Renowned Jewish conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer has passed away at age 68.
Just two weeks ago, Krauthammer announced he has “only a few weeks to live” because of an aggressive form of cancer.
In a public letter, Krauthammer wrote. “My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over.” He added, “I leave this life with no regrets.”
The New York native was raised in Montreal. He was a first-year medical student at Harvard in 1975 when a diving accident paralyzed him from the neck down and put him in a wheelchair for life. Despite tough obstacles, he went on to became a successful psychiatrist. He first emerged in the political sphere as a speechwriter for Vice President Walter Mondale during the Carter administration.
He later developed a career as a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and commentator, appearing often on Fox News.
Before I met and wrote about Charles Krauthammer, I thought there were three basic kinds of Jews, religiously speaking: Reform, Conservative, Orthodox. He taught me a new category. “I consider myself a Shinto Jew,” he told me. “I engage in ancestor worship.”
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) June 8, 2018
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9 Responses
A FINE PERSON. A CREDIT TO HIS JEWISH UP BRING BDE
Great man, great loss
BDE. I didn’t always agree with his politics but in the age of Trumpian vulgarity, I had enormous respect for his literary elegance and respectful presentation of his positions. He did not find it necessary to demean those who disagreed with him and always sought to find any areas of common ground. His support for EY was uncompromising. He will be missed.
Didn’t know too much about Mr. Krauthammer before but I was inspired watching the video and his passion to live life the best he could with what he had. His accident truly enabled him to face up to values and truths that he might have not been able to do if not. He had this “Jewish” wit and straightforwardness that seemed to enamore his audience. This is familiar to the generation of my parents, though he was younger, that makes him endearing to me. Mr. Krauthammer, brought up with good core values and morals though secular is what is sadly fading here in America. May his Neshama have an Aliyah!
an ehrliche yid – a kiddush haShem. BDE.
His father went by the name shulem. This guy went off the derech. Married a shiktzah. Let’s wake up. It’s time for him to face the music. His literary style means gurnisht upstairs.
On Wikipedia it states that he was brought up From, went off the Derech, married a non-jewish sounding lady, and he writes in his letter he has no regrets about life…
BDE
FYI he knew about Judaism and chose not to live by the torah so please don’t say that he was an ehrliche yid please.
I always admired listening to his viewpoints on Fox and the O’Reilly Factor for so many years, ever since I became interested in news and politics. His humbleness and brilliant mind were a true role-model. Yes, I’m disappointed to have learned that he led a secular life and became intermarried- his child isn’t halachically Jewish unfortunately. He leaves this world with me wondering how much of a Torah giant he could have been if he instead focused his mind on Jewish Frum pursuits- perhaps he would have even authored several seforim on parsha, gemorah, mussar, etc. My thought is that political events and presidential administrations come and go; analysis on the siddur, parsha, and halacha remain the same tradition for thousands of years.