Archive for March 2026
Remembering, forgetting and how we learn
by David Benjamin “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” —Confucius PARIS—There has long existed a sort of nihilist cottage industry, lucrative for its philosophers and divines, that professes contempt for, well, professors. Every few years, someone writes a book claiming that he learned nothing in school…
Read More“Sixty thousand Jews every day go up in smoke”
by David Benjamin “In December, the conservative Manhattan Institute found that … a majority of Republican men under 50 think that the Holocaust either didn’t happen or was exaggerated.”—Michelle Goldberg, New York Times, 12 March PARIS—For a couple of hours in 1961, the Holocaust came to Tomah, Wisconsin. Until then, my entire knowledge of Jews…
Read MoreA public service message
by David Benjamin “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.” —Proverbs 17:28 PARIS.—Lately in airport lounges, I’m feeling a little snakebit, or—more accurately—phone-battered. On my way here, in the “Admiral’s Club,” I found a comfortable chair, with a nearby table and only one neighbor. I had…
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