Q&A With Leon Wieseltier
On Jewish literature, Israel, digitization, freedom of expression and the pleasures of being insulted.
Opinion // The Return of the Welfare Debate
The Jewish argument against turning a blind eye to fraud
Sacks: What Is Anti-Semitism?
Anti-Semitism is the least creative thing you can think of and the most destructive. But in a sense, anti-Semitism survives because of a weird and dangerous kind of creativity. Let me explain why.
40th Anniversary Symposium: Wisdom for the Next Generation
with Robert Aumann, Theodore Bikel, Leon Fleisher, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jerome Groopman, Ruth Gruber, Fanya Heller, Madeleine Kunin, Walter Laqueur,
Theater Review // Fish In The Dark
by Daniel Ross Goodman “Humility is not thinking less of yourself,” said C.S. Lewis, “but thinking of yourself less.” But
Book Review // The Life of Saul Bellow
As he lay dying, Saul Bellow, “the most decorated writer in American history,” slipped back into consciousness, looked up, and asked, “Was I a man or was I a jerk?” Somewhere within that sentence lies Bellow’s greatness as a novelist—his fabulous sense of wonder and entitlement about himself, coupled with a magical gift for language and a rattling insecurity. This is what Zachary Leader writes about in his doggedly detailed and adoring biography of Bellow.
Talk of the Table | Salt, For God’s Shake!
Sodom and Gomorrah are burning, and the people are fleeing. Amidst the chaos, one disobedient refugee makes a fatal mistake. Lot’s wife turns back to gaze upon the ruins of her city—and meets swift retribution. In an instant, she is turned into a pillar of salt.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “The Notorious RBG”
Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Supreme Court, after Sandra Day O’Connor, and the first Jewish woman.
Curating a New Jewish Canon
When Jack Miles approached me with the proposition to edit the Judaism volume of the projected Norton Anthology of World Religions, I was naturally flattered but also confounded. There are, of course, many anthologies of Judaism in different formats. But the Norton anthologies are different.
Anita Diamant & Dara Horn: In Conversation
We live in the era of Jewish historical fiction. Hundreds of novels set at some point in the long Jewish past have been published in recent years, some based on biblical stories or Jewish folk tales, others built around major historical figures. The phenomenon shows no sign of slowing, with readers continuing to greedily devour historical fiction, and writers delighted to feed their addiction.
From the Editor // March/April 2015
The ground is lurching beneath the feet of European Jews, with anti-Semitism rising up around them. We American Jews are rightly concerned at this alarming turn of events. We fear the spread of this new, especially virulent form of anti-Semitism to our own shores. We feel disgusted but helpless. What can we do?