Joel S.
@joelhs.bsky.social
Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies, Sarah Lawrence College. PhD in Religious Studies, University of Chicago. Globalist elite and Thing-in-Itself-hating Jew. Husband of @petticoatshrink.bsky.social. He/Him/הוא/ער
I think about this often.
!["The title of the film for the Swedish release uses the translation of the name of the play within the story, Springtime for Hitler. As a result of its success, most of Mel Brooks's subsequent films in Swedish were given similar titles, despite being otherwise unrelated: Springtime for Mother-In-Law, Springtime for the Sheriff, Springtime for Frankenstein, Springtime for the Silent Movies, Springtime for the Lunatics, Springtime for World History, Springtime for Space, and Springtime for the Slum.[29] The practice ended by the time Robin Hood: Men in Tights was released, at Brooks's request."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmvc2f5b5fou3ijbgagiovlj/bafkreigspzsxhx2jgwnlvrmgkzyenlwal2wrxbzkrqqmree5c55z6os6n4@jpeg)
November 8, 2025 at 3:25 AM
I think about this often.
People sometimes ask me why, at a time of rising antisemitism around the world, I do not look to the state of Israel as a possible place to go for safety. Putting aside the fact that it is far from clear I would be safer there, I am increasingly unsure they would even let me in.
November 7, 2025 at 7:23 PM
People sometimes ask me why, at a time of rising antisemitism around the world, I do not look to the state of Israel as a possible place to go for safety. Putting aside the fact that it is far from clear I would be safer there, I am increasingly unsure they would even let me in.
Some of the anti-Zionists on the other site have already decided that swastikas drawn on a Jewish day school in Brooklyn were an ADL false flag to get Mamdani to toe their line on antisemitism from the start, and that Mamdani is already failing the test by denouncing it. In case you miss that site.
November 6, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Some of the anti-Zionists on the other site have already decided that swastikas drawn on a Jewish day school in Brooklyn were an ADL false flag to get Mamdani to toe their line on antisemitism from the start, and that Mamdani is already failing the test by denouncing it. In case you miss that site.
I do not think all anti-Zionists are antisemitic, but anti-Zionists who label Zohran Mamdani a "Zionist" simply because he condemned swastikas drawn on a Jewish day school in Brooklyn are in fact antisemites.
November 6, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I do not think all anti-Zionists are antisemitic, but anti-Zionists who label Zohran Mamdani a "Zionist" simply because he condemned swastikas drawn on a Jewish day school in Brooklyn are in fact antisemites.
Oh, well that makes it all okay, then!
November 6, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Oh, well that makes it all okay, then!
A headline like this can easily coexist with groups like the ADL pointing out that Jews overwhelmingly voted against Mamdani. And depending on your perspective, both are true!
November 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
A headline like this can easily coexist with groups like the ADL pointing out that Jews overwhelmingly voted against Mamdani. And depending on your perspective, both are true!
This is one of the stupidest arguments I have ever heard and I cannot believe a major newspaper decided this was worthy of printing.
!["Andrews: That is not the point that I’m making today. Let me make instead a different point, which is that I think that McCarthyism was actually, in many ways, quite masculine.
Think about loyalty oaths. The whole reason why university systems and schools and other institutions wanted to have loyalty oaths, which are sort of the banner phenomenon of McCarthyism, is because they said: We simply cannot have an ongoing atmosphere of suspicion and rumor and sort of witch hunting. We need to have some clarity. So we will have a loyalty oath, and everybody who takes it will be fine. And everybody who doesn’t take it, well, that’ll be a problem.
Douthat: [Chuckles.] They won’t be fine.
Andrews: They won’t be fine.
Douthat: They won’t participate in the argument.
Andrews: But at least it then will be done. Then it will be finished, and it will be all out in the open. And the criteria for deciding whether or not somebody is a communist will be known, and we will evaluate them in kind of a straightforward, objective way."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmvc2f5b5fou3ijbgagiovlj/bafkreidcnug6k2ajxbl4r7cmivmzl4htwm4g76lj3j4erhuhvm2ed44c5u@jpeg)
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
This is one of the stupidest arguments I have ever heard and I cannot believe a major newspaper decided this was worthy of printing.
I have many differences with J Street, but they are absolutely correct about this. It is alarming to see so many American Jewish institutions act as though Mamdani is a unique threat to Jewish safety, while ignoring the mainstreaming of neo-Nazism by the current presidential administration.
November 6, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I have many differences with J Street, but they are absolutely correct about this. It is alarming to see so many American Jewish institutions act as though Mamdani is a unique threat to Jewish safety, while ignoring the mainstreaming of neo-Nazism by the current presidential administration.
The generational split at the Heritage Foundation over Israel is notable, and mirrors larger fissures over this issue on the right.
November 6, 2025 at 3:10 AM
The generational split at the Heritage Foundation over Israel is notable, and mirrors larger fissures over this issue on the right.
Am I meant to believe Mamdani is a horrible antisemite, or that he's a puppet of wealthy Jewish capital?
November 6, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Am I meant to believe Mamdani is a horrible antisemite, or that he's a puppet of wealthy Jewish capital?
12% of self-described socialists in the NYC mayoral election voted for Cuomo, but 9% of self-described MAGA voters voted for Mamdani.
November 6, 2025 at 1:54 AM
12% of self-described socialists in the NYC mayoral election voted for Cuomo, but 9% of self-described MAGA voters voted for Mamdani.
