Help Us Write a Book Celebrating Jewish Contributions to American Culture!

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Help Us Write a Book Celebrating Jewish Contributions to American Culture!

My friend Mark Judge, author and journalist, has been asked by the publisher at Post Hill Press to write a book inspired by this article he wrote for the Washington Examiner: From Superman to Bob Dylan: How Jews Enriched Our Culture. The publisher happens to be Adam Bellow, son of Saul Bellow, one of Mark’s favorite authors. Mark would like to bring me on as a researcher to help him with the book.

Anyone who has read this blog for more than a day knows how dedicated I am to fighting antisemitism. The attempt to erase Jewish culture from America and Europe is terrifying, and it seems like Jewish Americans have been left to defend themselves while non-Jews say nothing or join the pro-terrorist mob. Many of my Jewish friends have written to me saying that they are afraid to speak out because they would face negative professional consequences. I’m grateful for the freedom that my largely freelance life gives me to write what I want, and to stand up for what I believe in.

The beauty of this project is that it is not just saying, “Stop the hate! Stop the violence!” (though these things need to be said, again and again!). This project exists to inform Americans that American culture would not be what it is without Jewish creativity. Mark has spent his entire adult life writing about arts and culture, and writes eloquently about why it’s important to celebrate not just Jewish contributions to science, medicine and technology but to the arts as well.

From Mad Magazine to Matisyahu: How Jews Made American Culture Great

In 2024 it’s not enough to just defend Jewish people from the onslaught of violence and antisemitism they are experiencing. As Americans we need to love the Jewish people for what they have contributed to our country. America would not be America without the Jewish people. From Mad Magazine to Matisyahu: How Jews Made American Culture Great is a book about the way Jewish culture has enriched the life of America. The book is being published by Bombardier Books and CEO Adam Bellow. Bellow’s father was Saul Bellow, one of the greatest and most honored writers of the 20th Century.

This goes deeper than an appreciation for Jewish roles in medicine, war, and the civil rights movement. The writer Milan Kundera once observed that there are things in a culture that you appreciate and honor, and then there are things in your culture that you adore. In America we honor and venerate our Constitution, the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence. Yet it is often the contemporary culture that we live in that we adore - the movies, music, and novels that speak to our souls. Kundera and particularly ardent in his love of the Jewish culture of Czechoslovakia and Central Europe. He once noted that Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, and Franz Kafka were all Central European Jews: “Aliens everywhere and everywhere at home, lifted above national quarrels, the Jews in the 20th century were the principle cosmopolitan, integrating element in Central Europe: they were its intellectual cement, a condensed version of its spirit, creators of its spiritual unity.” This is why Kundera loves “the Jewish heritage and cling[s] to it with as much passion and nostalgia as though it were my own.”

Why, you may ask, is an Irish Catholic being asked to write a book about Jewish contributions to American culture? Mark asked Adam Bellows that very question. “Why don’t you want someone Jewish to write it?”

The answer is as a non-Jewish arts and culture writer, Mark has an outside perspective that we hope will be relatable to the non-Jewish audience. And haven’t we been saying that non-Jews need to stand up and speak out?

In a terribly polarized time, the arts can bring us together. We hope that this book can bring a new, positive perspective in a time when it seems like we are constantly fighting the negative.

Why does Mark want to bring me on as a researcher? He knows how passionate I am about this cause, and that I have considerable experience writing and researching, as well as a growing network in the Jewish community. I am guessing that if we want to find someone to interview, I can find them! I also have extensive experience in interviewing everyone from subject matter experts to ordinary people. One example is my book, co-authored with Kenneth Anderson, MA: Better is Better: Stories of Alcohol Harm Reduction.

We hope you will consider donating to this GoFundMe to support our effort to bring this book to life, and share it with your friends!

Thank you as always for your love and support!