Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, and the author of American Judaism: A History.
Jonathan D. Sarna
By Jonathan D. Sarna
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Opinion With Israel in upheaval, what happens to ‘Next year in Jerusalem’?
The Haggadah's famous last phrase has always made politics part of the Seder table
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Opinion Woodrow Wilson was a hero to Jews. What should we do with his racism?
Princeton University’s decision to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its public policy school because of the former president’s “racist thinking and policies” points to the complexity of Black-Jewish relations in the United States, and to problems in our definition of greatness. The man whom African Americans revile as a villain turns out to have been…
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Opinion Enough doom and gloom: History shows American Judaism is much more resilient than you think
Last week, in the wake of the economic downturn caused by Covid-19 as well as losses from cancelling its summer camp season, the Union for Reform Judaism announced it would be firing sixty employees, furloughing others, and reducing all staff salaries. Jewish professionals across the country, reeling from projected losses throughout Jewish organizational life, immediately…
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Opinion What if Jewish journalism disappears?
Just hours before the seder, British Jews heard the shocking news that the nation’s leading national-circulation Jewish newspapers, The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish News, were being liquidated. The Kessler Foundation, which owns both papers, has run out of money. When local advertising dried up because of the coronavirus, “voluntary liquidation” became the only alternative….
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Food Why The Original Treyf Banquet Backfired
BOSTON (JTA) — In an article written for J: The Jewish News of Northern California and republished by JTA, David A.M. Wilensky describes with gusto the supposedly mouthwatering delicacies, including Peanut Butter Pie with Bacon and Pulled Pork Potato Kugel, consumed this month by “rabbis and foodies” at the Trefa Banquet 2.0 in San Francisco –…
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Letters No, David Myers Is Not A Radical. He Is The Embodiment Of The Center
We were deeply distressed to read the articles in Arutz Sheva and The Jewish Press as well as in a blog of the Algemeiner calling upon the Center for Jewish History to terminate David Myers as President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History on account of his views concerning the State of Israel….
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Opinion That Other Time Jews Were Hated in America — and 3 Lessons To Learn from It Now
“America First!” “Absolute control of the United States by the United States!” “Return to Normalcy!” These may sound like slogans emanating from the campaign of Donald J. Trump, but in fact they date back to 1920, when Warren G. Harding was elected president. The Harding election, like that of Trump, represented a sharp and shocking…
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Opinion At Battle of Gettysburg, Jewish Heroes Fought for Both North and South
A few years ago, I delivered a lecture at Bowdoin College in Maine. Arriving early, I was promptly led to the college’s archive, where a permanent exhibit memorializes the heroism of a former president, Joshua L. Chamberlain. While on leave of absence from Bowdoin during the Civil War, then-professor Chamberlain led his Maine soldiers, who…
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Fast Forward ‘Antisemitic hit-and-run squads’: Amsterdam temporarily bans demonstrations after Israeli soccer fans attacked by street mobs
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Yiddish וואָס איז געווען דאָס ערשטע לשון אויף דער גאָרער וועלט?What was the first language on earth?
דער רוימישער אימפּעראַטאָר פֿרעדעריק דער צווייטער האָט געזוכט אַן ענטפֿער צו דער פֿראַגע אויף אַ וויסנשאַפֿטלעכן אופֿן.
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Fast Forward Federal judge temporarily blocks Louisiana’s law requiring classrooms to display Ten Commandments
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Theater They created a musical about the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Today’s activists are listening
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Opinion Voters elected Hitler because they liked his fascist promise. Trump’s reelection repeats that history
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