Homage to Mahj
A traveling exhibit attempts to explain the Jewish fascination with Mah Jongg, a favorite past-time of mid-century Jewish suburbia, Jewish country clubs, and Catskill resorts.
Israel’s Arab Sholem Aleichem
Sayed Kashua's new novel presents a characteristic depiction of the dual identities of Israel's Arabs.
Lawfare
What's the trouble with the international laws of war?
Letters, Summer 2012
Too much Chometz? Leon Wieseltier responds to his critics.
Matisse and His Jewish Patrons
Some of Henri Matisse's earliest and most committed supporters (and buyers) were Jewish. That might explain why Histoires Juives, a book of Yiddish jokes in French translation, and other Jewish items can be found in his paintings.
Muddling Through
In his new book about an Upper West Side Jewish family, Joshua Henkin proves himself as a skillful writer, alternately witty and moving.
Reorientation
A sober look at Jews and Christians under medieval Islamic rule.
Rereading Herzl’s Old-New Land
A bad novel, but an important and prescient book.
Something Antigonus Said
When the Saducees misinterpreted Antigonus of Sokho, they lost eternity--at least that's what the Rabbis thought.
The Mighty Jacobson
For an American Jew to read the magnificently funny and serious Howard Jacobson is to understand just how different the situation of English Jews is from their own.