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.
Ruby Sees Red
"I’m still trying to wake up from this nightmare. I walk in the streets. I see parents with babies. I can’t look. I walk in Riverside Park, I see an older man hugging his granddaughter, and I almost start crying. We have been forced back into Jewish history, into the bloody raw part of Jewish history."
Letter from Neukölln, Berlin
"Although the warning to hide invoked memories from Berlin in its darkest days, we refused to be afraid of who we are."
Unfinished Rock
Why is the last stanza of Ma'oz Tzur unlike all other stanzas?
Finding Gold
Herbert Gold spoke quickly, telling ancient stories of friendship with Saul Bellow and run ins with Philip Roth. Between gusts of conversation, he ambled around, wielding his walker so nimbly that it seemed like a form of exercise.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Halakhot of Hostages: Part III
When Israeli citizens were taken hostage in Entebbe in 1976, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was asked if hostages could be exchanged for terrorists. What can his towering responsum teach us about the current moment?