Considering the antisemitism of Jeremy Corbyn
Extracts from the yet unpublished Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn by Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire are being published in The Times this week and include interesting tidbits about Jeremy Corbyn and his alleged antisemitism. The latest revelations are a quote from one of Corbyn’s right-hand men, Andrew Murray, saying that […]
The Night I Had Dinner with RBG
Sue Fox recollects a memorable evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Karen Skinazi’s article on ‘bageling’ in connection with Mrs America was an eye-opener to this reader who watched the entire series hating Phyllis Schlafly. When evil Phyllis told the maid to collect her child from school, knowing said maid needed to collect her own child, she made me explode with venom. I took it […]
‘Is It Good for the Jews?’ is giving us a moral blindspot
Jon Abrams reflects on the responses to his piece on Anglo-Jewry and slavery. The responses to our recent article published by JewThink, ‘Why we need more research on how Anglo-Jewry profited from slavery’, have been baffling if not downright disturbing. Apart from a few exceptions, most of the comments have completely ignored the content of our article that argued for greater […]
‘Chlandidneh’: The Jewish History of the Queen of Welsh Resorts
As many of you consider, go on, or return from your staycation this summer, one place that remains a draw is the north Wales town of Llandudno. The Daily Telegraph recently described it as, ‘The old-fashioned seaside town that’s suddenly back in vogue’. It is so popular with Haredi visitors that they were even willing to break England and Wales’ lockdown […]
Looking like a Philip Roth Scholar; or, Looking Jewish in Scotland
Joshua Lander reflects on his Jewish looks and being a scholar of Philip Roth. At my first ever conference I was told I looked like a Jew but didn’t sound like one. A few years later at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, a classmate told me I had the look of a Philip Roth scholar, and […]
Ben Cross: Non-Jewish Actor Who Excelled at Playing Jewish Roles
Sean Alexander reflects on the Jewish roles of Ben Cross who passed away on August 18th. Inevitably, the obituaries for actor, Ben Cross, who died yesterday aged 72 following a short illness, started with his starring (and arguably name-making) role in 1981’s Chariots of Fire, in which Cross played the real-life Jewish athlete Harold Abrahams. He and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) portrayed Jewish and Christian runners both competing for […]
Jews and Cheese: An Ambivalent Relationship
As we celebrate Shavuot, Nathan Abrams explores the curious relationship between Jews and cheese. The issue of Stilton cheese, which held up any potential UK trade deal with Japan, got me thinking about the relationship between Jews and cheese. But as it’s Shavuot, it’s a good time to be thinking about it again. Despite the modern Israeli’s love of all things to […]
MRS AMERICA: Everything coming up Bagels
True story: About three weeks into a new job, my first in England, which had thus far included a lot of activities labelled ‘induction’ (a term unfamiliar to my North American brain, but which seemed to mean go drink coffee while having small talk about the weather and bad shows like The Great British Bake […]
Frum Fetish Shlock: Netflix’s ‘Unorthodox’
The problem with Orthodox Jewish women in popular cultural representations lies with audience desires for shlock and salvation, not with Haredi society. The Netflix series Unorthodox, appearing as it did at the heart of pandemic lockdown, caused a sensation in both the Jewish and non-Jewish world. The four-episode drama offered a tantalizing look at a woman’s escape from her […]
What Prickled Me About ‘An American Pickle’
Nathan Abrams rants about why he didn’t like An American Pickle. I was looking forward to watching An American Pickle, Seth Rogen’s latest movie. As I have written here, I am a fan of his films, and the furore caused by his appearance on the Marc Maron show only intensified my expectations. An American Pickle […]