Chef Michael Twitty—a writer, culinary historian, cook and Hebrew school teacher—is an African American Jew (he converted at age 22) who uses his culinary prowess to explore the threads of his identity. In 2013, he became a well-known presence in culinary circles when he wrote an open letter to celebrity chef Paula Deen, which quickly went viral
Much like the swashbuckling heroes of his popular novels, author Mark Helprin has led a life of great adventure. As a young man, Helprin served in the Israeli army, the Israeli air force and the British merchant navy, and he’s earned his living as an agricultural laborer, a factory worker, a military adviser, a Wall Street Journal columnist, a political speechwriter and much more.
Not long after the publication of her acclaimed 1992 historical romance The Volcano Lover, Susan Sontag had dinner in a small Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal.
In Farewell to Sport, published in 1938, the popular New York Daily News sports columnist Paul Gallico, when departing the world of sports to write fiction (The Poseidon Adventure later became one of his best-sellers), reflected on the wide variety of sports and sports figures he had covered.
First-Time Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman is a Palestinian, an Arab, a communist and a feminist who fights for the rights of all Israeli women.
“Going to college and learning about the occupation for the first time made me reflect back on my 11 years of Jewish education with sadness and anger, realizing that our Israel education had been misleading and one-sided.”
“Have you heard about the movie?” Dorota asked. “What movie?” said Sylwia. Why, she thought, am I always the last to know?
It’s the 70th anniversary of Trinity College Hillel. How has the college changed since you started almost 17 years ago?
The very meaning of intermarriage has shifted with these demographic changes. In earlier periods, intermarriage was generally seen as a rejection of Jewish identity and a form of rebellion against the community. These days, intermarriage doesn’t necessarily spell the end of an active Jewish life or of Jewish lineage.
When white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville this summer, they shouted, “You will not replace us!”—eventually shifting the phrase, alarmingly, to “Jews will not replace us!” For most watching across the country, the protesters’ blatant expressions of prejudice were deeply unnerving. But where do their slogans come from, and what are they trying to convey?
American missions to Israel need to expand their scope beyond hasbara.
Four flimsy and ridiculous scandals won’t bring Benjamin Netanyahu down.
