HOLY CLOTHES    There was once a philosopher born in Trier, of Jewish, indeed rabbinic, ancestry: Karl Marx. He was baptised as a child, at the age of six, and as an adult he rarely showed much warmth toward his Jewish origins.¹ And yet he had an intuition: that the value of a commodity corresponds to the amount of time it takes to produce it. Economists, of course, will point out that prices and value are shaped by many factors, scarcity and demand, bargaining power, risk, a

UNDERSTANDING JETHRO   There is a popular anecdote, often attributed to Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh of Livorno: One day, on his way to the synagogue, he was stopped by an atheist. “Rabbi,” the man said, “I’ve read the Bible, and I found it full of nonsense.” Benamozegh paused and replied: “Of course. The Bible contains everything: poetry for poets, philosophy for philosophers, theology for believers, history for historians… and for fools like you - only nonsense.” It’s one of my

Holocaust Memorial Day Tuesday will be Holocaust Memorial Day, and I am uneasy for a number of reasons. First, I do not like the word Holocaust. Second, I am uncomfortable with this framing of Jewish memory. Third, I am deeply sceptical. Let me explain. The choice of the word “Holocaust” over the Hebrew Shoah is not neutral. The Greek root of the term, holokauston, means a “burnt offering” — a sacrifice consumed on an altar. That religious undertone introduces a dangerous nar