Book Review | Why the Left Left Israel
Vivian Gornick reviews Susie Linfield’s The Lions’ Den, a book critiquing the Left’s stance on Israel through a variety of notable thinkers, including Hannah Arendt, Noam Chomsky, and others.
Book Review | JDate for the Dead
Author Geraldine Brooks reviews Nathan Englander’s new book, kaddish.com
Jewish Word | Israeli Elections Slogans Get Personal
As Israeli elections near, Moment looks at the history of political slogans in the country’s elections. From Mapai to Rabin, Netanyahu and Benny Gantz.
Interview | Ehud Barak: An Israel Without Hate
As Israeli elections near, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak speaks out about the meaning of Zionism, a one-state vs. two-state solution and the kind of leadership Israel needs
Opinion | Why We Need Taboos
It took the Holocaust to make casual anti-Jewish talk so toxic that polite society wouldn’t stand for it. Eroding that sense of toxicity is much easier; internet memes can do it. But it’s also possible to invite backlash against strong, important taboos by clinging to weaker ones that are broader than necessary. We ignore the distinction at our peril.
Opinion | Ilhan Omar’s Blast from the Past
Ilhan Omar’s tweets caused a controversy. But anti-Semitism in Congress is nothing new.
Three Women You Should Know
Gal Lusky, founder of Israeli Flying Aid (IFA), has brought humanitarian help into some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. Lusky was born on Kibbutz Hokok in northern Israel, and she says her upbringing provided her with independence, while her Jewish values taught her to help others in need. She never thought of a career in international aid until 1992, when her brother was seriously wounded during his army service. She sat by his bedside for nearly a year and came to understand “how blessed I was to be born in Israel with its amazing medical infrastructure,” she says. “I wanted to bring this to others in the world.”
Author Interview | Biographer Zachary Leader on Saul Bellow
With publication of the second and final volume of his monumental biography of Saul Bellow, Zachary Leader, a professor of English literature at the University of Roehampton in London, has completed a decade-long immersion in Bellow’s life and letters.
Opinion | How Trump Mainstreams Anti-Semitism
President Donald Trump has brought the mental habits of anti-Semitism from the political fringe into the White House. And yet this is the same Trump...
Jewish Word | Shamash
n the 1946 film The Big Sleep, based on the Raymond Chandler mystery of the same name, Carmen—the promiscuous, drug-addicted younger sister of Lauren Bacall’s character—sizes up Philip Marlowe, played by Humphrey Bogart, and asks him, “What are you, a prizefighter?” Bogart responds, “No, I’m a shamus.” “What’s a shamus?” she inquires. “It’s a private detective,” he answers. Yes, Bogart is using the Yiddish version—more popularly spelled “shammes”—of the Hebrew word, “shamash.”
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...
How Have Female Clergy Transformed Jewish Life, Ritual and Practice?
Forty-six years after the first American woman rabbi was ordained, Judaism is transformed.