More in ‘Anti-Semitism’

Somebody give Ulysses S. Grant’s publicist a raise: Despite the fact that the 18th president has been dead for nearly 125 years, prestigious historian Sean Wilentz positively fawned over him in last Sunday’s New York Times. The reason? Some Republicans wish to replace Grant’s visage on the $50 bill with that of President Ronald Reagan. ...

A state senator and a state delegate in Maryland who are co-sponsoring a tough gun-control bill both happen to be Jewish, so they have attracted the ire of Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership. The Wisconsin-based group’s self-appointed mission is “educating the Jewish community about the historical evils that Jews have suffered when they ...

While incidents of anti-Semitism have cropped up in Venezuela, and while some have argued that President Hugo Chávez deliberately cultivates an anti-Semitic atmosphere, B’nai B’rith International draws our attention to a new report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which, drawing on B’nai B’rith testimony, represents the most prominent formal acknowledgment of (and concern ...

• A Jewish papal knight has become a loud voice within the Catholic Church opposing Holocaust-era pontiff Pius XII’s sainthood. [NYT]
• A small group of ultra-Orthodox rabbis declared lox to be unkosher due to a certain parasite that salmon can host. Most rabbis disagree, though, so stick that on your bagel and eat it. [Grub ...

Unlike the United States, Germany, due to legal culture and not-all-that-distant history, has fairly extensive restrictions on speech; particularly hate speech; and particularly hate speech that hates the Jews. Quick example: in Germany, the Nazi Party is banned; in America, it’s not (not going to dignify it with a link, but if you want, Googling ...

• Laura Rozen notes a spurt in high-level diplomatic and defense meetings between the United States and Israel. Most notably, Vice President Biden heads there next month. [Laura Rozen]
• Could recent scandals in the ultra-Orthodox community—Tropper, Balkany, Dwek, et al—lead to a waning of the bloc’s political influence? [The Jewish Week]
• Dan Senor, one of ...

If you hadn’t heard, a man crashed a small plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas, earlier today, killing himself and injuring two people who were in the building. Police are investigating the incident as a crime … in part, no doubt, because of the note that the crasher, who was named Joseph A. ...

Today in Tablet Magazine, we celebrate Mardi Gras with Justin Vogt’s look at the Krewe du Jieux and the Krewe du Mishigas, both designed to humorously rectify longstanding official Jewish exclusion from the New Orleans festivities. (A slideshow confirms the craziness.) Book critic Adam Kirsch discusses how the Nazis put an anti-Zionist twist on their ...

It’s worth pausing again to digest the treatment Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren received during a speech he gave Monday at the University of California, Irvine. He was interrupted multiple times, reportedly by members of the university’s Muslim Student Union, with shouts of “Killers!” “How many Palestinians did you kill?” and “Propagating ...

Today in Tablet Magazine, following yesterday’s podcast about Paris’s remarkably diverse 19th arrondisement, Léa Khayata reports from that neighborhood, describing the human stories while tracing the roots of the recent upsurge in anti-Semitic incidents in France. The Scroll will have an easier time getting to work today.