Tag: Assimilation
Diaspora Jews keep making the same mistake
A perverse feature of the Jewish people is that they make one particular mistake over and over again. They are persecuted. They frantically try to assimilate into their host community in the belief that...
The Hanukkah story that Jews need to learn
Many of us know the themes of the Hanukkah story: pride in being Jewish; the few against the many; the defeat of our enemy; and the rededication of the Jewish Temple. Or perhaps some...
How Christmas Transformed Hanukkah in America
Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, celebrates the victory, in 164 BCE of armed Jewish rebels led by Judah the Maccabee over the army of the Syrian despot Antiochus IV. Against all odds, the courageous, resourceful,...
Want a Jewish future? Forget emotion and look at the numbers
In early 2014, I joined a group of Jewish scholars and writers who gathered to ponder the startling statistics contained in the Pew Research Center’s recently published “A Portrait of Jewish Americans.” The intent...