Natan Sharansky’s Fourth of July, and His Long Road to Freedom
An anniversary in more ways than one.
July 1, 2016
The Jew-Turned-Christian Who Became a Great Defender of Judaism’s Rationality
Profayt Duran and Honoratus de Bonafide.
In 1391, a horrifying wave of pogroms swept through Spain, leaving tens of thousands of Jews dead, and many others forcibly converted to Christianity. Among the latter was Profayt Duran of Perpignan, who took the name Honoratus de Bonafide and embarked on a successful career as court astrologer to the king of Aragon. But Duran—an accomplished rabbinic scholar, polymath, and author of a commentary on Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed—continued to write in Hebrew under the pseudonym Efod, and produced a number of works on Jewish theology, Hebrew grammar, and biblical exegesis, as well as two anti-Christian polemics. Duran’s life and work are the subject of Maud Kozodoy’s The Secret Faith of Maestre Honoratus. Eric Lawee writes in his review:
July 1, 2016
The British Labor Party’s Report on Anti-Semitism Is More Symptom than Diagnosis
Still comparing Israel with Islamic State.
Israeli-Turkish Rapprochement Is a Good Thing, But Its Effects Will Be Limited
No big deal.
The Jew-Turned-Christian Who Became a Great Defender of Judaism’s Rationality
Profayt Duran and Honoratus de Bonafide.
How the Man Who Decoded the Dances of Honeybees Survived the Nazis
A “second-degree crossbred.”