Sala Levin
navid
In August 1903, a 22-year-old Viennese Jewish socialite by the name of Adele Bloch-Bauer wrote to a friend that the renowned Austrian painter Gustav Klimt had agreed to paint her portrait. It was to be a commission from her husband, sugar industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. The cost, according to Anne-Marie O’Connor’s book The Lady in Gold, was considerable—4,000 crowns at the time, or about a “quarter of the price of a well-appointed country villa.” Klimt could not start the portrait until winter, so it wasn’t until December that the young Adele ventured to his studio to sit for the portrait.
Moment
The education revolution among Bedouin women has opened up opportunities previous generations could never have imagined. But tribal traditions that limit their freedom—including polygamy—still prevail.
Anna Isaacs
Ally would have been a more effective book if Oren had taken the time to consider the impact of his take-no-prisoners approach, writes Glenn Frankel.
Anna Isaacs
Moment spoke with Ronald Goldfarb, editor of After Snowden: Privacy, Secrecy and Security in the Information Age about the USA Freedom Act, what it means, and whether Snowden has yet won his battle for privacy.
Anna Isaacs
On Jewish literature, Israel, digitization, freedom of expression and the pleasures of being insulted.
Moment
Struggles over land & identity are at the heart of growing tensions between the Israeli government & its once-nomadic citizens.
Moment
For years, falafel was Israel’s iconic food, its global culinary ambassador. But in recent years, another Israeli dish with working-class roots has become a major player in the game of street-food diplomacy: the savory tomato and egg mixture called shakshuka.
The Jewish argument against turning a blind eye to fraud
Moment
Trees matter, and Israelis, of all people, should understand why.
Moment
When I was in Israel in late 2013, I drove across the rugged expanse of the Negev on Route 31. At the time, Israeli newspapers were full of articles describing highly controversial demolitions of Bedouin homes and villages, failed plans to resettle the Bedouin, and ongoing tensions between the Bedouin and the Israeli government.
