Homage to Orwell

Homage to Orwell

Matti Friedman

George Orwell is best known for his antitotalitarian novels, but his true genius lay in the incomparably clear and urgent morality of his journalism. We could use some of that now.

Readjusting Sights

Readjusting Sights

Matti Friedman

Reams of military history, and recollections by generals have been written on Israel’s many wars, but in this bookish country, Haim Sabato is one of the few Israeli soldiers to write a truly literary memoir.

The Treasure of the Jews

The Treasure of the Jews

Matti Friedman

The seductive idea that the real Jerusalem lurks somewhere beneath the actual city, with its grocery stores, traffic, and inconveniently present residents, has motivated archaeologists and journalists since the 1800s.

WeShtick

WeShtick

Matti Friedman

Neumann’s kibbutz identity was part of his personal brand to such an extent that when puzzled onlookers spotted him walking barefoot on a Manhattan street, raising questions about his mental health, one of his publicists explained, “He is a kibbutznik.”

Zero-Sum Game

Zero-Sum Game

Matti Friedman

Most liberal Israelis once believed the 1990s-era Western narrative about Israeli-Palestinian peace: that the Palestinians would eventually be satisfied with a state alongside Israel, that everyone desired the same kind of progress, that maximalist rhetoric on the Arab side masked more modest goals, and that the Palestinian talk about millions of refugees and their “right of return” to Israel was a starting position that was bound to be bargained away.

The Professor and the Con Man

The Professor and the Con Man

Matti Friedman

The saga of the papyrus that became famous as the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife began with an email sent to Karen King, a distinguished Harvard professor, in July 2010. The subject line read, simply, “Coptic gnostic gospels in my collection.”