Ethan Greenwood, at The Blogs

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Sep 5, 2024, 10:58 PM

The Sophie’s Choice Strategy of Hamas

William Styron couldn’t have lucked out on a greater actress than Meryl Streep to inhabit the role of Sophie Zawistowska in the film of his novel Sophie’s Choice. She plays a Polish immigrant who comes to America after World War Two and falls for Stingo,...

Sep 16, 2022, 6:42 AM

What our Rabbis can learn from the Queen

In an impromptu posting on social media following the death of the Queen, Rabbi Dweck praised the Queen’s Malchos for so precisely reflecting the will of the people. It seems many Rabbis have in recent days been poring over Rambam’s Book of Kings to find...

Feb 23, 2021, 1:17 AM

Baddiel’s new book is a must-read, but has some key omissions

David Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count criticises the progressive left for their inability to treat Jews as they would any other minority in their fight against racism. Using examples of racism against Jews which would never be tolerated against any other ethnic group, he suggests that...

Apr 20, 2019, 3:10 AM

The Four Sons of 2019

As a social researcher who studies people to make generalisations about human behaviour and as an Orthodox Jew who loves putting people into boxes, the four sons are the gift that keeps on giving. Near the start of the Haggadah this parable appears to show...

Mar 21, 2019, 1:43 AM

The dark humour of Purim and some costume ideas

The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud wrote in Jokes and their Relation to the Subconscious that a joke suppresses something more serious. If Tisha B’Av demands sadness and Simchat Torah joy, Purim asks that we sit on the knife’s edge, flirting with catastrophe before bursting into celebration....

Feb 5, 2019, 7:34 AM

Lifestyle tips for Orthodox Jews

The lifestyle guru Marie Kondo has a show on Netflix with whizz ideas about how to tidy your home. I paid little attention to her until she had the chutzpah to suggest that a house should have no more than 30 books. THIRTY BOOKS. This...

Sep 30, 2018, 5:56 PM

A turning point for British Jews?

There’s a cartoon I remember seeing at Cheder, they showed it at Chanukah. It took place during the Hellenic period and happy assimilated Jews enjoyed the good life in Greek society. Their comfort was only disrupted by a small yud that would appear on their...

Aug 19, 2018, 6:59 AM

The equal threat to the Jews from Corbyn and Trump

Given the depressing state of politics today where voters are given a choice of leaders based on which minority groups are more victimised, the temptation to vote none of the above is overwhelming. Yet some of the ideals of Judaism may provide a clue to...

Jan 11, 2018, 12:32 AM

In popular culture, modern orthodox Jews are almost invisible – How I propose to address this in 2018.

Orthodox Jews as a source of artistic inspiration pose a challenge – for a start who are we? We look like the majority of other Jews, except for small differences in our dress and religious practice. Jews in film have been typically represented as an...

Dec 25, 2016, 5:00 AM

Put on yamulkah, it’s time to celebrate Christmas and Chanukah

I have to admit, as an Orthodox Jew, I love the Christmas period. I love the lights in the street, the reassuring reruns on the radio of lame Christmas hits, the crisp winter evenings ushering in the season of goodwill, the buzz of shoppers and...

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About Me

Born in London, Ethan lived in Israel for a few years. He is an experienced social researcher in government and the charity sector, and has also advised Jewish organisation doing their own surveys.