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Paul Socken

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Dec 24, 2025, 6:43 AM

Words Words have meaning and power. They shape us and our society. They stir thoughts, emotions and actions. Woe to those who underestimate the power of words. I spent 37 years teaching literature at the university level and demonstrated to students...

Jun 14, 2020, 6:11 PM

If you read about Diaspora Judaism, you will find it a frustrating and disheartening experience. The most thorough and reliable survey of American Jews was done by Pew Research in 2013. Seventy-eight percent classified themselves as Jewish by religion and...

May 27, 2018, 8:08 PM

What Will It Take?

What will it take? What will it take to end the curse of Cain? Ever since one brother killed the other at the dawn of time, the history of the world has been sown thick with hatred, murder and destruction....

Jun 9, 2016, 4:29 AM

The loathsome debate over Israel's 'right to exist' makes an excellent case study. It illustrates the difference between forming a state through annihilation of indigenous people -- North America -- and the creation of a state through international law...

May 17, 2016, 12:25 AM

A News Agency Making a Difference

These days, turning on the TV news or opening the newspaper is too often an exercise in frustration. Journalists portray Israel as a brutal oppressor and occupier. They talk about the "cycle of violence", thereby absolving the perpetrators, and...

Apr 15, 2016, 10:27 PM

Challenging Times: Review of Not in God’s Name by Rabbi Sacks

There is a general consensus that terrorism is the great global threat for the foreseeable future. Talking heads in the media, experts of all sorts, are long on explanation and short on solutions. Is there any policy or approach, in...

Sep 25, 2015, 11:44 PM

Seventy years after the Holocaust, Poland seems to be having something of a Jewish renaissance. Jewish heritage tours wax rhapsodic about the new Jewish reality in Poland. It is easy to understand the enthusiasm. Poland was, as Rabbi Kelman writes,...

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About Me

Paul Socken was on the faculty of the University of Waterloo (Canada) for 37 years where he chaired the Department of French Studies and established the Jewish Studies programme.