Few things make us more uncomfortable than potentially dubious claims of antisemitism. One thing that does: obviously dubious claims of antisemitism.
This one’s just embarsassing. The New York Post reports:
THE Jewish Theater of New York is squaring off against the New York Times once again, this time accusing the Gray Lady of attempting to force the company out of business by refusing to review its drama about anti-Semitism, “Last Jew in Europe,” for the second time this year.
“A big percentage of the Times’ readers are Jewish people who care deeply about issues of rising anti-Semitism,” claims the Jewish Theater’s founder, Tuvia Tenenbom, who wrote the play about the plight of Jews in today’s Poland.
“Preaching for anti-discrimination while practicing discrimination against the only English-speaking Jewish theater company in New York sounds hypocritical to every person of sound mind. It would have been better if they just said, ‘[Bleep] you’ when we call to ask when and if they are coming.” …
But Times Culture Editor Sam Sifton responds to Page Six: “The Times is not reviewing . . . because the Jewish Theater of New York has been putting on substandard work for more than a decade and was showing no sign of improvement. We decided to take a pass after one of our critics filed a review of the company’s 2005 production of ‘Kabbalah,’ calling it ‘dreadful’ and ‘mind-numbing.’ Earlier productions were ‘unmemorable’ and ‘amateurish,’ according to Times critics. Mr. Tenenbom can cry censorship all he likes. He might be better served by writing better plays.”
