WikiLeaks shows us that most of modern life is about leading a double identity and being two-faced. But, as the Hanukkah story tells us, the inhabitants of ancient Israel couldn't bring themselves to do that.
On a fresh crop of newly released Nixon tapes, the president, who disliked Jews but helped rescue Israel during the Yom Kippur War, says of his senior Jewish advisers that they, like "most Jewish people, are insecure."
Tis' the season to be jolly. Er.. if you're a Wall Street banker, that is, where billions in end-of-year bonuses are about to rain down like manna from heaven.
The days of the rabbi as a weighty moral conscience are behind us. The rabbi as irritant has been replaced with rabbi as ego-massager. The rabbi's the with-it guy with whom you watch the ball game. Yep, that's one swell guy, our rabbi.
