“And the Bride Closed the Door” is a broad comedy about a bride who refuses to go forward with her wedding ceremony, sowing havoc. The book captures a segment of Mizrahi society not often featured in Israeli fiction.
If All the Seas Were Ink is a memoir of a young, recently divorced American-Israeli, living in Jerusalem, whose personal struggles lead her to take on the practice of Daf Yomi, reading a page from the Talmud every day for seven years. Kurshan’s inspiring memoir about learning how to put one foot in front of the other is a winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. In conversation with Moment book review editor Amy E. Schwartz.
Dorit Rabinyan is a two-time awardee of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Hebrew Literary Works. She was born in Israel to a family that emigrated from Iran. All the Rivers is the story of a romance between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, based on the author’s own experiences.
Etgar Keret is an award-winning writer who uses a deceptively casual style for his very short, absurd, often comical stories.
Join Eric Alterman, author of We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel, for a look back at the early years of this important relationship, how support for the Jewish state has changed with each new generation of Jews in America.
With eminent translator/critic Robert Alter, we take an in-depth look at a few of Amichai’s poems and unlock the secrets of their lasting appeal.
Art Rupe, who died in April at the age of 104, was an independent record producer known for launching the musical careers of Lloyd Price, Little Richard, Sam Cooke and others, paving the way for Black music to crossover to White audiences and the new genre of rock n’ roll. Moment editor-in-chief and Billy Vera, a singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, Grammy Award winning music historian and author of Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story is in conversation about Rupe’s impoverished childhood in a Pennsylvania town, his early affinity for gospel music, and how he turned down a scholarship to become a rabbi and instead headed to Hollywood, his legendary career, life philosophy and more.
This program is in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.
While Jews have lived in Iran for centuries, today’s Jewish community numbers around 10,000, down from 100,000 Jews prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Roya Hakakian, author of Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran and A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious, shares what life was like prior to the revolution, the antisemitism that caused most Jews to flee and what life is like now for the Iranian Jewish community. Hakakian is in conversation with Moment editor Sarah Breger.
This program is part of a Moment series on antisemitism supported by the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s birthday was March 15th. To remember her, NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, author of the forthcoming book Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, and Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein, author of RBG’s Brave & Brilliant Women: 33 Jewish Women to Inspire Everyone, will share their memories of the late Supreme Court Justice and discuss her legacy.
Angela Merkel, who just stepped down as German chancellor after a remarkable16 years, has redefined the image of a woman leader. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, Merkel worked as a research chemist before entering politics and rising to become the unofficial leader of the West. Award-winning journalist Kati Marton, author of The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel, shares how Merkel helped shape Germany into what some call the world’s moral center, and explores her legacy—including allowing Middle Eastern refugees to enter Germany while the world looked away. She also discusses the rise of the far right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and Merkel’s complicated relationships with other world leaders such as Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Marton is in conversation with Amy E. Schwartz, Moment’s Book & Opinion Editor.
