By Naomi Ragen The cultural divide in Israel between Haredi and secular Jews has reached new extremes. In December, Haredi men spat upon a terrified eight-year-old girl, Naama Margolese, as she made her way to a Haredi-opposed national religious girls school in Beit Shemesh—a school the...
By Clifford D. May In the 20th century, a war was waged against the Jews of Europe. It culminated in the Holocaust. In the 21st century, a war is being waged against the Jews of the Middle East. How that turns out will depend in large...
By Nadine Epstein Welcome to our Messiah Issue! The specter of a messiah is alive and well in the 21st century. We may not think of it in these terms, but many of us are wishing for someone to swoop in and fix America’s economy, secure Israel’s...
By Dalia Rosenfeld The onion Lotzi was eating could be smelled five floors below him in the entrance to Migdal Zahav, the Golden Tower of Jerusalem, where he lived. Lotzi always waited for me to arrive before retrieving his knife from the cupboard, a gesture that...
Jesus Simon Bar Kokhba Shabbtai Tzvi Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson No one can verify the exact number, but to date, Judaism has rejected at least 24 Jews claiming to be the Messiah. The religion’s deep skepticism is reflected in the advice of the first-century sage Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai,...
Amos Oz I’m a secular Jew. I am in dire need of sober political leadership, not of a messiah. But let me tell you this. In Judaism, the messianic idea is only reliant in the future tense. Any Jewish messiah in Israel being transformed into the...
By Nadine Epstein If ever there was a tale of comic resurrection, it belongs to Marc Maron. The 48-year-old comedian’s climb back from drugs, drinking and despair—with a lot of help from iTunes—is a modern-day redemption story. The progeny of a Jewish doctor and homemaker mother, Maron...