Here’s what we’re reading:
How did China become a leader in Judaica? Why are some French Jews voting National Front? And how’d three nice Jewish boys get into the whiskey racket?
We begin, as journalists so often do, with whiskey. The Daily Beast reports on “why distillers like Laphroaig and Glen Moray would want to sell off their quality stock to three American Jews.” There are two reasons, apparently: The Internet and supply-side economics.
“From our blogging, we had built relationships with people in distilleries. Like anything in businesses, it always comes down to relationships,” Jewish Whiskey Company president Joshua Hatton told the Beast. What’s more, he said, his company gives business-minded Scots access to a whole new demographic. “We are the Jewish Whisky Company,” Hatton noted.
On a similar note, how did China become the world’s leading manufacturer of many Jewish ritual items? Tablet has that story, which begins with a simple question to a Chinese kippah-maker: “How many different kinds does your company make?”
“He laughed. ‘Many, many. Which material do you want? Satin, velvet, or knit?’ He explained how price could differ by style, by thickness of thread, by whether the kippah was made by hand or machine. He knew the nuances of the various designs better than I did.”
On a more serious note, The Times of Israel asks in this headline: “As French Jews vote for Le Pen, a case of the enemy of my enemy?” French Jews have been increasingly conservative voters over the years, but Jewish support for the far-right National Front party, which has seen significant recent growth, is something new:
“And today, although it’s still generally seen as taboo in the greater Jewish community, a growing Jewish minority — alongside France’s disaffected, unemployed and terror-ridden population — is voting for the party founded in 1984 by Jean-Marie Le Pen, a Holocaust denier convicted of racism and incitement on some six separate occasions.”