Trotsky Eats and Runs

I first heard the name Trotsky when I was seven years old. My grandfather, a Jewish tailor from Belarus who arrived in the goldene medine and pulled himself up by his bootstraps to own a men's suit factory in New York, had just gotten a swept-back haircut. He called it a Trotsky.

Abraham Cahan, American Author  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Abe Cahan, Trotsky's benefactor, was not just an editor but the author of an important American novel.  SAVE

Trotsky the Jew  Richard Pipes,  Tablet.  Attempts to treat Trotsky as an "eminent Jewish figure" must glide over the more savage features of his thought and behavior.  SAVE

Trotsky's Jewish Question  Robert S. Wistrich,  Forward.  Although Trotsky abandoned Judaism and was actively hostile to Zionism, he was one of the first to warn of the threat to the Jews posed by Nazi Germany.  SAVE

Lenin's Bad Blood  Ruth R. Wisse,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Lenin's great-grandfather was a shtetl Jew who married a Christian, then denounced Jews to the tsar. Perhaps violent paranoia ran in the family.  SAVE

SAVE "Trotsky Eats and Runs"

Judaism on Steroids

Ryan Braun, the reigning MVP of baseball's National League, is having a rough offseason. On December 12, ESPN reported that Braun had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug (PED) after a league-mandated drug test revealed elevated levels of testosterone in his system.

Braun’s Temple  Richard Sandomir,  New York Times.  Why such interest in whether a ballplayer plays a game or worships on a High Holy Day? Call it the Greenberg-Koufax Yom Kippur Precedent.  SAVE

The Golden Age of Jewish Ballplayers?  David Elfin,  Moment.  Profiles of Braun, Craig Breslow, Ike Davis, Danny Valencia, and Kevin Youkilis.  SAVE

SAVE "Judaism on Steroids"

The Whole Damn Deal

On April 2, 1979, President Jimmy Carter recorded in his diary that he had asked Robert S. Strauss to be his Mideast peace negotiator. Strauss answered, "I've never even read the Bible. And I'm a Jew." Observance-wise, Bob Strauss, who spent 50 years as a consummate practitioner of American politics, wasn't much of a Jew.  

Marathon  Jules Witcover,  Outlet Books.  The complicated role played by Strauss in Jimmy Carter's long pursuit of the presidency.  SAVE

The Lone Star  James Reston, Jr.,  Harper & Row.  Strauss's fellow Texan John Connally was not quite so loyal as Strauss—or so careful.  SAVE

Deep in the Heart  Ruthe Winegarten, Cathy Schechter,  Eaken Press.  A photographic history of the lives and legends of Texas Jews.  SAVE

SAVE "The Whole Damn Deal"

2011: A Year in Books

The holidays are over, the coffee-table books have all been unwrapped and set aside, and winter isn't going anywhere for a while. In short, it's time to settle in for some good reading. The literary critic D. G. Myers here presents the 38 best Jewish books of 2011, all of which merit your attention.

2010: A Year in Books  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  From the popular to the scholarly, a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best books of 2010.  SAVE

Retrieving American Jewish Fiction  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A historical symposium of some neglected classics, and an introduction to the avot and imahot of American Jewish writing.  SAVE

SAVE "2011: A Year in Books"