I first came to discover the eminent journalist and author Paul Johnson through his son,

Daniel.

Daniel Johnson has been a tremendous partner of Tikva, writing essays in mosaic, teaching seminars

and giving speeches in Washington, New

York, at least one very memorable lecture in Jerusalem.

He is one of those rare and precious editors and writers who sees things in perspective,

and holding civilizational questions in hand, knows their weight.

And I knew that he had a famous father, but it wasn't until

a few years after reading and teaching together with Daniel that I came to read his father,

Paul. Now, for listeners who know of Paul Johnson, that may seem strange, since he, Paul,

is one of the outstanding men of letters of the 20th century, a writer whose prodigious

output encompasses more than 50 books and immeasurable quantities of essays, articles, and reportage.

Born in 1928 in Manchester, Paul Johnson was a British Catholic who, later, at the helm

of the new statesman, liked to boast that he had met every British

prime minister from Churchill to Blair and every American president from Eisenhower to George

W. Bush, the latter of whom awarded Paul Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006.

After publishing a fascinating spanning history of Christianity. Paul Johnson grew ever more curious about

Judaism, Christianity's elder brother in faith. That fascination led in 1987 to the publication of his

A History of the Jews, which until now is perhaps the best paste, best written, single-volume

history of the Jewish idea in English.

It was sometimes quipped that it was given as a gift to half the bar mitzvahs in America.

Paul Johnson died at the age of 94 in January 2023.

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