Zionism’s Forgotten Father
Nathan Birnbaum, one of Zionism's early leaders, looked like Herzl and wrote like Herzl (albeit not as successfully). But his unusual trajectory has reduced the space that might have been assigned to him in the history of Zionism.
Publishing Godliness: The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Other Revolution
Much of the discussion of the Rebbe's legacy focuses on his charisma, his saintliness, and his organizational skills, but first and arguably foremost, he was a book publisher.
Rethinking Jabotinsky: A Talk with Hillel Halkin
The Jewish Review of Books and Yale University Press hosted an evening for Hillel Halkin’s brilliant new biography of Vladimir Jabotinsky at YIVO.
Brief Kvetches: Notes to a 19th-Century Miracle Worker
One day in the 1860s, a father burst into Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher's study house begging for help. His son's stomach was distended, and he was barking like a dog.
Haim Gouri at 90
The poet turned 90 last fall, and his latest poems are among the best he has ever written.
Heschel Transcendent
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s intellectual peers included Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Reinhold Niebuhr, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. His main thought, Shai Held argues, was of transcendence.
I’m Still Here
Tuvia Reubner has said he has no homeland except perhaps his poetry. A new book expands that homeland's borders.
Killer Backdrop
If Auschwitz can have a gift shop, why can’t the Warsaw Ghetto have a love story?
Letters, Summer 2014
Reform Revisionist, Rashi's Shul, Khazars Shmazars
National Socialism, World Jewry, and the History of Being: Heidegger’s Black Notebooks
The thinking reflected in Heidegger's recently published notebooks from the 1930s is alarmingly crude. It is also much more difficult to separate from his philosophy than many would like to think.