States of Exile

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? - Jeremiah 13:23 Are American Jews responsible for alleviating the plight of poor inner city blacks? David Simon thinks so . Appearing just after a major speech by Vice President Joe Biden at the opening plenary Nov. 7, Simon, best known for his graphic depictions of crime and poverty in prime-time network shows like “Homicide,” “The Wire” and “Treme,” made a plea for more Jewish philanthropic dollars to go toward poor blacks in major urban areas suffering from what he called “a Holocaust in slow motion” of neglect. Racism is opposed to the theology (mythology if you will) of Judaism, according to which Shem (Semites), Japeth (Indo-Europeans) and Ham (Africans) are brothers. Yet is Simon's way helpful to the beleaguered sons of Ham? Philanthropy of the kind Simon is proposing only breeds resentment and an unhealthy cycle of dependency. A better way to help the sons of Ham would be to open the door to converts. Rapper Shyne...

Adam Kirsch reviews The Jews of San Nicandro in Tablet Magazine: According to Davis, a professor of Italian history at the University of Connecticut, the Jews of San Nicandro represent “the only case of collective conversion to Judaism in Europe in modern times.” . . . What Manduzio read in the Old Testament amazed him. He became convinced “that Jesus had been a prophet but not the Messiah” and that the fallen state of the world—so full of poverty and suffering—was proof that the Messiah had not yet arrived. When he read that God had established the Sabbath on Saturday, he could not understand why Christians celebrated it on Sunday. Salvation, he now decided, “lay in following the Law of the God of Israel as it had been given to Moses on Sinai. … Those seeking salvation and comfort must therefore learn to observe the Law of the God of Moses, forsaking other gods and idols, and following the path of the righteous.” This is exactly the kind of conversion experience that led so many Pro...