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A new translation of Franz Kafka’s diaries restores much of his Jewish musings
(JTA) – Franz Kafka was a devotee of Yiddish theater, fell in love with his Hebrew teacher and once encountered the owner of a brothel he frequented in synagogue on Yom Kippur.
The broad strokes of Kafka’s biography have long been known to historians, but a new English translation of the Czech author’s complete and unabridged diaries gives readers the fullest possible picture of his complex, contradictory relationship with Judaism. For an author most famous for his depictions of loneliness, alienation and unyielding bureaucracy, Kafka often saw in Judaism an opportunity to forge a shared community.
“The beautiful strong separations in Judaism,” he praises at one point, in a disjointed style that is a hallmark of his diaries. “One gets space. One sees oneself better, one judges oneself better.”
Later, writing about a Yiddish play he found particularly moving, Kafka reflected on its depiction of “people who are Jews in an especially pure form, because they live only in the religion but live in it without effort, understanding or misery.” He was also involved with several local Zionist organizations, and toward the end of his life fell in love with Dora Diamant, the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi who taught him Hebrew (though she receives scant mention in the diaries).
“The Diaries of Franz Kafka,” translated by Ross Benjamin and out this week from Penguin Random House, collects every entry of the writer’s personal diaries covering the period from 1908 until 1923, the year before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 41.
Although versions of Kafka’s diaries had previously been published thanks to the efforts of his Jewish friend and literary executor Max Brod (with translation assistance from Hannah Arendt), they had been heavily doctored with many passages expunged, including some of what Kafka had written about his own understanding of Judaism. A German-language edition of the unabridged diaries was published in 1990.
The author of “The Metamorphosis,” “The Trial” and “The Castle” was raised by a non-observant father in Prague, and he hated the small amounts of Jewish culture he was exposed to at a young age, including his own bar mitzvah. In addition, the city’s largely assimilated German-speaking Jewish population tended to look down on poorer, Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews.
But Kafka’s diaries also reveal a growing fascination with Jewish culture in young adulthood, particularly around a traveling Yiddish theater troupe from Poland whom he saw perform nearly two dozen times. He developed a close relationship with the company’s lead actor, Jizchak Löwy, and would host recitation events where he’d give Löwy the opportunity to perform stories of Jewish life in Warsaw.
Kafka himself would even write and deliver an introduction to these performances in Yiddish. He would also witness his own father harboring prejudices towards his new friend Löwy: “My father about him: He who lies down in bed with dogs gets up with bugs.”
“The Metamorphosis” famously revolves around a man who inexplicably is transformed into a bug and then is rejected harshly by his family. In his introduction, Benjamin notes, “Scholars have suggested that such tropes, prevalent as they were in the antisemitic culture in which Kafka reckoned with his own Jewishness, influenced the themes of his fiction.”
Some of Kafka’s more ambiguous comments about his Jewish brethren were previously removed by Brod, according to Benjamin’s introduction to the diaries. At one point while hanging out with Löwy, Kafka invokes antisemitic stereotypes about Jewish uncleanliness: “My hair touched his when I leaned toward his head, I grew frightened due to at least the possibility of lice.” Benjamin notes: “Here Kafka confronts his own Western European Jewish anxiety about the hygiene of his Eastern European Jewish companion.”
Other revelations in the unexpurgated diaries include Kafka’s musings about his own sexuality.
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Israel Awards Genesis Prize to Gal Gadot for ‘Bravery and Moral Courage’ in Defending Jewish State
Actor Gal Gadot gestures during the unveiling ceremony for her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, US, March 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Israeli actress and producer Gal Gadot has been awarded the 2026 Genesis Prize by Israel in recognition of her strong support and advocacy for her home country amid its war with Hamas in Gaza and despite the negative impacts it had on her career, the Genesis Prize Foundation (GPF) announced on Tuesday.
The annual $1 million Genesis Prize, which has been nicknamed the “Jewish Nobel” by Time magazine, honors individuals “for their professional excellence, significant impact in their fields, and dedication to Jewish values.” It is a global award that celebrates “Jewish contribution to humanity” and all recipients donate their $1 million prize to various philanthropic causes.
