Unloving Italy? On the Italian Hysteria over Israel
October 17, 2025
It’s difficult to unlove Italy, but will the national surge in antisemitism make it necessary?
Maxim D. Shrayer
Maxim D. Shrayer is an author and a professor at Boston College. His recent books include “Voices of Jewish-Russian Literature” and “A Russian Immigrant: Three Novellas.” Shrayer’s newest book is “Of Politics and Pandemics.”
Unutterable Art: Jewish-Russian Poets Gain New Lives in English
June 19, 2025
Critical review of two first English-language poetry collections by major figures of Jewish-Russian literature, Ilya Ehrenburg and Semyon Lipkin.
Israeli Soldiers in Ukraine
December 1, 2023
Maxim D. Shrayer found this dearth of Ukrainian solidarity with Israel both bewildering and disheartening, especially so because Israeli volunteers have been fighting for Ukraine’s freedom.
Silence is Acquiescence
October 10, 2023
Takeaways for those outside Israel who want to help but wonder how.
Within (and Without) Languages: A Jewish Writer’s Translingual Adventures
February 15, 2023
The life of an immigrant writer is always and inevitably a story of unburdening oneself of the past and a history of border crossing.
The Passover Offensive and the Easter(n) Promises
April 21, 2022
Paschal Reflections on War, Hope and Deliverance in Ukraine
The End of (Russian) Vodka as We Knew It
April 1, 2022
The vodka scandal begs the question of what such boycotts accomplish besides sending a symbolic message.
Ukraine’s Patriotic War and the Legacy of Jewish Heroism
March 11, 2022
If the history of Jews in Eastern Europe is bound to repeat itself, yet again, this time it will be not only as tragedy, and not at all as farse, but as a dance macabre.
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