Remembering Sol Stern and His Contribution to the Life of the Mind

Sol Stern, one of the great American Jewish public intellectuals, died earlier this week at the age of eighty-nine. Although born in Ramat Gan in pre-state Israel, Stern spent his childhood in the Bronx, and his trajectory followed that of many of the original neoconservatives: he grew up during the Depression, attended City College, began his career as a political writer on the left before moving rightward, and was deeply animated by two issues: combating urban decay in New York City and defending Israel. Stern’s decades-long commitment to school choice and educational reform bears some responsibility for recent changes in law and jurisprudence that, inter alia, are making it easier and more affordable for Jews to send their children to Jewish schools. His clarity of thought and independence of mind, especially when displayed on the pages of Commentary, certainly did much to shape my own thinking.