Amy Neustein

Opinion: How U.S. Universities Became Bastions of Antisemitism

What is not spoken about, and perhaps not publicized very much, is how universities in the 1970s, in a mad rush to balance their debt, began to take in very large endowments and contributions from the oil-rich Arab and Muslim countries. I know this firsthand. I was a doctoral candidate at Boston University in the ‘70s, earning my PhD in sociology in May 1981. I sat in class with Muslim students, who were mostly from Iran and Saudi Arabia. [Amy Neustein]

Opinion: How U.S. Universities Became Bastions of Antisemitism Read More »

Amy Neustein, Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Opinion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Women’s Groups Distressingly Mum about Hamas Raping Israeli Women, Children

Upon reflecting on my work as an advocate for battered women, I realize what drives me is my memory of how Jewish women were once deemed utterly dispensable; they were loathed and discarded after gang rapes by their Nazi tormentors. What I saw last month in the Hamas attack on Israeli women was eerily reminiscent of those atrocities of yesteryear. [Amy Neustein, Ph.D]

Women’s Groups Distressingly Mum about Hamas Raping Israeli Women, Children Read More »

Amy Neustein, Israel, Opinion, USA

Michael Lesher tells his journey as a Baal Teshuvah

I held the first three chapters of Turning Back in my hands in 1997. There were only three chapters written at that time. Yet, I knew someday I’d be holding this work between its covers, for I felt the prescient weight of the book resting in my hands at the time. I went ahead and encouraged Michael to develop this work into a full-fledged memoir. Taking pen in hand the thoughts poured out of him, composing one of the most illuminating and gifted memoirs I’ve ever read. I paired Michael with literary agent, Peter Rubie, who I had met many years ago. Together they made music. Peter, whose background is in investigative journalism, made Michael his subject, digging deeper and deeper into the memoirist’s unconscious thoughts. This was not an easy process for the author, for at times it was as arduous as deep psychoanalytic probing into the painful regions of human consciousness. To answer Rubie’s many editorial questions, Michael had to plow through his personal memories, his reflections, his reactions, and his analyses just in order to find the real truth behind the words. The memoirist had to reach his deepest level of literary expressiveness, a condition precedent for writing the story of his own coveted decision to journey back to the richness and fullness of religious life as set forth in the Jewish tradition of thousands of years. [Amy Neustein, Ph.D]

Michael Lesher tells his journey as a Baal Teshuvah Read More »

Amy Neustein, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion

Sexual abuse of children in the Jewish community: difficult but important to face

Tempest  in the Temple:  Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals edited by Amy Neustein, Brandeis University Press, 2009, 272 pages, $35. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—This is a difficult book to read, not only because it primarily is written for other academics, but because of the subject matter itself.  While we are cognizant that

Sexual abuse of children in the Jewish community: difficult but important to face Read More »

Amy Neustein, Donald H. Harrison

Book on child sexual abuse in Jewish community wins award

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Press Release)–The Center for Child Welfare Policy of the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare (NARCCW) has announced the 2010 winners of the Pro Humanitate Literary Awards, North America’s premier literary awards for the field of child welfare. One book award and three article awards are conferred annually to authors from the

Book on child sexual abuse in Jewish community wins award Read More »

Amy Neustein, USA