Iran’s Presence in Yemen Poses a Strategic Threat to Israel
A ring of fire
January 10, 2020
The Hidden Jew as Critic
Did John Simon’s origins inform his idiosyncratic opinions?
In November, the theater critic John Simon, known for his erudition, prose style, and biting, sometimes cruel, reviews, died at the age of ninety-four. While obituaries noted that he was born in Serbia as Ivan Simmon and came to the U.S. in 1941, Jonathan Leaf reports hearing a very different story about his early life from Simon’s close friend and fellow critic Howard Kissel: that Simon was born to a Jewish father who barely escaped Europe, and that he had a half-brother who remained behind and perished in the Holocaust. Leaf believes this closely guarded secret may shed some light on Simon’s notoriously selective tastes:
January 10, 2020
The Military Defeat of Islamic State Has Made Suicide Bombings Less Common—for Now
Jihadists remain responsible for most of them.
An Israeli Chief Rabbi’s Incendiary Comments Are Bad for Israel, and Worse for Its Relationship with the Diaspora
Even chief rabbis have obligations to the Jewish people.
The Hidden Jew as Critic
Did John Simon’s origins inform his idiosyncratic opinions?
When the New York City Bagel-Bakers’ Union Took on the Mafia—and Won
An even greater threat came from the mechanical bagel roller.