I had the pleasure and profit of serving (not sure that it is the right term. perhaps too cathedral like ..) with Morris on the Editorial Board of Partisan Review for some years. He had an excellent sense of humor, the capacity to see matters absurd as absurd, possibly a consequence of long march through orthodoxy to the shared bewilderment of the heirs of a broader culture---he was devoid of pretense and very sympathetic and encouraging. I look forward to reading the book....... Was Yale so bad at the time? It managed, in the humanities and social scientists, to graduate quite a few persons who can hardly have been harmed by the experience.....Norman Birnbaum
Given the visibility. persistence, and rootedness of the gangster presence in the Jewish community in years which were not entirely given over to messianic politics and world revolution or trade unionism and the New Deal,there were indeed rather widespread networks of gangster clients, faciitators, employees. Lots of families had a cousin or uncle who, at least, kinew someone who was involved, fancy and rumor played their part, and certainly the urban political machines were not sublimely above the fray. Jews were not the only ones, think of the activities of the senior Kennedy. I'd be interested to learn if there are still traces in contemporary Las Vegas of the gangster legacy, perhaps matter for museum exhibits in subsequent generations....
A social historical inquiry into the composition of the Jewish populatio in that area in the thirties and forties would show no small disparities in income and wealth between those who lived, for instance in the grand buildings of the Grand Concourse and those who lived on cross streets and side streets in more modest buidihngs. These last included lots of Jewish artisans and skilled workers, petty entrepreneurs, salesmen and the like-----not everyone was a physician, accountant, lawyer or garment manufacturer.......there were also, in between, school teachers......
I am curious as to why Robert Zaretsky thinks the Bar Mitzvah gift of Deutscher's biography of Trotsky was so inappropriate--especially given the culture of Tony Judt's family. Deutscher lived not far from where Tony Judt went to school, had made an excellent career in British and European public life after leaving Poland. Many Jewish intellectuals struggling with their heritage and modern history were attracted to the figure of Trotsky, and Deutscher's trilogy was in its way a confessional as well as manifesto. Unless I am missing something, the gift makes rather good sense. I take the liberety of adding that I had the prigvilege of knowing Deutscher when I lived in the UK, recall inviting him to the annual dinner of my Oxford college, where he held his own with the British guests, who seemed quite welcoming--the welcome the same sort of people extended to Tony Judt in his British academic career. .
Some of the contributors to this debate may have rather obscured notions of life these days at Jesuit universities. The Jesuit Fathers consider themselves hosts (and act as very gracious hosts in fact) to colleagues and students of very different faiths, including the varieties of secular commitment. They are firm in their sense of their own beleiefs and values and give an example in this respect that others might follow. The very firmness allows them to live with difference, with difference indeed in the interpretation of their own traditions. .
pETER WAS AN HISTORIAN WITH A PUBLIC FAR BEYOND THE CONFINES OF THE DISCIPLIJNE AND WAS THEREFORE IN THE GREAT TRADITION OF AMERICAN SCHOLARS WHO ADDRESSED LARGE QUESTIONSD IN A LARGE WAY....THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORIANS AND THE INQUIRY INTO HOLOCAUST MEMORY REMAIN ENTIRELY RELEVANT TO OUR LIVES AND SPIRITUAL FORTUNES NORMAN BIRNBAUM
Excellent reporting as always by Mr. Guttman. I am struck by the Israel Prime Minister's dubious view that israel is master of its own fate. No nation on earth is, in our complex and inter-dependent world, and to claim it is to encourage dangerous illusions in a very irresponsible way. The Auschwitz bombing analogy does not convince.The world, and israel, would be well served by a Prime Minister with more discernment and better judgement.
Are there other intelligence gathering operations in course about which some might be rather ambivalent? Recall the case of Jonathan Pollard, and the investigation (subsequently terminated) into former AIPAC officials. There is a substantial Jewish presence in our public life, and of course, in government service.Is it beyond all possibility that certain government agencies, discreetly and even covertly, are carryihng out programs of surveillance in the Jewish community to detect future Pollards before they gain access to privileged posts? Of course, if the agencies consider that activism on behalf of Israel is prima facie evidence of the possibility of US citizens violating their obligations to the US, they would be casting a very wide net indeed.
A reader never heard of Max Blumenthal. It is difficult in our electronic age with its many many channels of communication to know many writers it would be rewarding to know. Max Blumenthal is the author of a very good book on the culture of the extreme right in the US (an extreme right, perhaps, but at the center of the current Republican Party), a widely read journalist, and a scrupulous chronicler and reporter.
I wish to add to my earlier comment that in contradistnction to immediate post-war Germany, the present German society has done and is doing quite a lot to educate against anti-Semitism (and racism and xenophobia in general.) That is the work of newer generations, primarily---and of the segment of German opinion attached to Enlightenment, including many in the churches.
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