Pandemics have shaped the world and Jews, in particular, have been victimized by them. Jeremy Brown, the author of The Eleventh Plague: Jews and Pandemics from the Bible to Covid-19 (Oxford University Press), argues that pandemics, such as the bubonic plague and typhus, have impacted Jews profoundly. “It was a story of which I was […]
Israel has never been as internally divided as it is today. The divisions that are tearing Israel apart could, in the worst-case scenario, lead to something approaching a civil war. The current tensions have been compared to the disastrous conflicts that preceded the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in […]
Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) was megastar long before the dawn of television and the emergence of the digital era. A standup comedian, film actor, screenwriter, singer and songwriter, his star shone brightly from the 1920s until the 1950s. He starred in a number of light-weight Hollywood movies, and one of them, Thank Your Lucky Stars — […]
The International Conference on Combating Antisemitism took place in Jerusalem a few days ago, highlighting the growing alliance between Israel and far-right political parties in Europe and underscoring Israel’s increasingly strained relations with its traditional Western allies. Organized by Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party, it created […]
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which I recently had the pleasure of watching, paints a vivid and sympathetic portrait of the brilliant American theoretical physicist whose stellar scientific team created the first nuclear weapon. This 179-minute feature film, the winner of seven Academy Awards in 2023, focuses on Julius Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project. […]
A new television series from Argentina, Family Therapy, an appealing melange of comedy and drama, is now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform. Set in contemporary Buenos Aires, and revolving around a secular Jewish family caught up in a crisis caused by the passing of a beloved relative, it is consistently entertaining. The central characters, […]
Rumblings of discontent rolled through the Gaza Strip this week, raising speculation that Hamas’ popularity, such as it is, could well be on the wane. In the past few days, hundreds of Palestinians have taken to the streets of Gaza City, Beit Lahiya, Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah to vent their frustration and anger over a […]
Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, is methodically expanding the network of Israeli settlements in the West Bank at a blistering pace, deliberately foreclosing the increasingly remote possibility of a two-state solution with the Palestinians. This comes as no surprise. Netanyahu, a champion of settlements, has said that Jews have an […]
The United States has escalated its military campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but they remain defiant, prompting speculation whether they can be defeated any time soon. Last week, President Donald Trump ordered a massive wave of air strikes on their command centers, weapons depots and training sites. The bombings, the heaviest ever targeting […]
Inspired by a true story, and dedicated to “all who suffered and sacrificed,” Lost Transport fleshes out an intriguing footnote of World War II. Saskia Diesing’s Dutch feature film, which is now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform, is set in Germany in April 1945 as the Third Reich crumbles. In the waning months of […]