For liberal supporters of Israel, the unresolved status of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza presents a dilemma: a choice between a single state with so many Arab citizens as to inevitably dilute the Jewish character of the country, or the insistence of control over but denial of equal rights to millions of Palestinians, diluting if not destroying Israel’s democratic character.
In the sumptuous catalogue for the New York Jewish Museum’s late summer exhibition, Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art, on view through January 9, 2022, a cropped image of French artist Pierre Bonnard’s color-diffused painting Still Life with Guelder Roses appears alongside an army photograph of the salt mine in Altaussee, Austria, where the Nazis secreted looted art and other treasures.
Following the tradition of speaking to Jewish communal leaders on the eve of the High Holidays, President Joe Biden made his first such call last Thursday.
Moment
Explore the exciting connections between art and architecture, ancient and modern, spiritual and utilitarian. Artist and film documentarian Simonida Perica Uth; artist and director emeritus of The Kreeger Museum Judy A. Greenberg; and Georgetown University’s Ori Z. Soltes, author of Tradition and Transformation: Three Millenia of Jewish Art and Architecture will be in conversation with The Moment Gallery founders, Robin Strongin and Nadine Epstein.
As the author of five highly regarded novels, ranging from the award-winning In the Image (2002) to the memorably time-shifting Eternal Life (2018), Dara Horn is recognized as an accomplished fiction writer and as a storyteller who draws inspiration from centuries of Jewish history.
Moment
Everyone wants to be right—in the right way. What’s the line between striving for moral perfection and being a jerk?
What makes a place holy? And who gets to decide? Such abstract questions become concrete and emotional when we talk about Jerusalem.
Naomi Ragen
After 50-something years, and to the astonishment of our children and grandchildren, at the end of June my husband and I packed up our things and left Jerusalem, moving halfway across the country to settle in Zichron Yaakov, a quaint, hilltop village overlooking the sea.
Hard to believe it’s come to this: The word “antisemitism,” coined in the 19th century by a German journalist, is being weaponized by Jews against Jews.
Moment
It’s incompatible with the essence of a liberal arts education.
2021 has turned out to be another unpredictable year. As wave after wave of news stories reporting death and mayhem rolled over us, I found myself thinking about the Enlightenment.
It was a time of innocence for first-generation American teenagers like my mother, Eleanor Wolin. The wars in Europe seemed far away.
