Alex Gordon

Democracies Have Inherent Self-Destructive Tendencies According to Academicians

Arrow received the Nobel Prize in economics in 1972 for proving the impossibility of simultaneously meeting the requirements of reasonableness and equality and the impossibility of establishing the ranking of social priorities. According to the Gödel-Arrow theorem, any electoral system is flawed. [Alex Gordon, PhD]

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Alex Gordon, International, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Jewish Biography: Eduard Bernstein, Socialist Reformer

In 1878, Bernstein read Friedrich Engels’ just-published book Anti-Dühring, under the influence of which he became a Marxist and entered into correspondence with the author of the book, who later became his friend. Engels accused the philosopher Eugene Dühring of “Judophobia exaggerated to the point of caricature.” [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Envy, Jealousy Aroused by Jews Prompted ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ Forgery

The German historian, philologist and jurist Theodor Mommsen, author of The History of Rome and winner of the 1902 Nobel Prize for Literature, however, gave a rational explanation for the satanic design of antisemitism: its main cause was rooted in “envy and primal instincts, […] a barbaric hatred of education, freedom and humanism.” [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, International, Israel, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Leon Trotsky, ‘The Red Prophet’

In 1926 Trotsky, who was engaged in an unequal struggle with Stalin in the Moscow party organization, encountered manifestations of antisemitism on the part of his Bolshevik comrades. In a letter to another Bolshevik leader, Nikolai Bukharin, he asks: “Is this possible? Is it possible that in our party, in the workers’ cells, here in Moscow, people resort to antisemitism with impunity? Is it possible?” [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Leon Blum, Natural Socialist

Reflecting on the Dreyfus affair, on the aggression of the anti-Dreyfusards, Blum puzzledly asked: “What drove them to do this? What drove them? Even today, 35 years later, when I reflect on the past with a mature, cold rationality, it seems to me that I still do not have some of the elements of an answer to this question.” [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

OpEd: Who Are the True Colonizers in the Middle East?

By Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — In the world of “progressives,” Israel’s struggle for existence is presented as something outdated, unfashionable, and not modern. This perception is linked to a picture of the conflict that is convenient and profitable for them. The Israelis are seen as imperialists oppressing the aboriginal Arabs. But the fact is

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Israel, Jewish History, Middle East, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Jewish Biography: David Friedländer’s ‘Corrected’ Judaism

A year after moving to Berlin, the 21-year-old Friedländer met Mendelssohn and became his pupil and friend. His marriage to the daughter of banker Daniel Itzig, one of Frederick II’s favorites, brought him into the circle of wealthy and influential families of court Jews. In 1778 Friedländer was among the founders of the Jewish public free school Education for Young Men, where Haskalah’s ideals were carried out. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Emanuel Lasker, World Chess Champion

Einstein … believed that chess was not Lasker’s goal, but rather his profession. He drew a parallel between chess in the life of the second world champion and the grinding of lenses in the life of Spinoza. He argued that lenses for Spinoza and chess for Lasker were a means of livelihood. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Israeli Composer Forwards ‘Jewish Tunes from Haifa’

I completed a fantasy piece about the songs of the Jewish people a few days before their tragedy broke on the day of their great and joyous holiday, the Joy of Torah. I titled the piece I Hear a Scream. On the “Black Sabbath” of October 7, I heard the screams of Jews, victims of a pogrom that happened where there could have been no pogrom – in the territory of the Jewish state. [Boris Levenberg]

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Alex Gordon, Israel, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Videos