Новости за 01.05.2017

In the Capitol building, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sojourner Truth are honored for their contributions to American racial justice. Busts of these important figures, among others, sit alongside busts of all of the American Vice Presidents (Al Gore’s and Joe Biden’s are still in progress) and of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis. If a new bill introduced to the House goes through, Wallenberg will be joined by another important figure of Holocaust history: Elie Wiesel. Читать дальше...

For a few magical hours later this afternoon, when Yom Hazikaron ends and Yom Ha’atzmaut begins, the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel will briefly overlap with May Day, the international workers’ holiday and the all-around Communist equivalent of July 4th. The Soviet Union would eventually become the state of Israel’s most dangerous strategic foe, and even in the post-1989 world it’s possible to glimpse the remnants of communism’s longstanding alliance with anti-Zionism—just last week... Читать дальше...

Last I heard from Paul Simon was during the presidential campaign season, when Bernie Sanders used Simon and Garfunkel’s “America” in a powerful ad that, along with a performance of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” during the DNC, couldn’t quite push the Senator from Vermont (or Hillary, for that matter), into the White House. The legendary singer-songwriter is still making music, too, having released his 13th solo album last summer. He’s now 75 years old; so is Barbra Streisand.

Could there be a more entertaining way to celebrate Israel’s 69th Independence Day—which by happy coincidence falls this year on Theodor Herzl’s 157th birthday—than by watching a recording of a 1992 Israeli musical that tells Herzl’s life story? Perhaps, but bear with me here.

The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry was born in 1964. Two years later, Elie Wiesel published The Jews of Silence, giving voice to the story and situation of Jews behind the Iron Curtain who longed to connect to the Jewish people. These catalysts 50 years ago gave momentum to a cause that became unstoppable. In 1967, the Six-Day War stirred a sense of pride among Soviet Jews, one mixed with religious and national awareness that would lead to public trials and consequent imprisoning of emerging leaders among Soviet Jews themselves... Читать дальше...

Politico recently reported that in 2016 the Obama administration freed seven Iranian-born prisoners against the advice of the Department of Justice, which considered them threats to American national security. Obama also forced the DOJ to drop charges against another 14 Iranians involved in criminal activities associated with nuclear proliferation, weapons smuggling, etc.

Once, when I entered the local grocery store with my eldest son when he was less than 1 year old, he pointed up from his stroller and demanded, loud and clear: “Bamba!” This is how I found out that daycare professionals feed kids things behind their parents’ backs. This is also how I found out that kids have a way of demanding what they want. And in Israel, they want Bamba.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Yale University Press and its Jewish Lives series.