Rafael Medoff
This biographical article is written encyclopedic . (December 2021) |
Rafael Medoff | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1959 (age 64–65) |
Occupation | Professor, columnist, author, comics writer |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Yeshiva University (PhD) |
Notable works | The Deafening Silence: American Jewish Leaders and the Holocaust Encyclopaedia Judaica |
Rafael Medoff (born c. 1959) is an American professor of Jewish history and the founding director of The David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, which is based in Washington, D.C. and focuses on issues related to America's response to the Holocaust.
Academic career
Medoff received his PhD from
Medoff has taught
Medoff has served on the editorial boards of American Jewish History, Southern Jewish History, Shofar and Menorah Review.[citation needed]
He has been closely associated and Academic Council member of
Views
Medoff has accused the U.S. State Department of downplaying official antisemitism in the Arab world, and made comparisons with State Department's downplaying of official German antisemitism in the 1930s.[3][4]
Publications and media
Books
Medoff is the author or editor of 16 books about American Jewish history, Zionism, and the Holocaust. His first book, The Deafening Silence: American Jewish Leaders and the Holocaust, was published in 1987 by Shapolsky Books, the U.S. division of the Israeli publisher Steimatzky. The Association of Jewish Libraries called it "a damning book that cannot be ignored" and "an important contribution to the study of the Holocaust period."[5] His essays and reviews have appeared in many scholarly journals.[6]
Zionism and American Jewish history
Medoff's Zionism and the Arabs: An American Jewish Dilemma, 1898–1948 was published by Praeger in 1997. Jerold S. Auerbach from American Jewish History praised it as:
"a meticulously researched and carefully crafted analysis ...Any historian of the complex relationship of American Jews and Israel, indeed every serious student of American Jewish history, must confront the American Jewish dilemma that Rafael Medoff has explored and explained in this fine monograph."[7]
Lawrence Davidson of West Chester University cites Medoff's assertion in Zionism and the Arabs, that Zionists did not see the Palestinian Arabs as "a distinct national group with national rights-largely because the Palestinian Arabs themselves did not claim the status of a specific national grouping", to argue against Zionism on the grounds that "no one ruled against self- determination in other parts of Greater Syria where the same views prevailed."[8]
He coauthored the Historical Dictionary of Zionism with Prof. Chaim I. Waxman, published by
Baksheesh Diplomacy: Secret Negotiations Between American Jewish Leaders and Arab Officials on the Eve of World War II, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2001. Conservative Judaism's reviewer called it:
"a splendid exemplar of scholarship ... equally suitable for academicians and the general public ... Medoff deserves praise for elucidating with great charm and authenticity the doomed efforts of an important segment of American Jewry to rescue persecuted European Jews and avert Arab-Israel conflict.[10]
His next book Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the
"Militant Zionism in America has the freshness and immediacy of the archival sources and interviews that massively support its argument; and it adds another cubit to the stature of one of our preeminent historians of Zionism."[11]
Books about the Holocaust
Medoff's textbook, Jewish Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook, published by
Medoff and
In The Deafening Silence, Medoff argues that had American Jewish leaders been more forceful in presenting the case for rescue of European Jews to the Roosevelt administration, they could have moved the administration to act. In
Together with former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, Medoff in 2008 coauthored The Koch Papers: My Fight Against Anti-Semitism, published by Palgrave MacMillan. It was named to the New York Post's "Required Reading" list. The Forward wrote: "The legendary former New York City mayor has never been shy about standing up for his fellow Jews. The hallmark of Koch's approach to this issue, as his book demonstrates, is a determination to confront bigotry—with steadfastness and an insistent sense of urgency."
Also in 2008, Purdue University Press published his book Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr. and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust. The National Jewish Post and Opinion wrote: "Blowing the Whistle on Genocide brings to life an inspiring but little-known chapter of Holocaust history."[16]
Essays
In 2008, Medoff authored "Rav Chesed: The Life and Times of Haskel Lookstein", a lengthy biographical essay published as a paperback by Ktav. Subsequently, an updated version of that book was included in the two-volume Rav Chesed: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, which Medoff edited, and was published by Ktav in 2009.
He authored installments of American Jewish Historical Society's "Chapters in American Jewish History" series, and served as associate book review editor (1999–2001) and then associate editor (2002–2006) of its scholarly journal, American Jewish History.
