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The bizarre antisemitic book that taught me to better understand Judaism

JL;DR SUMMARY Talya Zax reflects on a 1934 book titled "Twelve Jews" by Hector Bolitho, which she found on a pub bookshelf in England. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityStereotypesJewish ExperiencePrejudicePhilosemitismCultural MisunderstandingHector BolithoTwelve JewsOthering

Places mentioned

Painswick, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
"The pub bookshelf in Painswick, England, was stocked with books bound in handsome jewel tones."
Berlin, Germany
"already unfolding enforced exodus of the Jews from Germany."
Israel
"At the start of the Israel-Hamas war,"
Gaza, Palestinian Territories
"like kill aid workers with the World Central Kitchen, I was, in his eyes, personally responsible."
New Zealand
"Bolitho, a prolific New Zealand-born author who has faded into obscurity"

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 82801
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-05-23 05:30:52 UTC
Curated 2026-05-23 08:30:35 UTC