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April 24, 2017

Isaac Deutscher’s Non-Jewish Jew

From Ḥasidism to Marxism.

Born to a ḥasidic family in Austrian-ruled Poland, Isaac Deutscher (1907-1967) forsook the life of a talmudic prodigy to become a Marxist historian, writing the definitive biography of his hero, Leon Trotsky. In his essay “The Non-Jewish Jew”—recently republished together with his other writings on Jewish themes—Deutscher argues that the best products of the Jewish tradition are those who abandoned it, notably including Benedict Spinoza, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Leon Trotsky. Adam Kirsch writes in his review:

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April 24, 2017

  1. Close the PLO Office in Washington

    A proper, and legal, punishment for rewarding terror.

  2. Iran’s Presidential Elections Are an Elaborate Charade

    But also a referendum on the regime’s legitimacy.

  3. Why Isn’t Qatar Named as a State Sponsor of Terrorism?

    And a haven for Hamas?

  4. Isaac Deutscher’s Non-Jewish Jew

    From Ḥasidism to Marxism.

  5. Himmler’s Forgotten Telegram to the Mufti, and What It Means

    Mutual ideological admiration.