Medoff's essays have appeared in various
He authored the essay "New Yorkers and the Birth of Israel", which was featured in the May 1998
Medoff has also published op-eds concerning the
Encyclopedia articles
He has authored entries for numerous encyclopedias and reference books, including the Encyclopaedia Judaica, the Encyclopedia of the Diaspora, the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, the Columbia History of the Jewish People in America, American National Biography, the Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, and Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.
Cartoons and comics
Reflecting his interest in the use of cutting-edge media to teach about the Holocaust, Medoff collaborated with comic book artist
In 2010, Medoff and comics creator
Medoff has served as a consultant to a number of television and movie projects, including Holocaust: The Untold Story, (Freedom Forum Television Network / Newseum TV), which was broadcast on
Bibliography
- The Deafening Silence: American Jewish Leaders and the Holocaust (New York: Shapolsky Publishers, 1987)
- Zionism and the Arabs: An American Jewish Dilemma, 1898–1948, 1997, Greenwood Publishing Group[22]
- "Historical Dictionary of Zionism" [coauthored with Chaim I. Waxman] (Scarecrow Press, 2000 revised and expanded edition, 2008)
- Baksheesh Diplomacy: Secret Negotiations Between American Jewish Leaders and Arab Officials on the Eve of World War II, 2001, Lexington Books[23]
- "Jewish Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook" (ABC-CLIO, 2002) Named an "Outstanding Academic Title of 2002" by the American Library Association's Choice Magazine
- A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust, with David S. Wyman (The New Press, 2002)[24]
- Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement, University of Alabama Press, 2002[25]
- "Rav Chesed: The Life and Times of Haskel Lookstein" (Hoboken, New Jersey: Ktav, 2008)
- "The Koch Papers: My Fight Against Anti-Semitism" (with Edward I. Koch). New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008
- "Rav Chesed: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein" (ed.) (Hoboken, New Jersey: Ktav, 2009)
- Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jrand the Struggle for an American Response to the Holocaust (2009)
- The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust(2019)
References
- ^ Holocaust Denial: A Global Survey – 2004. Wymaninstitute.org. Retrieved on 2013-02-21.
- ISBN 1-57607-314-9.
- ^ "Sacrificing Adjectives" – from the Holocaust to North Korea, Connecticut Jewish Ledger, March 13, 2008
- ^ Medoff, Rafael. "Ignoring History’s Lessons on Hate", National Review, March 28, 2008
- ^ "M.P. review of The Deafening Silence, Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, November–December 1987"
- ISBN 0-7391-0204-4.
- ^ Jerold S. Auerbach review of Zionism and the Arabs, American Jewish History, 85:4 (December 1997)
- ^ The past as Prelude: Zionism and the Betrayal of American Democratic Principles, 1917–48, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 31, No. 3, (Spring, 2002), pp. 21–35
- JSTOR 41805457
- ^ Baila Round Shargel, Conservative Judaism, Fall 2001.
- Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2003
- ^ Michael B. Oren, "The Rescuer", The New Republic, October 28, 2002.
- ^ Efraim Zuroff, "When American Jewry Failed its Brethren", Jerusalem Post, August 8, 2003.
- ^ "Scholar's Book Prompts Change in Holocaust Museum Exhibit", Westchester Jewish Chronicle, January/February 2003.
- ^ America and the Holocaust, by Deborah E. Lipstadt Modern Judaism, Vol. 10, No. 3, Review of Developments in Modern Jewish Studies, Part 1 (Oct., 1990), pp. 283–296
- ^ Bat-Ami Zucker review of Blowing the Whistle on Genocide, National Jewish Post and Opinion, April 15, 2009.
- ^ Neal Adams and Rafael Medoff. "The Last Outrage", X-Men: Magneto: Testimony #5, Marvel Comics, March 2009
- ^ Art Spiegelman and Rafael Medoff, "The St. Louis Refugee Ship Blues", The Washington Post, June 21, 2009.
- ^ Rafael Medoff and Sal Amendola, "They Refused to Go", The New Republic, August 13, 2008
- The New York Jewish Week, Vol. 222 No. 46, April 16, 2010
- ^ They Spoke Out: American Voices Against the Holocaust Archived 2016-03-13 at the Wayback Machine. accessed May 26, 2011
- ^ "The Politics of Survival". Jerusalem Post. 1997-11-28. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- Middle East Quarterly. 2001-06-22. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- Jerusalem Post. 2003-08-08. Archived from the originalon 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ "Medoff, Rafael Militant Zionism in America: the Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States, 1926–1948". History: Review of New Books. 2002-09-22. Retrieved 2008-04-29.[dead link]