Culture

Rabbi Barenblat and her baby, 3 years ago.

The Bitter & the Sweet: Reflections on Motherhood

May 9, 2013

Finding words for postpartum depression, Rabbi Rachel Barenblat bravely reflects on her difficult adjustment to motherhood, sharing a deeply personal journey and the poetry that helped her navigate this new terrain, ultimately savoring both the bitter and the sweet. This Mother’s Day, she tells struggling new moms: It gets better.

Zeek <3 Boston

April 16, 2013

As we mourn for Boston, we share this small roundup of early Jewish responses.

Madness, Mindfulness & Judaism: Meet Sascha Altman DuBrul

April 15, 2013

The Icarus Project founder talks to an old punk pal, journalist Jennifer Bleyer, “about madness, social justice and his recently sparked Jewish identity on the eve of his cross-country book tour for Maps to the Other Side.

A Not-So-Brief Reflection on Limmud NY 2013 Through Twitter

March 15, 2013

If Twitter is all about about capturing a moment in time, what happens when we look back? @EstherK reflects on the Twitter trail of Limmud NY 2013. From @ to #.

Shtus Jews Say: Jewish Memes, Jewish Identities

November 28, 2012

The variety of “Sh-t Jews Say” videos reveal much about how American Jews see themselves in relation to each other and to the society in which they live.

Merle Feld Finds Her Words

March 8, 2011

Liturgy and family, awe and anger, these mixed ingredients produce a book best savoured in small bites.

Sarah Glidden's Israel

January 19, 2011

In Israel, the conflation of the personal and the political is unavoidable, where the simple fact of what neighborhood, city, or part of the country you live in has implications far beyond yourself.

“Certainly, the Jew is the Very Devil Incarnate”: Rethinking Antisemitism in the Merchant of Venice

January 19, 2011

The Merchant of Venice provides us with a psychological portrait not of the Jews, but of antisemites, whose hatred relieves them from guilt while simultaneously helping them achieve a selfish goal.

What Have I in Common with Jews? A Review of Radical Poetics

December 30, 2010

Kafka asks, What have I in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself!” This thought guides the essays collected in Radical Poetics, a new anthology by Stephen Paul Miller and Daniel Morris.

Ginsberg's Kaddish

December 28, 2010

Bill Morgan’s new edition of Kaddish finally gives us a full picture of Ginsberg’s mother, to whom the poem is dedicated.

Klutzy Klezmer: Zeek's First Klezmer Liner Note Contest

December 21, 2010

Bad spelling, weird mashups, yutz yiddish–can you beat klezmer musicians at their own game?

Intellectual in Translation: An Interview with Ilan Stavans

December 14, 2010

Can an Ashkenazi edit a Sephardi anthology? Are there Jewish public intellectual role models today? What should be the role of identity politics?

Felix Nussbaum in Paris

December 14, 2010

Though murdered at Auschwitz, Felix Nussbaum painted his life, not his death. Rediscover this 20th century artist in Paris, or in Lipton’s words here.

Before Derrida: Salomon Maimon

November 17, 2010

A founder of post-Kantian German Idealism; a predecessor of French post-structuralism; a guy who thought he could become invisible–meet Salomon Maimon.

Food, Glorious Food!

November 12, 2010

My mother had taken the deer roast out of the freezer; my brother Ed was on his way over with some squirrels for my mother to fry up….

Review, "Telling Stories: Philip Guston's Later Works"

November 9, 2010

Aaron Rosen reviews David Kaufmann’s new book, Telling Stories: Philip Guston’s Later Works (University of California, 2010).

Israel's Eastward Beating Heart (Review)

November 2, 2010

Philip Hollander reviews Amy Horowitz’s Mediterranean Israeli Music and the Politics of the Aesthetic (Wayne State University, 2010).

"Gurion's Escape": an excerpt from "The Instructions"

October 29, 2010

Zeek has an excerpt of Adam Levin’s novel, The Instructions, which tells the story of young Gurion ben-Judah Maccabee, scholar at Aptakisic alternative junior high.

What's Wrong with Israel education in the Diaspora?

October 26, 2010

What Jewish news outlets for youth get wrong: Why they should provide content to make kids (and their parents) laugh about Israel – instead of making them feel disheartened or angry.

Jewish Gangsters: Thoughts on the Tough Guys Series at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

October 25, 2010

Joanna Steinhardt examines the Jewish gangster mythos, and why it’s only nostalgic, and doesn’t apply to the crooks of today.

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