Posts
Of “Good Jews” and Bad Binaries
Anti-Israeli bigots do not hate Israel because they believe the worst about its actions. They feel an urge to believe the worst about Israeli actions because they hate Israel.
Oh Homeland, Don’t You Wonder (Tzion Ha-lo Tishali)
Dan Alter translates Judah Halevi's poem of yearning for Zion from nearly a thousand years ago.
Origin Stories
If the Israelites of the Hebrew Bible weren't Jewish, when did Judaism begin?
Pogrom: A Poem
Will the hunters come again to our abode tonight, seeking our souls with gun threats? Will they come quiet and furtive, until the crack of a shot cuts through the crickets? Perhaps they will arrive with a shofar blast like the lords of the land subduing the world, bringing their sons to teach them the wiles of war, carrying our…
Readjusting Sights
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.
Reprise of the Repressed
So much of American Jewish pop-culture sets out to shame the audience, one wonders why there's such an appetite for it.
Stuck in the Middle
Would American Jews be safer if they removed themselves from politics?
Tamar, Helen, and Love’s Ambition
What can Shakespeare’s most unlikely love story tell us about Tamar’s "bed trick" and the fate of the Jewish people?
“The Secret of Our Army’s Endurance”
"I think the army is nothing to play around with, but dabbling in pacifism is a bad business."
Tools of Hope: Finding Guidance from Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef
The Jewish muscle-memory that shapes our collective intuition, guides our response to calamity, and gives us hope that we will overcome this, too.