By Michelle Albert Woody Allen speaks to NPR about his newest movie, the difference between life and fiction, and what he's like off camera. [NPR] While religious hatred dominates the headlines, a rabbi reminds us that peaceful interfaith exchanges are, in reality, more widespread. [StarTrib] Moment columnist Gershom...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler We know some families have struggled for centuries with the age old quandary of breaking a matzah in two perfect pieces. In my family, prizes range from winning the leftover brisket to a two-dollar bill for the one who can make the cleanest...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler The Jerusalem Post was with MO in Prague's historic Jewish quarter yesterday. "It was a wonderful visit, but much too short," MO said. "I'll be back." The JPost has a video, which you can see here. She had a busy day: Her visit included...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Israel lost 2-1 in Greece yesterday, seriously mitigating their chances to qualify for the World Cup next summer in South Africa. They are now behind Latvia, Switzerland, and Greece in Europe's Group 2. Ha'aretz called the loss a "Greek Tragedy."...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler In their most recent gimmick, Heeb has outdone even their own high standard of Jewish tomfoolery. Really outdone it. The idiosyncratic Jewish quarterly has announced a fake Holocaust memoir writing contest. Entirely out of jest, the publicity stunt comes from the exposure of fake...
By Jeremy Gillick The release last week of Laish, Aharon Appelfeld's latest book to be translated into English, provided an excellent excuse to celebrate the Israeli author's long and prolific career. Originally published in Hebrew in 1994, the novel follows a band of mainly elderly, eastern European...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pel3GE97evA] Here's the trailer for Quentin Tarantino's newest bloody assortment of moving pictures. This one's called Inglourious Basterds and includes Brad Pitt and a whole bunch of dead Nazis. Oh, and it's a remake of a 1978 movie by the same name (but spelled...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler [caption id="attachment_1888" align="alignright" width="126" caption="Tha Sawks' season will start on time"][/caption] There's an email rumor spreading around the Jewish community that the Boston Red Sox, at the initiative of young Jewish General Manager Theo Epstein, had moved opening day to acccomodate Passover. Snopes has...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler [caption id="attachment_1871" align="aligncenter" width="215" caption="Rafaeli on the cover"][/caption] Israeli election? Hamas? Forget about it for a second. Here's some sexier news. Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli is on the cover of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Rafaeli was the first Israeli to appear in...
By Jeremy Gillick Following celebrations in Kiev in honor of the 150th anniversary of Sholom Aleichem's birth, developers destroyed his house. The great Yiddish writer would not have been surprised. Many of his stories dealt with misfortune, luck and the arbitrariness of life. He himself fell...