The Weird and Wondrous World of Jews and Magic
The first time I came face-to-face with Jewish magic was when I moved to Israel in my early 20s. It was the fall of 1995...
Can Hebrew Be Gender-Neutral?
Gender in Hebrew—as in Spanish, Hindi, French and other languages—is intimately woven into word construction. “Hebrew goes a lot further,” says Erez Levon, a professor of sociolinguistics at Queen Mary University of London who focuses on questions of gender and sexuality. He explains that the language is particularly restrictive because gender is conveyed through masculine or feminine verb, adjective and adverb endings and almost every other part of speech.
Book Review | The First Book of Jewish Jokes edited by Elliott Oring
The First Book of Jewish Jokes
Edited by Elliott Oring
Translated by Michaela Lang
Indiana University Press
2018, 176 pp, $65
It’s the inherent vice of joke books that their...
How Have Female Clergy Transformed Jewish Life, Ritual and Practice?
Forty-six years after the first American woman rabbi was ordained, Judaism is transformed.
The Not-So Lost Cause of Moses Ezekiel
The Jewish Sculptor’s Confederate Statues Have Become a Beacon for White Supremacists.
Moment’s Guide to Film Festivals
Films You Shouldn’t Miss
By Isaac Zablocki
A notable theme that emerged from the film festival lineups was movies about the Orthodox community. This includes Red...
Author Interview | Alfred Moses
When Alfred Moses, an attorney and prominent national Jewish leader, traveled behind the Iron Curtain to Romania in 1976, the impoverished country was under the thumb of the ruthless and corrupt dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The trip changed Moses’s life, inspiring him to fight for the freedom of Romania’s Jews.
Poem: The State of Things
On the day after Yom Kippur, I ride my bike along the waterfront.
Pious men build their sukkah before sunset.
Will they invite me to be their...
What’s the Best Way to Say #MeToo?
In the small, insular Jewish professional world, people are often reluctant to come forward with sexual harassment allegations—Especially Against ‘big machers.’ That’s beginning to change.
Talk of the Table | The Power of Couscous
Throughout the Maghreb, couscous was traditionally prepared by groups of women, family and friends, who helped each other pass the long hours it took to make. First, they spread semolina wheat, bought by the men and freshly ground, onto a large round platter, sprinkling it with salted water and sometimes flour.
Ask The Rabbis | What Sins Should We Atone For In Our Use of Social Media?
“Do we gossip? Do we repost stories about friends, family or colleagues that ought not be repeated? Do we believe everything we read?”
Book Review | Kafka’s Last Trial by Ruby Namdar
Few literary figures have stirred readers’ imaginations as much as Kafka, his tormented life and early death. Indeed, he is viewed as a mythical figure as much as a renowned author. But above all, the bizarre story of how Kafka’s work survived and entered the canon has become a staple of literary legend.