Jim Wald, at The Blogs

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Dec 25, 2016, 11:47 PM

Chrismukkah? You mean: Weihnukkah. It’s German and over a century old

Dustup over a mashup This year, because Hanukkah begins on Christmas Eve, good-natured talk of hybrid holidays as well as interfaith goodwill is more noticeable than ever in the United States. The topic of Chrismukkah (as it has come to be...

May 1, 2016, 1:22 AM

A Haggadah from the Warsaw Ghetto

Reflections on Passover, the Holocaust, and History in a Series of Artifacts (3) Seventy-three years ago, on the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, the Nazis began to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto, which, to their astonishment, rose in revolt. The...

Jun 15, 2015, 10:23 AM

Mossad stole my shoe; you can’t make this stuff up

We are all familiar with the expression, “You can’t make this stuff up,” meaning something true but so preposterous–sounding that it seems as if it should be fictitious. Zionists broke into his house last night and stole... his shoe The phrase...

Apr 30, 2015, 1:08 AM

Israel in Nepal: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Like many, I was cheered by the news that aid for victims of the tragic earthquake in Nepal was quick in coming from many quarters, including Israel. But as the saying goes, “no good deed goes unpunished,” so I was...

Apr 18, 2015, 3:16 PM

Yom HaShoah and the survivors: “a heart that is so hard that nothing can affect me”

After the Shoah As we mark Yom HaShoah—Holocaust Memorial Day on the Jewish liturgical and Israeli political calendar—we naturally think first and foremost of the dead, in their millions. But there were also the survivors. Many went to Mandatory Palestine...

Mar 31, 2015, 11:49 AM

Obama Call to Netanyahu: Speak Loudly and Carry a Big Bat? Gloves On or Off?

For weeks, the news was filled with stories on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-awaited speech to the US Congress, and then came the election campaign and reaction to his surprise “crushing victory.” “Drink cyanide, you bloody Neanderthals. You won”. ....

Mar 6, 2015, 9:47 AM

Sightings of Alleged New Israeli Secret Weapon Reported in Run-up to Netanyahu Speech

Security forces around the world, already on high alert in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo and Kosher supermarket attacks as well as new threats from ISIS terrorists, became edgier still in response to reports of unidentified flying objects....

May 31, 2014, 11:46 AM

Zygielbojm and the Blood Shed (that unites and divides us)

“Did kill himself while the balance of his mind was disturbed,” the Coroner’s report reads, identifying the cause of death as: “Sodium Amatol poison (self administered).” The words are detached and clinical, for that is the nature of such...

May 29, 2014, 12:50 PM

Yom HaZikaron and Memorial Day: Remembering the Fallen (give me just two minutes of your time)

Every spring, as Israel holds its Day of Remembrance (Yom HaZikaron) and the United States its Memorial Day, I cannot help but compare the two holidays and the way the two countries mark them. I am a member of the...

May 9, 2014, 11:13 PM

On the Margins of the Holocaust: 70 Years On, High Time to Honor the “Absentees for Freedom”

Today, as we again mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, it is high time to recall one small, neglected episode in that immense struggle. This year, Yom HaShoah fell on April 28. The...

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About Me

Jim Wald is a professor at Hampshire College, where he teaches modern European cultural history, including the history of antisemitism and fascism, and the history of the book.