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1 month ago | 
jewishjournal.com | Michael Berenbaum
I know that many of those writing about the late Pope Francis and the Jews have been dealing with his disappointing lack of support for Israel in the aftermath of October 7th. I believe that they have seriously misjudged the positive importance of his papacy. Permit me to state my case briefly. There are multiple forms of antisemitism and clearly one of the most important and most enduring has been religious antisemitism.
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2 months ago | 
jewishjournal.com | Michael Berenbaum
Imagine ancient history. The time is Oct. 6, 2023, and someone has come forward with a book in which two highly trained and distinguished sociologists, one an Orthodox Jew and the other an observant Muslim, explore how both of these traditions navigated their engagement with American culture and civilization.
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Feb 27, 2025 | 
jewishjournal.com | Michael Berenbaum
Parents often ask what they can give their middle school children to read about the Holocaust. They want to their children to be informed and inspired but not frightened, not horrified, by an event that in essence is both frightening and horrifying. No one wants to have their children waking up in the middle of the night by nightmares. Scholastic Publishers has now produced a series of books written by Joshua M. Greene telling the story of young girls and women who went through the Holocaust.
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Feb 27, 2025 | 
qoshe.com | Michael Berenbaum
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Feb 26, 2025 | 
blogs.timesofisrael.com | Michael Berenbaum
Elliot N. Dorff, Ethics at the Center: Jewish Theory and Practice for Living a Moral Life (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2024) pp. 249. When a senior scholar is a prolific author, he/she will often get asked “which one of your books should I read?” Initially, many will get insulted. After all, a scholar’s work is cumulative, one book builds upon the other, one’s thought evolves, one’s understanding develops.
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Jan 31, 2025 | 
blogs.timesofisrael.com | Michael Berenbaum
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
jewishjournal.com | Michael Berenbaum
I had a conversation with a devout Jew in synagogue last month, during one of the dark days of a very dark year. He is a regular at a daily minyan and always has a sefer nearby. He asked in despair: Where are our prayers for the God who does not answer, to the God who does not save as opposed to the God who did not save? I nodded, but now I have an answer: Menachem Z.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
jewishjournal.com | Michael Berenbaum
Yair Agmon and Oriya Mevorach, One Day in October: Forty Heroes. Forty Stories (Jerusalem: The Toby Press, 2024). While Political Zionism is fighting for its life and its reputation, Cultural Zionism is flourishing. As Israel faces its greatest existential crisis since the War of Independence, Israel writers and artists, poets and playwrights are doing their work and giving voice to the inner life of Israelis as they wrestle with all the issue raised by the Event and by the Wars that have followed.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
jewishaz.com | Michael Berenbaum
Eighty-six years ago last week, a series of pogroms took place in Germany and Austria. More than 1,000 synagogues were burned, their pews destroyed; sacred Torah scrolls and holy books were set aflame. More than 7,000 Jewish businesses were ransacked and 30,000 men aged 16-60 were arrested and sent off to newly expanded German concentration camps. These pogroms were given a rather elegant name, Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), and it is by that name that they are best known.
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
forward.com | Michael Berenbaum
( JTA) - Eighty-six years ago this week, a series of pogroms took place in Germany and Austria. More than 1,000 synagogues were burned, their pews destroyed; sacred Torah scrolls and holy books were set aflame. More than 7,000 Jewish businesses were ransacked and 30,000 men aged 16-60 were arrested and sent off to newly expanded German concentration camps. These pogroms were given a rather elegant name, Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), and it is by that name that they are best known.
