Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Bernard Levin passed away - non-Jewish Jew, gadfly, brilliant journalist

UK newspapers are full of Obits of the late Bernard Levin (see Google News for Obits - otherwise regular Google for some quotes etc.) Bernard Levin was an English equivalent (in a way) of the NY Jewish intellectuals, and an example of what the late Isaac Deutscher famously termed 'non-Jewish Jews'. The Jewish community totally failed to engage him, although he was "haunted" by the Shoah. He wrote a column in the London 'Times" (I'd give you a link, but it is only accessible online by subscription!) three times a week for 25 years - a remarkable achievement, covering every subject under the sun in elegant (some said over-elegant) English prose! The Jewish community, as is its wont, especially in the UK, was highly suspicious of such a free spirit. I will be interested to see what form his funeral service takes (sounds gruesome!) A tragic footnote is that this brilliant man apparently died at 75 from Alzheimer's, into which he had been descending for almost a decade.

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