Sephardic Heritage Update 1005
David Shasha
Friends,
We begin this week’s newsletter with a prime piece of Self-Hating Sephardic Intersectionality in the person of Yeshivah of Flatbush High School macher Dr. Joel Wolowelsky. Those who have attended the school and are familiar with his unique form of demeaning Sephardim and the Sephardic heritage will understand just how much contemptuousness is infused in his Rabbi Marc Angel-approved article on Minhag and “Mixed Marriages” of Ashkenazim and Sephardim. It is ultimately about asserting the White Jewish privilege of turning Rice into Hametz, and in the process making Passover that much more difficult for all of us. And do not ask them about the ZOOM Seder either!
Sticking with the theme of Sephardic Self-Hatred we have Rabbi Hayyim Angel writing about, what else, Jewish Messianism. It is just the topic that Sephardim need to discuss as we see our heritage being erased by the Ashkenazim that the Angel family have embraced. Just feel the stench of Goy-baiting as we celebrate the new Israeli government and its White Jewish bona fides.
Tying all this YU Messianic HASBARAH together is Rabbi Aton Holtzer’s Tradition magazine article on a new Joseph B. Soloveitchik text and how it impacts the Religious Zionist movement. Naftali Bennett is watching closely!
On the other side of the Zionist ledger, we have a very enlightening article from Gili Kugler on the historicity of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan. The presentation reflects the current understanding of ancient Israelite history based on the very archaeology that has become such a central part of Zionism. It tells a very different story than the one the Zionists tell, opening up a can of Jewish worms that puts the New Jewish Sparta into question.
Gregory Sterling presents us with a timely and much-needed introduction to the great Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. The many texts of Philo, though ignored by the Talmudic rabbis and embraced by the Church Fathers, are an extremely important tool in the study of Jewish Humanism and Maimonidean thought. Reading Philo is always an enlightening experience.
Moving from Hellenistic Alexandria to the world of the Arabian Nights, we have Benjamin Ivry doing the usual Forward “Secret Jewish History of” shtick on that literary classic. Of course, the analysis is very much in the White Jewish Supremacy vein, with no actual discussion of Sephardic Jews and their relation to Arab civilization.
Rabbi David Wolpe reviews a new anthology of Modern Jewish Thought that is a rare White Jewish Supremacy product that mentions Rabbi Jose Faur. But Wolpe sticks closely to the usual Tikvah suspects; promoting the atavistic primitivism of Michael Wyschogrod and focusing mainly on Ashkenazim as the sole purveyors of Jewish Modernity.
Glenn Loury is a name I have been mentioning of late in discussions of Black Conservatism. Here he does the standard Rufo Tucker Carlson attack on Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project for The Manhattan Institute. It is indeed, as Bari Weiss well knows, all in the MISHPOCHEH. God bless Thomas Sowell!
We have looked at the new Edward Said biography a number of times, and The New Republic’s Udi Greenberg does a good job providing an introduction to the late scholar and the importance of his thought.
Since the publication of Cynthia Ozick’s rave New York Times review of the new Philip Roth biography, the book’s author has been Cancelled for alleged sexual misconduct, and the original edition was withdrawn by its publisher. Not to worry, another publisher has stepped in and copies will be back in stock as we speak!
We close with an intriguing addition to our Poptrash Idiocracy archive; this one dealing with the many ways in which making money off of commercial endorsements has changed over time when it comes to artists and celebrities. Amanda Hess notes how it was once shameful for serious actors and musicians to do commercials, but it has now become ubiquitous. It is a trend that speaks loudly about how things have changed in our culture and how artists have prostituted themselves for the mighty corporate interests.
David Shasha
To Eat Rice on Passover, or Not to Eat Rice on Passover, That’s the Ashkenazi Question!
By: David Shasha
On Family Minhag in a “Mixed Marriage”
By: Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky
Judaism and Humanity: The Messianic Era
By: Rabbi Hayyim Angel
Halakhic Zionism: A New Text and Its Possible Implications
By: Aton Holzer
Joshua’s Conquest: A Cultural and Pedagogical Problem in Modern Israel
By: Dr. Gili Kugler
Why Philo Matters
By: Gregory E. Sterling
Just How Jewish Were ‘The Arabian Nights’?
By: Benjamin Ivry
Book Review: Between Literalism and Liberalism
By: David J. Wolpe
The Case for Black Patriotism
By: Glenn C. Loury
Review Essay: The Lost Worlds of Edward Said
By: Udi Greenberg
Book Review: The Complex Life of Philip Roth
By: Cynthia Ozick
The Triumph of the Celebrity Endorsement
By: Amanda Hess