My new favorite building in Budapest

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My new favorite building in Budapest is the National Pension Insurance Administration Building on Fiumei st, which was built in two stages, 1911-12 and 1929-31. The chief architect was Marcell Komor — with Dezso Jakab and Aladar Sos. (Komor & Jakab designed the synagogue and other buildings in Subotica, as well as many other great buildings.) The Pension building has a series of 24 wonderful relief sculptures by several wellknown sculptors of the period, illustrating workers getting injured on the job and then being cared for (by social insurance, natch).
I stopped to photograph the reliefs yesterday, after attending services (and having post-services unch) at the Teleki ter synagogue

My article on the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II

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Here’s a picture of me meeting with Pope John Paul II back in the mid-1990s….

 

Rome is bracing for millions of pilgrims coming to attend to canonization on Sunday of popes John XXIII and John Paul II. Here’s my JTA article about how these two popes revolutionized relations between Catholics and Jews.

Becoming saints: Two popes who revolutionized Jewish-Catholic relations

 

Plans for new Holocaust memorial museum in Budapest spark controversy

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Tablet Magazine published my article last week about plans for a controversial new Holocaust memorial museum in Budapest. It was a real pleasure to work with Tablet’s editor for the piece, Allison Hoffman.

The article prompted a lot of interest and feedback — it’s a complex and very fraught situation, and I am very pleased that people praised it for being “measured,” “insightful,” and “objective”!

The facility, which is to combine a permanent exhibit with an interactive learning center and other services, will be a centerpiece of a nationwide effort to