Timothy D. Lytton on The Great Vinegar Scandal of Passover'86 JEWISH REVIEW OF BOOKS Volume 4, Number 1 Spring 2013 $7.95 A Tale of Two Jewish Cities Devin E. Naar Jenna Weissman Jerusalem of Joselit the Balkans Israel on the Hudson David Stern A Chinese Haggadah Ruth R. 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Dr. Karolina Szymaniak, Assistant Professor, Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw Dina Abramowicz Emerging Scholar Fellowship Prof. Eugene Avrutin, Associate Professor, University of Illinois JEWISH REVIEW OF BOOKS Workmen’s Circle/Dr. Emanuel Patt Visiting Professorship JEWISH REVIEW Volume 4, Number 1 Spring 2013 OF BOOKS LETTERS 4 Perpetual Peace, People of the Book, Faith of Our Fathers, and Isaiah Berlin FEATURES 5 Timothy D. Lytton Chopped Herring and the Making of the American Kosher Certification System In 1986, the discovery of non-kosher vinegar in a classic Jewish delicacy led to a revolution in kosher supervision. 8 Devin E. Naar Jerusalem of the Balkans Once a majority Jewish city, Salonica is now experiencing a peculiar mix of Jewish memory and anti-Semitism. REviEwS 13 David Stern Why Is This Haggadah Different? The Haggadah of the Kaifeng Jews of Chinaby Fook-Kong Wong and Dalia Yasharpour 15 Jenna Weissman Israel on the Hudson City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York edited by Deborah Dash Moore Joselit 19 Allan Arkush Brother Baruch The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Imageby Daniel B. Schwartz 21 Shaul Magid The Gaon of Modernity The Genius: Elijah of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism by Eliyahu Stern 25 David B. Starr Schechter's Seminary The Birth of Conservative Judaism: Solomon Schechter’s Disciples and the Creation of an American Religious Movement by Michael R. Cohen 27 Samuel Moyn A Certain Late Discovery Derrida: A Biography by Benoît Peeters, translated by Andrew Brown The Young Derrida and French Philosophy by Edward Baring 30 Margot Lurie Golden Apples Apples from Shinar by Hyam Plutzik 32 Eitan Kensky Famous Jews Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish Identity by David E. Kaufman 34 Anne Trubek From the Middle to the End The Middlesteins: A Novelby Jami Attenberg 36 Itamar Rabinovich Middle Position Tested By Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Elliott Abrams Arts 39 Dara Horn The Vanishing Point Roman Vishniac Rediscovered 43 Itzik Gottesman New Beats for Old Brooklyn by Andy Statman ReadingS 44 Ruth R. Wisse No Joke Freud's favorite Jewish comic was Heinrich Heine—a half-hearted convert to Christianity who was only half-joking. Controversy 47 Talya Fishman & People of the Talmud—Since When? A Response and Rejoinder Haym Soloveitchik Last woRd 51 Abraham Socher Light Reading On the cover: “A Tale of Two Jewish Cities” by Mark Anderson. LETTERS Perpetual Peace? was obvious to me that Kissinger realized that even astray in understanding the sources, until I realized In “Kissinger, Kant, and the Syrians” (Winter 2013) while one should follow Kant’s vision as an ideal that misunderstanding requires partial understand- Shlomo Avineri describes an incident in which I horizon, prudence, responsibility, and humanity ing. If this fractional comprehension is lacking, criticized Kant in the prelude to a diplomatic dis- may call for a less exalted approach to questions of there are no parameters limiting the interpretation; cussion over the Syrian-Lebanese crisis of 1975. I politics in the here and now. We all owe much to the the meaning of the source will then be whatever have no recollection of that conversation now some former secretary of state for his willingness to bear the writer wishes it to mean, or, absent this bias, forty years old, which is presented as more concep- the burden inherent in such choices. whatever comes to mind.” Professor Soloveitchik tual than substantive. presents no evidence for this contention; indeed it I have high regard for Avineri. His account of would be impossible to prove. Psychoanalysis like the diplomatic issues posed by the Lebanese cri- People of the Book this does not help anybody understand the book or sis seems reasonable. But the philosophical byplay Haym Soloveitchik’s review of Talya Fishman’s Be- its apparent problems and has no place in a review sounds strange. Avineri says I used On Perpetual coming the People of the Talmud, winner of the of any kind. Peace as a foil to its lack of realism and as a lead-in to Nahum M. Sarna Memorial National Jewish Book Isaac Setton discussing Hegel’s view on war. My first tutorial es- Award for Scholarship, raises an important issue University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2012 say at Harvard was a sympathetic treatment of Kant. (“The People of the Book—Since When?” Winter Philadelphia, PA My undergraduate thesis was importantly devoted 2013). It seems to me that in the future, each book to Kant. I have quoted the essence of Kant’s essay award should list the names of its judges. When reading a negative book review, one often On Perpetual Peace on several occasions, including Bernard Scharfstein comes away wishing the reviewer is just catty or has in the conclusion of my last book, On China, always KTAV Publishing House, Inc. ill intent or ad hominem attacks. Why not just turn sympathetically. As for comparing Hegel’s to Kant’s Jersey City, NJ down the review rather than embarrass an author so view on war, it would be difficult for me to bring this publicly? Prof. Haym Soloveitchik’s scathing review off considering that I have never been attracted to of Becoming the People of the Talmud has no such Hegel. Nor have I ever seriously considered his view stench. Even someone with a minimal knowledge on war; I would have trouble even defining it. of the Talmud can understand his points about its What Avineri ascribes to me are respectable history and composition. How can such errors pass views, even if I do not recognize them as my own. muster at a reputable university press? Isn’t there Henry A. Kissinger knowledgeable peer review and footnote checking? New York, NY Then, are there answers to Prof.