Chava Rosenfarb was a major twentieth century Yiddish poet and novelist who remains largely unknown outside the tight circle of Yiddish literature. The lot of a Yiddish writer can be difficult, her daughter, Goldie Morgentaler, suggested at a webinar on November 5 sponsored by the University of Toronto’s Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies and the […]
La Gloriosa, the liberal revolution that rocked conservative Spain on its heels in 1868, forced Queen Isabella II to leave the country and ushered in an age of religious freedom. During this hopeful period, when only a smattering of Jews lived in Spain, European Jewish notables commended the Spanish authorities for having been open to […]
Certain events are ineluctably embedded in one’s mind, even after the passage of time and the dimming of memories. I vividly remember John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the outbreak of the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War, Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, the fall of the Berlin wall, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, and the […]
Britain’s left-of-center Labour Party continues to be haunted and torn apart by the checkered record of its former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, in confronting the specter of antisemitism within its ranks. Jonathan Ashworth, the party’s current shadow health secretary, was exactly right when he described Corbyn’s handling of it as “a shameful period in our history.” As […]
Germany was a liberal democracy until Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. After his appointment as chancellor in January of 1933, Germany fell into the hands of a murderous fascist clique that persecuted dissidents and Jews, destroyed democratic institutions and invaded neighboring countries. Germany’s descent into dictatorship is explored in Rise of the Nazis, which starts […]
During his second and final televised debate with Joe Biden last month, President Donald Trump claimed to be ignorant about QAnon, an unfounded American conspiracy theory that fosters racial and religious prejudice and poses a potential terrorist threat, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “I hate to say that I know nothing about it,” […]
Thousands of young Jewish men and women from all walks of life and countries visit Israel every year free of charge thanks to the Birthright program. Inbar Horesh’s Israeli short film, Birth Right, explores it from a singularly Russian angle. Currently being screened online at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, it unfolds over the course […]
The specter of radical Islam looms large in France and presents the French government with a complex challenge of monumental proportions. Less than a month after President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech warning that Islamic radicalism and “Islamist separatism” pose serious problems and that legislation is necessary to address them, a jihadist identified as a […]
I don’t know how to play chess, but I was riveted by Netflix’s new seven-part series, The Queen’s Gambit, a mesmerizing drama revolving around a young American woman who wins acclaim as an international chess champion. Created by Scott Frank and Allan Scott, it held me in thrall from start to finish. Isla Johnston plays […]
When Donald Trump assumed the American presidency on January 20, 2017, he declared, “I would love to be the one who made peace with Israel and the Palestinians. That would be such a great achievement.” Nearly four years on, with the presidential election less than a week away, Trump has yet to implement his fondly-held […]