JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • APRIL 12-18, 2024 15 Food For Terrible Thought Hostility to Israel has found its way into restaurant reviews cause he is Jewish, or the refusal of the Irish women’s basketball team to stand respectfully for the “Hatik- vah,” Israel’s national anthem, im- mediately prior to a contest in which, happily, they were trounced by their Israeli opponents. Music has be- come a cesspool of artists, including some whose songs I love, with them signing up to various boycott initia- tives targeting Israel alone, leaving cutting-edge Israeli acts—like the electronic duo Red Axes, whom I interviewed recently—feeling iso- lated and rejected. And now, I’ve discovered that even restaurant re- views, of all things, are no longer By BEN COHEN F or several years now, my me- dia consumption habits have been guided in part by what I call my “escape routes.” As someone who spends his days immersed in reports and analysis of news events that are extraordinarily depressing—war and conflict in Europe and the Middle East, the in- exorable rise of antisemitism and other forms of prejudice, the histor- ical precedents for the difficult po- litical questions we confront today and much else on similar lines—I need these escape routes for the good of my mental health. They also remind me that while I’m paid for the privilege of writing and thinking about politics and interna- tional affairs, millions of people pur- sue careers and projects that have nothing to do with my concerns, which is precisely why I use the term “escape routes” when I read about their endeavors. They are a window onto the calmer and more leisurely world that exists out there, and my visits fortify me when I go back to the issues that matter to me both professionally and personally. It’s why I read the sports pages, to monitor the teams I follow and read what the coaches and players are saying. It’s why I read music re- views, to check up on whether my favorite bands are in the studio or if continued on page 23 they are touring, and hopefully, dis- cover some new gems. It’s why I adore restaurant reviews, not just of establishments in the cities where I live or work but of eateries further afield. This—all of this—is a harm- less escape, a chance to read some decent writing that isn’t about poli- tics, allowing me to return to my own writing feeling refreshed. But I have to tell you, this meth- od isn’t really working anymore. In the last six months, since the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel unleashed a war that has dom- inated the media, I’ve seen my es- cape routes pulled into my profes- sional concerns. The sports pages have been littered with reports of discrimination against Jewish ath- letes, such as the firing of South Af- rica’s U-19 cricket team captain be- The mural at Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn. Ayat’s sh menu tells the story. One reviewer noted that a restaurant called Ayat features a mural of ‘Palestinian children behind bars under the Aqsa Mosque.’ PERSPECTIVE