Arts and Culture

Ajami as Israel

Ajami is the latest Israeli film to be nominated for an Academy Award. Opening Wednesday in the US, Shai Ginsburg reviews the controversial drama, comparing it with the likes of legendary European features such as Pasolini’s Accatone.

Arts and Culture

Fairytale

By Marisa Handler

“Somebody must go,” said Lucinda. “Somebody must go seeking.” “When will you return?” “When I know what it is I seek.”

Arts and Culture

A Chill To Warm the Heart: Mark Glanville and Alexander Knapp's A Yiddish Winterreise

By Charlie Bertsch

This remarkable song cycle repurposes Yiddish folk songs according to the logic of Franz Schubert’s famous Winterreise, turning his tale of a heartbreak into an allegory of the Holocaust.

Faith and Practice

Christians Rewrite the Holocaust

By Bruce Wilson

Despite their new-found fondness for Israel, Evangelicals still blame Jews for their misfortunes. According to Bruce Wilson, such scapegoating is predicated on a larger framework of historical revisionism, which includes placing blame for the Shoah on “liberal/left” Jewry.

News and Politics

Birth Pangs East Jerusalem

By Moshe Yaroni

Sheikh Jarrah is rapidly coming to resemble a maternity ward. Settlers forcibly remove Palestinians from their homes, while increasing numbers of Jewish and Arab demonstrators are beaten and jailed by the police for exercising their basic rights. If a new Israeli left arises, it will surely be here.

Arts and Culture

Before He Became a Communist

By Ezra Glinter

David Bergelson’s The End of Everything is a classic work of Yiddish literature. A portrait of the Ukrainian Jewish community’s transition to modernity, the novel also sets the stage for the author’s own radicalization. Ezra Glinter reviews Joseph Sherman’s new translation.

News and Politics

Howard Zinn, 1922-2010

By Joe Lockard and Joel Schalit

America’s best-known progressive historian passed away on Wednesday. The son of European immigrants, Zinn’s combination of activism and academia epitomized the values of the Jewish community at its best. A 2001 interview, reprinted from Bad Subjects.

Life and Action

Insider Information

By Angela Himsel

When my cousin David asked if he could become a Scottish Calvinist, I felt like a member of the British Court that ruled on Jewish identity: Yes, I told him, you can become a Calvinist, but not a Scottish Calvinist–you need to separate genes from faith.

Arts and Culture

The Time I Took Communion

By Mya Guarnieri

Children and hippies tend to have certain things in common, like believing that all religions are the same. What happens when a nice Jewish girl goes to church, looking for her Israeli father.

Arts and Culture

Waiting for the Monsoon: Howe Gelb Leads Us Through the Desert

By Charlie Bertsch

Whether as a solo artist or as the leader of the long-lived alternative band Giant Sand, this self-proclaimed “Meanderthal” from Tucson suggests that the safest distance between two points is probably not the shortest.