by Matthew Friedman | Dec 5, 2021 | Essays, History, Jewish Life
This is the second part of a two-part series. Read part one here. I. The Chanukiah I post a photo of my chanukiah in social media each night of the Festival of Lights, before joyfully scrolling through my feed to look at all the pictures my friends had posted of their...
by Matthew Friedman | Nov 30, 2021 | Essays, History, Jewish Life
I. The Story My childhood memories of Chanukah* are suffused with feelings of warmth and certainty, as my brother and sister, our parents, and I would gather around the Chanukiah (the Chanukah menorah) to light the festive lights for eight nights. We would chant the...
by Matthew Friedman | Mar 1, 2020 | Essays, History
The opening scene of Hunters, the new series from Amazon Prime starring Al Pacino and Logan Lerman as members of an intrepid band of American Nazi hunters, tells you everything that you need to know about the show: The American Undersecretary of State Biff Simpson...
by Matthew Friedman | Jun 11, 2019 | Essays, History
I. Prologue They stood on the stage of the Great Hall at the Cooper Union in New York City in the spring of 2006, where in 1860 Abraham Lincoln had publicly committed himself to the destruction of slavery. “Let us have faith that right makes might,” the future...