The most interesting interchange at the Center for Jewish History event on Hannah Arendt on May 2 involved Jewish assimilation in western societies. Arendt was born in Germany in 1906. Jerome Kohn said that two ideologies she grew up with…

Last night the Center for Jewish History had its Hannah Arendt event. The big surprise about the evening for me was the extent to which the panel, which consisted of two Arendt-adorers in Jerome Kohn and Richard Bernstein, ennobled Arendt’s…

Tomorrow night the Center for Jewish History is having an event on Hannah Arendt, reconsidering her Jewish writings, and I’m excited. I find Arendt’s writing thrilling, and the controversies she was mixed up in 40 and 50 years ago anticipate…

Someone who commented on my Halberstam post the other day mentioned various Times execs, including deputy managing editor Jonathan Landman, and I’ve been thinking about my sole interaction with Landman, which left me impressed. A year ago I wrote an…