Interesting to compare the Agudath Israel statement about the NYC election to the ADL statement.
November 5, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Interesting to compare the Agudath Israel statement about the NYC election to the ADL statement.
I'm a New York Jew. Where I belong is Katz's Deli.
November 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
I'm a New York Jew. Where I belong is Katz's Deli.
If American Jewish orgs want to maintain that it is antisemitic to accuse American Jews of being more loyal to the state of Israel than to the US - and I think they should want that - then they need to denounce Avigdor Lieberman for telling American Jews that Israel is "where they belong."
November 5, 2025 at 6:55 PM
If American Jewish orgs want to maintain that it is antisemitic to accuse American Jews of being more loyal to the state of Israel than to the US - and I think they should want that - then they need to denounce Avigdor Lieberman for telling American Jews that Israel is "where they belong."
The Anti-Defamation League is launching an "initiative to track and monitor Mamdani administration policies." They did not do this when the Heritage Foundation, which is directly staffing and writing policies for the Trump administration, defended neo-Nazis.
November 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
The Anti-Defamation League is launching an "initiative to track and monitor Mamdani administration policies." They did not do this when the Heritage Foundation, which is directly staffing and writing policies for the Trump administration, defended neo-Nazis.
Good point... Trump's envoy on antisemitism seems to think all American Jews are New Yorkers. Which is, itself, kind of an antisemitic caricature.
November 5, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Good point... Trump's envoy on antisemitism seems to think all American Jews are New Yorkers. Which is, itself, kind of an antisemitic caricature.
This is Trump's Department of Justice envoy on antisemitism issues... who is not, himself, Jewish.
November 5, 2025 at 5:33 PM
This is Trump's Department of Justice envoy on antisemitism issues... who is not, himself, Jewish.
Israeli politicians are announcing that they are going to use the election of Mamdani as a reason to try to convince a substantial number of NYC Jews to emigrate to Israel. I do not think they will be successful in substantial numbers. (www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/w...)
November 5, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Israeli politicians are announcing that they are going to use the election of Mamdani as a reason to try to convince a substantial number of NYC Jews to emigrate to Israel. I do not think they will be successful in substantial numbers. (www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/w...)
This Hebrew message from Amichai Chikli, Israeli Diaspora Minister, reads:
"The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter, one whose stance is not far removed from the jihadist fanatics who murdered three thousand of its own people 25 years ago...
"The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter, one whose stance is not far removed from the jihadist fanatics who murdered three thousand of its own people 25 years ago...
November 5, 2025 at 2:18 PM
This Hebrew message from Amichai Chikli, Israeli Diaspora Minister, reads:
"The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter, one whose stance is not far removed from the jihadist fanatics who murdered three thousand of its own people 25 years ago...
"The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter, one whose stance is not far removed from the jihadist fanatics who murdered three thousand of its own people 25 years ago...
The Israeli Diaspora Minister is sharing tweets by "End Wokeness" linking the Mamdani election to 9/11/01.
November 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
The Israeli Diaspora Minister is sharing tweets by "End Wokeness" linking the Mamdani election to 9/11/01.
I'm on the ADL's mailing list, and they sent a letter calling for an special emergency briefing on Mamdani being elected mayor of NYC last night.
They did not do this when Tucker Carlson hosted a neo-Nazi and was defended by the think tank that is staffing the entire Trump administration.
They did not do this when Tucker Carlson hosted a neo-Nazi and was defended by the think tank that is staffing the entire Trump administration.
November 5, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I'm on the ADL's mailing list, and they sent a letter calling for an special emergency briefing on Mamdani being elected mayor of NYC last night.
They did not do this when Tucker Carlson hosted a neo-Nazi and was defended by the think tank that is staffing the entire Trump administration.
They did not do this when Tucker Carlson hosted a neo-Nazi and was defended by the think tank that is staffing the entire Trump administration.
Rarely have the leopards eaten faces as dramatically as this.
November 5, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Rarely have the leopards eaten faces as dramatically as this.
I’m never sure if Mamdani is supposed to be a horrible antisemite or a tool of wealthy Jewish puppet masters.
November 5, 2025 at 5:36 AM
I’m never sure if Mamdani is supposed to be a horrible antisemite or a tool of wealthy Jewish puppet masters.
If these numbers turn out to be true, it's a sign that the rabbinic mobilization against Mamdani had a real effect.
At the same time, this means a higher percentage of NYC Jews voted for Mamdani than Jews nationwide voted for Trump, and pro-Trump Jews are treated like a major constituency.
At the same time, this means a higher percentage of NYC Jews voted for Mamdani than Jews nationwide voted for Trump, and pro-Trump Jews are treated like a major constituency.
November 5, 2025 at 3:58 AM
If these numbers turn out to be true, it's a sign that the rabbinic mobilization against Mamdani had a real effect.
At the same time, this means a higher percentage of NYC Jews voted for Mamdani than Jews nationwide voted for Trump, and pro-Trump Jews are treated like a major constituency.
At the same time, this means a higher percentage of NYC Jews voted for Mamdani than Jews nationwide voted for Trump, and pro-Trump Jews are treated like a major constituency.
Compare how Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL responded to Zohran Mamdani winning the mayoral election in NYC to how he responded to the Heritage Foundation mainstreaming actual neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.
November 5, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Compare how Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL responded to Zohran Mamdani winning the mayoral election in NYC to how he responded to the Heritage Foundation mainstreaming actual neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.