David S. Wyman: Book on the Holocaust Honored
The leading international journal of ecumenical scholarship, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, has devoted an entire issue to exploring the impact and legacy of David S. Wyman's book, The Abandonment of the Jews, on the twentieth anniversary of the book's publication.
The articles in the issue include important new information on the role of Wyman's book in bringing about the U.S. airlift of Ethiopian Jews in 1985; the response of American Catholic leaders to news of the Holocaust; and the march by 400 rabbis to the White House in 1943 to plead for rescue.
Edited by the noted Catholic scholar, Prof. Leonard Swidler, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is published by Temple University. The special issue devoted to 'Abandonment' was guest edited by Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and Dr. Racelle R. Weiman, director of the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (in Cincinnati). Dr. Weiman is also a member of the Wyman Institute's Academic Council.
Prof. Swidler said: "Through his scholarship on the Jewish Holocaust and the Christian role in it, David Wyman has held a mirror before the face of America, and especially America's Christians. Coming from a family of minister and being himself a committed Christian, gives Wyman standing before the court of public Christianity. What America and what Christians saw in Wyman's mirror was the Mr. Hyde of Dr. Jekell. We Americans and Christians --thanks in significant measure to David Wyman-- now have a solid foothold from which we can build further a bridge to the people of the First Covenant, the Jews."
The issue features:
* The story --appearing in print for the first time-- of how advocates for the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry in 1985 used Wyman's book to convince U.S. officials to order the airlift of Ethiopian Jewish refugees to Israel.
* A previously unpublished exchange between Prof. Wyman and Dr. Eugene Fisher of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, on the response of U.S. Catholic leaders to news of the Nazi genocide.
* A memoir by the noted Jewish leader and scholar, Prof. Arthur Hertzberg, on his participation in a 1943 march to Washington by 400 rabbis, urging U.S. action to rescue Jewish refugees.
* An assessment of the impact of The Abandonment of the Jews on the public's view of such issues as the Allies' refusal to bomb Auschwitz and America's restrictionist immigration policy during the Holocaust, explored in essays by Dr. Medoff, Prof. Paul Miller, and Prof. Alex Grobman examining
* A symposium by an array of scholars and public figures, reflecting on how The Abandonment of the Jews influenced them personally. Contributors to the symposium include Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, journalist Marvin Kalb, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon, Prof. Blanche Wiesen Cook, biographer of Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others.
* New research based on issues raised by Abandonment: essays by Prof. Laurel Leff on U.S. press coverage of the liberation of the death camps; Prof. Gil Troy on the Holocaust rescue activism of playwright Ben Hecht; Dr. Efraim Zuroff on rescue efforts by American Orthodox rabbis; and Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein on the response of American Jewry to the Holocaust.
The issue concludes with a new afterword by Prof. Wyman.
Review copies of the journal are available by calling the Wyman Institute at 215-635-5622.
The articles in the issue include important new information on the role of Wyman's book in bringing about the U.S. airlift of Ethiopian Jews in 1985; the response of American Catholic leaders to news of the Holocaust; and the march by 400 rabbis to the White House in 1943 to plead for rescue.
Edited by the noted Catholic scholar, Prof. Leonard Swidler, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is published by Temple University. The special issue devoted to 'Abandonment' was guest edited by Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and Dr. Racelle R. Weiman, director of the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (in Cincinnati). Dr. Weiman is also a member of the Wyman Institute's Academic Council.
Prof. Swidler said: "Through his scholarship on the Jewish Holocaust and the Christian role in it, David Wyman has held a mirror before the face of America, and especially America's Christians. Coming from a family of minister and being himself a committed Christian, gives Wyman standing before the court of public Christianity. What America and what Christians saw in Wyman's mirror was the Mr. Hyde of Dr. Jekell. We Americans and Christians --thanks in significant measure to David Wyman-- now have a solid foothold from which we can build further a bridge to the people of the First Covenant, the Jews."
The issue features:
* The story --appearing in print for the first time-- of how advocates for the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry in 1985 used Wyman's book to convince U.S. officials to order the airlift of Ethiopian Jewish refugees to Israel.
* A previously unpublished exchange between Prof. Wyman and Dr. Eugene Fisher of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, on the response of U.S. Catholic leaders to news of the Nazi genocide.
* A memoir by the noted Jewish leader and scholar, Prof. Arthur Hertzberg, on his participation in a 1943 march to Washington by 400 rabbis, urging U.S. action to rescue Jewish refugees.
* An assessment of the impact of The Abandonment of the Jews on the public's view of such issues as the Allies' refusal to bomb Auschwitz and America's restrictionist immigration policy during the Holocaust, explored in essays by Dr. Medoff, Prof. Paul Miller, and Prof. Alex Grobman examining
* A symposium by an array of scholars and public figures, reflecting on how The Abandonment of the Jews influenced them personally. Contributors to the symposium include Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, journalist Marvin Kalb, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon, Prof. Blanche Wiesen Cook, biographer of Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others.
* New research based on issues raised by Abandonment: essays by Prof. Laurel Leff on U.S. press coverage of the liberation of the death camps; Prof. Gil Troy on the Holocaust rescue activism of playwright Ben Hecht; Dr. Efraim Zuroff on rescue efforts by American Orthodox rabbis; and Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein on the response of American Jewry to the Holocaust.
The issue concludes with a new afterword by Prof. Wyman.
Review copies of the journal are available by calling the Wyman Institute at 215-635-5622.