Opinion | Poland and Hungary Are the Tip of the Iceberg

The news from Central Europe seems to be uniformly bad: democracy threatened, rule of law subverted, historical revisionism triumphant. It all carries a nasty 1930s flavor. To Western readers, moreover, most of that news seems to come from Budapest and Warsaw. We don’t hear much from such places as Bratislava, ...
traditional family

Debate | ‘The traditional’ family was a relatively late invention’

Is the traditional family the foundation of democracy? It depends what kind of traditional family you’re talking about. Throughout most

...
traditional family

Debate | ‘We’ve lost touch with what gives our lives shape and significance’

Is the traditional family the foundation of democracy? It’s the foundation of many things—happiness, social order, identity—and it’s essential to

...

Visual Moment | The Beguiling Language of Dress

Ribbed moiré silk from Greece, tulle and silver-tinsel embroidery from Egypt, silk satin from Ottoman Palestine, indigo-dyed goat hair from

...

Ask the Rabbis | What Role Should Virtual Presence Play in Jewish Ritual and Community?

INDEPENDENT It’s a fundamental principle of Judaism that you are not obligated to do more than you can manage. “Says

...

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

...
gender neutral hebrew

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 ...

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,

...

How Have Female Clergy Transformed Jewish Life, Ritual and Practice?

Forty-six years after the first American woman rabbi was ordained, Judaism is transformed. ...
charlottesville

The Not-So Lost Cause of Moses Ezekiel

The Jewish Sculptor’s Confederate Statues Have Become a Beacon for White Supremacists. ...
film festivals

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

...
alfred moses

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. ...