause more often than they actually do. The friction between them that sometimes catches fire is, as often as not, based on mutual ignorance and mistrust.
Sending <i>Mein Kampf</i> Back to School Sending Mein Kampf Back to School
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Important literature can't be kept under wraps forever. A case in point is Mein Kampf. The German state of Bavaria, which holds the German copyright, has blocked the book's publication within Hitler's homeland.
A Convenient Hatred A Convenient Hatred
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

With some 1,000 books currently in print on the subject, does the world desperately need another tome on anti-Semitism? What difference will it make, when anti-Israelism provides only the latest justification for Europe's persistent prejudice against Jews and anti-Semitic views are shared by 15 percent of Americans and 90 percent of Muslims worldwide?
Evil Genius Evil Genius
Thursday, February 23, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Very little anti-Semitic literature is new; most of its tropes seem ageless, continually recombined and updated by haters reacting only dimly to their actual circumstances. Few anti-Semitic works exhibit literary or lesser, sociological gifts. The one exception is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews
Monday, July 11, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

1897 was a watershed year in Jewish history. And now, Jewish historians may consider adding a surprising entry to the list of that year's events that proved so repercussive in Jewish history: the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Jesus for Jews Jesus for Jews
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 by Eve Levavi Feinstein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

That Jesus lived and died a Jew would hardly be regarded as news by most educated Jews and Christians today.  Still, while the historical Jesus is ever-elusive, the figure of Jesus, for Jews, has become more accessible.
Crimes of Communion Crimes of Communion
Monday, May 9, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Two years ago, a Muslim reporter for the Malaysian magazine Al Islam attended a Catholic mass in Kuala Lumpur with a companion, surreptitiously took communion, and put the wafer in his mouth, only to spit it out later. The May 2009 issue of Al Islam featured a cover photograph of the soggy, partially-eaten wafer—to the horror of local church authorities.
Easter, Passover, and the <i>West Side Story</i> that Wasn’t Easter, Passover, and the West Side Story that Wasn’t
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by Elliott Horowitz | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Late in 1948, in the early stages of his collaboration with Jerome Robbins on the musical that would become West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein wrote in his diary: "Jerry R. called today with a noble idea: a modern version of Romeo and Juliet set in slums at the coincidence of Easter-Passover celebrations. Feelings run high between Jews and Catholics. . . . "
A Chosen People? A Chosen People?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Within months of Israel's lightning victory in the June 1967 war, French President Charles de Gaulle was asked for his judgment of the dramatically new situation created by the triumph of the Jewish state over its enemies. Still smarting from Israel's refusal to heed his advice and wait passively for the Arab armies to attack, de Gaulle labeled the Jews "an elite people, sure of themselves and domineering."
Clash of Civilizations Clash of Civilizations
Friday, April 8, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The death toll in Afghanistan has passed the two-dozen mark in the riots "inspired" by Pastor Terry Jones's burning of a Quran in Florida. The grisly political theater has served its purpose.
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Editors' Picks
The "Eikhah Problem" Dara Horn, ELI talks. Why do Jews persist in believing that anti-Semitism is their own fault? (Video)
The Reality of Race Jon Entine, Forward. Historical analysis now depends not only on pottery shards, flaking manuscripts, and faded coins, but on something far less ambiguous: DNA. And the study of Jewish DNA yields some surprising findings.
What Jews Should Know about the New Testament Amy-Jill Levine, Biblical Archaeology Review. By reading the New Testament in its historical contexts, Jews can better comprehend not only Christianity's polemics, but its point of departure from Judaism.
How the Left Turned against the Jews Nick Cohen, Standpoint. As Communism gave way to anti-colonialism, Israel remained a target for special rage on the Left, even though Zionism was both a settler movement and an anti-colonial movement.
Arendt in Jerusalem Sol Stern, City Journal. With their monumental errors of political and moral judgment, Hannah Arendt's writings on Zionism, Israel, and the Holocaust have metastasized into a destructive legacy.
The Suicidal Passion Ruth R. Wisse, Weekly Standard. Who is damaged more by anti-Semitism—Jews, or those who organize politics against them?
Treacherous Texts Benjamin Balint, Haaretz. The amazing and enduring power of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" has little to do with the mind of its forgers and everything to do with the avidity of its consumers.
Tropical Storm Josh Lambert, Tablet. Decades before his obscenity trials would prove him right, Henry Miller wrote in his ambivalently anti-Semitic Tropic of Cancer that "the first people to turn to when you're down and out are the Jews." (Includes obscene language.)
A Hand in Friendship Alan Brill, Book of Doctrines and Opinions. In a bold statement, the Orthodox rabbi Shlomo Riskin has called for strengthening the Jewish relationship with Christians and Christianity: "we will find far more which unites us than divides us."
Cities of Jewish Success Allan Nadler, Forward. From Bialystok in the east to Worms in the west, the story of great European centers of Jewish civilization is one of tremendous achievement followed, sooner or later, by crushing tragedy.