Gadot called herself a “proud Jew and a proud Israeli” who loves her home country in a statement released by the GPF. The “Wonder Woman” star and mother of four is donating her $1 million prize to organizations that are helping Israelis recover in the aftermath of the Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent two-year war between Israel and Hamas. A date for the awards ceremony next year was not announced.
“I am humbled to receive the Genesis Prize and to stand alongside the amazing laureates who came before me,” the “Snow White” star said. “[I] dedicate this award to the organizations who will help Israel heal and to those incredible people who serve on the front lines of compassion. Israel has endured unimaginable pain. Now we must begin to heal – to rebuild hearts, families, and communities.”
GFP co-founder and chairman Stan Polovets praised Gadot’s “moral clarity and unwavering love for Israel.”
“The award recognizes her bravery and moral courage – her steadfast defense of Israel at great personal and professional risk, her advocacy for the hostages, her compassion for victims of terror, and her empathy for all innocent victims of this terrible war unleashed by Hamas,” he said. “Her decision to turn the Genesis Prize honor into a mission of healing embodies the very purpose of the prize – to celebrate achievement and channel it for good.”
Gadot condemned the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, immediately after the deadly attack took place in southern Israel and has defended her home country repeatedly since the start of its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. She has called for the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, met with families of former hostages, and arranged in Los Angeles private screenings for Hollywood figures to see uncensored, raw footage that documents the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. In a magazine interview earlier this year, she pleaded for an end to the Israel-Hamas war that includes a “diplomatic agreement that allows all parts of the table to live a good and prosperous life.”
In August, hundreds of anti-Israel activists signed a letter calling on the Venice Film Festival to disinvite Gadot from the event because of her ties to Israel. The festival’s director ignored the boycott efforts and Gadot was still invited, although she did not attend. Award-winning American filmmaker and artist Julian Schnabel, who cast Gadot in his film “In the Hand of Dante” that was premiering at the Venice Film Festival, also criticized the efforts by anti-Israel activists.
Gadot in March became the first Israeli to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti in May, the same week that London’s Metropolitan Police arrested five anti-Israel protesters who tried to disrupt her film set in central London solely because she is Israeli.
Gadot played the Evil Queen in last year’s live action remake of Disney’s “Snow White.” She admitted in August that she thinks “pressure on celebrities to speak out against Israel” was “greatly affecting” the film and contributed to its poor box office performance after its lead star, Rachel Zegler, proclaimed “Free Palestine” on social media.
Past recipients of the Genesis Prize include singer, actor, and activist Barbra Streisand; filmmaker Steven Spielberg; founder of Blue Square Alliance Against Hate and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft; the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and human rights advocate Natan Sharansky.
The 2025 recipient of the Genesis Prize was Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who was recognized for his strong support of Israel. Milei visited Jerusalem in June to accept the award.
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Mississippi State University Student Arrested, Withdraws From School After Antisemitic Rant at Dave Portnoy
Barstool Sports founder and online pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy outside a Starkville, Mississippi pizza shop on Nov. 7, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
A Mississippi State University student was arrested on Monday and charged by police for shouting an antisemitic slur at Barstool Sports founder and online pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy during one of his reviews outside a restaurant in Starkville, Mississippi, officials said.
Patrick McClintock, 20, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace after being caught on video yelling “F–k the Jews” at Portnoy, who is Jewish, and then throwing coins at him outside a pizza shop on Nov. 7, according to the Starkville Police Department. The department launched an investigation following the incident last week and issued a warrant over the weekend. McClintock was processed and later released.
Portnoy was filming one of his “One Bite” pizza reviews outside Boardtown Pizza & Pints when McClintock shouted in the background, “Hey, f–k the Jews, f–k you, Dave” and threw coins at him.
Portnoy replied, “Why don’t you come in the camera, buddy?”
McClintock then approached Portnoy, and during their brief confrontation, McClintock shouted, “Get the f–k out of Starkville.” Witnesses then asked Portnoy what had happened.
“He said ‘F–k the Jews’ and threw s–t at me,” Portnoy replied.
On Monday, Portnoy posted online the video of his pizza review outside Boardtown Pizza & Pints and it included footage of the antisemitic encounter with McClintock. Portnoy also shared McClintock’s mugshot, calling him an “antisemitic piece of s–t” and a “f–king loser.” He added that the incident “did not ruin” his trip to Starkville and thanked locals for their support.
