The Best Jewish Movies of 2019, Part Two
Some more great cinematic tales of Jews making sense of their relationship to the world—and the world, in turn, making sense of its relationship to Jews.
Maury Yeston Looks at the Past, Present and Future in an Off-Broadway Show
Looking back at his almost 40-year career as a multi-award winning musical theater composer-lyricist (Nine, Titanic, Grand Hotel, Death Takes a Holiday), Maury Yeston doesn’t...
Tiffany Haddish Gives Jewish Humor a ‘Black Mitzvah’
The sheer, jubilant force of Haddish’s personality allows her to plant her feet in two distinct cultures at once, without ever feeling out of place in either.
Disney’s First Jewish Princess Arrives in Time for Hanukkah
Princess Rebecca, of the Ladino kingdom of Galonia, appeared in an episode of Elena of Avalor that aired on December 6. Elena is a Latinx princess who is the centerpiece of the Emmy-winning, Disney Junior Channel series which debuted in 2016. Until now there has been no Jewish princess—not that there wasn’t an abundance of attractive candidates.
Leonard Cohen’s Final Testament: ‘Thanks for the Dance’
Leonard Cohen blended the sacred and the profane in his own search for a deeper meaning—finding truth in the Torah, yes, but also in sex, travel and the simple thrill of artistic creation.
Fiction | Homecoming, 1945
Smoke rises slowly from the locomotive’s chimney, hissing from the valves and swirling in clouds over the face of the train.
The Lost Jews of Disney+
Jewishness is both unrelated to the Disney archive and, thanks to Walt Disney’s long-rumored yet long-denied anti-Semitism, inseparable from it.
The Colmar Treasure: Bringing Jewish Life Into Medieval Art
Until recently, the Met Cloisters, situated at the top of a peaceful hill in Fort Tryon Park in the middle of Manhattan’s bustling Washington Heights—a...
Does “Jojo Rabbit” Have Anything New to Say About Fascism?
Jojo Rabbit, which is shaping up to be easily the most divisive film of the awards season, shows us the Third Reich through the eyes of a child.
Book Review | A Writer Who Opened Doors
How tragic that we recently lost one of Israel’s great writers—Ronit Matalon—who died at the young age of 58.
Poem | A Little Girl’s 1930s Dirge
“Turn off your lights! / Turn them off! / Heh heh heh,” the radio coughs. / The Olga Coal Company presents
The Kabbalah of Noah Baumbach
For a long time I’ve been trying to figure out why I love Noah Baumbach’s movies so much. And as a Jewish creative who often prefers the company of books and films to people, I see a little bit too much of myself in them, which is more worrisome than it is meaningful.