Available Light: Pictures from Yemen
Yihye Haybi, a Jewish medical assistant to an Italian doctor in Sana'a, found himself in possession of a camera. Self-taught and working under difficult circumstances, he captured the waning days of Yemen's ancient Jewish community.
I Believe: A Poem
Please remember, contestants, to phrase your answer in the form of a question. —Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy!™ I believe with a perfect faith in the coming of the messiah, though he may tarry. —Late medieval reformulation of Maimonides’ 12th Principle of Faith, Commentary to the Mishna, Sanhedrin, Perek Helek. In the days of the Messiah, each individual will…
Killer Backdrop: A Rejoinder
Amy Newman Smith clarifies her position.
Killer Backdrop: A Response
Erika Dreifus expresses dismay over Amy Newman Smith's essay on Holocaust fiction.
Letters Fall 2014
Cardinal Dulles' Inspiration, Did Sacks Write a Sermon?, Heidegger v. Reason, & More
Like an Elevator
At the height of his fame in the 1930s, Stefan Zweig was the most translated author in the world. He may also have been the most hated.
Muscular Judaism
The history of Jewish boxers such as Daniel Mendoza in England is as central to understanding the entry of Jews into European society as the better-known and much-researched history of Jewish salonnières and intellectuals in Berlin and Vienna.
Neither Friend nor Enemy: Israel in the EU
After five years at the European Parliament, the author reflects on Israel's place in the discourse of the EU's chattering (and legislating) class.
Poland Is Not Ukraine: A Response to Konstanty Gebert’s “The Ukrainian Question”
Dovid Katz explores what it means to be a “good guy” and a “bad guy” in his response to Konstanty Gebert’s article on Ukraine and its Jews.
Poland’s Jewish Problem: Vodka?
Jewish-run taverns—rowdy, often very seedy drink-holes—served to cement, rather than sour, the impossibly tense and intertwined lives of Poles and Jews, as a new book by Glenn Dynner shows.