“I’ll never judge one asshole for the entire city,” Portnoy said. “Everyone was super nice and actually bending over backwards during the course of the weekend, being like, ‘We’re so sorry, that’s so mortifying. We wish that didn’t happen.’ And I don’t want simply your apologies. I want outrage and I had it, and that makes me feel good that people were like, ‘This is crazy.’ Thank you for everyone in Starkville who rose up and got [my] back. I do appreciate it.”
A few days before posting his pizza review of Boardtown Pizza & Pints, Portnoy shared on Instagram a review of the Mississippi State University bookstore and gave it a rating of 9.3 out of 10.
Portnoy addressed the global rise in antisemitic incidents in an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” that will air over the weekend. In a teaser for the interview, Portnoy talked about his personal experience with antisemitism.
“I’ve seen in my own experience, just being Barstool, the difference between how much hate I get,” Portnoy said. “I mean, occasionally you get a k—k or Jew or whatever. It’s every day now. Like there’s a definitive shift in what’s going on. So yes, now, for me, being a Jewish person, you’ve got to step up. You’re kind of someone people look up to in the Jewish community. You have to be like, ‘Alright, this is not normal.’ People are coming in with real hate.”
Portnoy also revealed that he now has round-the-clock security at his house because of the antisemitic hatred that he has faced.
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Checking Iran’s Enriched Uranium Stock Is ‘Long Overdue,’ IAEA Report Says
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi addresses the media during their Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Iran still has not let inspectors into the nuclear sites Israel and the United States bombed in June, the UN atomic watchdog said in a confidential report on Wednesday, adding that accounting for Iran’s enriched uranium stock is “long overdue.”
The IAEA‘s own guidelines say it should verify a country’s stock of highly enriched uranium, such as the material enriched to up to 60 percent purity in Iran, a short step from the roughly 90 percent of weapons grade, every month.
The IAEA has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to the stock and let inspections fully resume quickly. The two sides announced an agreement in Cairo in September that was supposed to pave the way towards that. However, progress has been limited, and Iran now says the agreement is void.
“The agency’s lack of access to this nuclear material in Iran for five months means that its verification … is long overdue,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in the report to member states seen by Reuters.
CONCERNS ABOUT DIVERSION, INSPECTIONS CRITICAL
“It is critical that the agency is able to verify the inventories of previously declared nuclear material in Iran as soon as possible in order to allay its concerns … regarding the possible diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful use,” it added.
The report said the quantity of highly enriched uranium Iran has produced and stored is “a matter of serious concern.” The IAEA has now lost so-called continuity of knowledge of Iran’s enriched uranium stocks, it added, meaning re-establishing a full picture will be arduous.
The agency has so far only inspected some of the 13 nuclear facilities that were “unaffected” by the attacks and none of the seven that were, it said.
ENOUGH FOR 10 NUCLEAR BOMBS
One reason Israel and the United States gave for their attacks, which destroyed one of Iran’s three enrichment facilities operating at the time and at least badly damaged the others, was that Iran was getting too close to being able to produce a nuclear weapon.
Western powers say there is no civil explanation for Iran’s enrichment to such a high level. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, and the IAEA said it had no credible indication of a coordinated weapons program there.
The IAEA estimates that before the attacks Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent in uranium hexafluoride form, which can easily be enriched further. That is enough, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear bombs, according to an IAEA yardstick.
As a party to the NPT, Iran must send a detailed report to the IAEA on the status of the bombed facilities and its enriched uranium “without delay” but still has not done so, the report said. Only then can the IAEA inspect them.
NEW ENRICHMENT PLANT – STATUS UNKNOWN
While some enriched uranium will have been destroyed in the attacks, diplomats say much of the stock was likely stored at a deeply buried facility at Isfahan where the entrance tunnels were hit but damage appears limited.
Iran informed the IAEA shortly before the attacks it was setting up an enrichment facility at Isfahan, but the agency has not been able to inspect it.
“The agency does not know the precise location of [the plant], its status for safeguards purposes, including whether it contains nuclear material, or whether it was affected by the military attacks,” the report said.
While there is little sign of progress towards a nuclear deal between the US and Iran, both sides say they are open to the idea.