McJesus: What Was Really Going On? What Should have Happened Instead?
Finnish artist Jani Leinonen could not have asked for better promotion. There has been global media coverage of the protests in Israel in which the Christian community demanded that the Haifa Museum of Art remove the offensive McJesus sculpture. The sculpture was part of an exhibition exploring consumerization of society, including the consumerization of religion […]
McJesus: Hold Your Horses!
Before you get all bent out of shape, it might be a good idea to check a few things out first. A big fuss was made about a particular sculpture on exhibit at the Haifa Museum of Art. A tweet with a photo of the sculpture was posted requesting that people boycott the Museum. The […]
Rabbi Sacks: The Arabs Are Our Cousins, Not The Muslims
Allow me to correct Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. Presumptuous of me? Perhaps. I love reading what Rabbi Sacks writes, so let me just offer a little tweak to something he wrote. In a recent piece that he called “On Judaism and Islam“, he wrote: Beneath the surface of the narrative in Chayei Sarah, the sages read […]
What Did One Letter-to-the-Editor Say in 1929?
You can find remarkable unexpected treasures when you do an archaeological dig in old newspapers. Here is something that came up while I was looking for something else: I do not think I need to add anything to make this any clearer than it already is to the discerning reader. Not that this was written […]
Journalists, War Crimes, Fake News — Is There a Connection?
Fake news has become a “thing”. How can we know when we are being fed fake news? Especially when a particular journalist has a good reputation and the news outlet in which he or she publishes has a good reputation. Some people seem to think they have it all figured out — if you are […]
Margit Kovacs — The Life of a Hungarian Jewish Artist 1902-1977
Biographies of Hungarian Jewish artists seem to skip over what they were doing and where they were during World War II. In fact, they often skip over the fact that they were even Jewish at all. I found it remarkable that five of the seven art galleries in Szentendre dedicated to individual artists feature Jews: […]
Has Secular Shaked Turned the Supreme Court Into A Rabbinic Court Enabler?
Few people seem to have seen the report about a contentious decision by the new Supreme Court, new because of judges recently appointed whose appointments were facilitated by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the right-wing Jewish Home party. Some people only have to see right-wing and they see conservative, or more to the point, reactionary […]
Yazidi Genocide, Politics, and the Moral Vote
On 21 November 2018, there was a chance for the Knesset, our elected representatives, to show a bit of dignity, a bit of respect for themselves and others, and a bit of ability to engage in a discussion of moral issues. Instead, the government went for shallow, meaningless scornful behaviour when presented with the bill […]
From the Frying Pan into the Fire: A Haifa Therapist Goes to Nahariya and Ma’alot
Northern Israel was under missile attack in summer 2006. This latest unprecedentedly intense bombardment today of southern Israel triggered memories I had of driving to worse-hit places than Haifa way back then. The roads were scary, empty and threatening, as a black spot could suddenly fly across the clear blue skies with a whoosh and […]
Is Hungary Good For Today’s Hungarian Jews?
Unlike Germany, Hungary has not accepted its part in the Holocaust. The official Hungarian position is that the Nazis made them do it when they occupied Hungary in early 1944. Perhaps they hope that this will be enough to obviate the need for reparations to Hungarian Jews as they seem to seek a relationship with […]