From Russia with Complications
In what ways is the Israel of the Russian aliyah an extension of the old and new Russia, and to the degree that it is, does this constitute a problem? A valuable report on the present state of affairs.
In and Out of Africa
Explaining the origins of the many African and African American groups who identify themselves as Jews or, at least, as descendants of the ancient Israelites.
Letters, Summer 2013
Kosher tin foil. Timothy Lytton responds to his critics.
More Important Things
Francesca Segal's prize-winning The Innocents: A generous, garrulous, and utterly genuine group portrait of Anglo-Jewry.
Proust Between Halakha and Aggada
Proust and Bialik were both great literary modernists, but they aren’t usually thought of together. Reading In Search of Lost Time in light of “Halacha and Aggada.”
Romancing the Haskalah
Should the Haskalah be rebranded as "Jewish Romanticism?” Olga Litvak seeks to bring about a radical change in the definition of Haskalah.
Spanish Charity
The sight of a secular Israeli artist in a cathedral confessional in Spain is one of the more interesting moments in recent Israeli fiction. A new novel by A.B. Yehoshua.
Talking Like That
“Their voice sounds weird, like not a Jewish voice.” How newcomers learn the language and culture of Orthodox Judaism.
The First Debate Over Religious Martyrdom
The name of God is sanctified when life is preserved, not when it is proclaimed great an instant before life is obliterated.
The Man Who Thought in Pictures
S.Y. Agnon was a completely visual thinker. Now his stories have been turned into a comic book.