Opinion // A Kidnapping, Hijacked
All sides have jumped on this tragedy to further
their own political agendas.
Gay Rights & Religious Freedom: Can We Find Common Ground?
In 1997, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. But today the federal law is seeing an unlikely reincarnation. Moment asks six preeminent scholars: Can we find common ground between gay rights and religious freedom?
A Visit to Tantura
by Stephen Stern Harsh legacies and uncertain memories of 1948 entangle two families at the heart of The Admission, a
Dutch Playwrights Reimagine Anne Frank Story
SORRENTO, ITALY–A new production at the Theater Amsterdam reimagines the world famous story of Anne Frank and her diary. Entitled simply “Anne,” it is a contemporary, multimedia theatrical production brought to life by internationally renowned Dutch Jewish husband and wife writing partners Leon de Winter and Jessica Durlacher.
Visual Moment // “Degenerate” Art
In July 1937 Germany’s National Socialist Party opened an exhibition in Munich it termed “Entartete Kunst,” or “Degenerate Art.” Intentionally housed in cramped, poorly lit conditions and awkwardly hung, the works on view were accompanied by inflammatory, denigrating labels. The exhibition was an open declaration of the Nazis’ state-run war on modern art and the effort to impose their officially sanctioned conception of art through propaganda and force.
World’s Largest Shabbat Tonight in Tel Aviv
Like many Jews, Victoria Kimerling plans to celebrate the end of a long workweek by sitting down to a traditional Shabbat meal. But unlike most traditional Shabbat meals, Kimerling will spend this one with 2,000 of her closest friends.
Cantor’s loss: The Jewish factor
Eric Cantor, the House of Representatives’ majority leader and only Jewish Republican, has officially been buried. One day after a stunning loss
The Fate of Fruit Trees
by Ilana Sumka Looking over the rolling hills of the West Bank, the Palestinian man speaking to our Jewish
Inside the Germany/Israel Relationship
In the wake of the Holocaust, Konrad Adenauer and David Ben-Gurion forged an unlikely partnership. More than 60 years later, Germany continues to be one of Israel’s staunchest defenders and most dependable allies. But can the relationship withstand the rising tide of anti-Israel sentiment in Europe and the fading memories of a new generation?
Uncovering the Silence: A Jewish-German Healing Exchange
My parents were Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivors who fled World War II and ended up in Mexico, where my sister and I were born. They lost most of their families. My mother had only a brother, an uncle and a cousin who survived, while my father only a sister and two cousins.
Jewish Routes // Arizona
Defying stereotypes, early Jewish pioneers in Arizona were not just storeowners and bankers, but cowboys, lawmen, ranchers and entertainers. The first known Jewish settler was the German-born Nathan Benjamin Appel, who headed west in 1856 from New York to St. Louis, then followed the Santa Fe Trail to the territory’s new capital, Tucson. Appel went on to lead a colorful life in the Wild West: He married a Catholic woman (there were no Jewish women in the territory), had ten children, and was a sheriff, saloon owner, wagon train leader and merchant. Loyal to his heritage, upon his death in 1901, Appel had a Jewish funeral led by a rabbi.
May/June 2014 Table of Contents
FEATURES THE ADELSON EFFECT Billionaire Sheldon Adelson is best known in the United States for his outsized contributions on