31
Jul
What We’re Reading | Lucky Broken Girl
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By
Sue Driesen
It’s not every day that an adult in her mid-80s can read a book meant for fifth-graders (ages 10-11) and be reduced to tears.
24
May
Book Review | The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age by Steven Weitzman
As the subtitle of the book says, we live in a rootless age. People everywhere, not just Jews, seek their roots, their ancestry, their genetic makeup. We yearn to discover who we are; alas, our tools are not always up to the task. But there is pleasure in the pursuit, and we should be grateful to Weitzman for being a reliable guide.
24
May
Book Review | The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East by Guy Laron
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By
Tom Segev
Guy Laron’s challenging new book, The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East, is well worth reading even though Laron, a lecturer in international relations at Hebrew University, focuses too much on the war’s international context and, at times, relies too heavily upon unsubstantiated speculation
23
May
Book Review | The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
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By
Annie Roiphe
Bulgaria. How little thought I had ever given to Bulgaria, but here it is in the vivid, fast-paced, fascinating new novel The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova. Author of the best-selling novel The Historian, Kostova is a writer who knows how to keep you in suspense, to frighten and amaze you, all while building characters whose fate will matter to you more and more as she reveals a whole country, its history, its tragedy, its politics, its scenery and its sad beauty.
16
May
Is Germany Moving Away From Holocaust Angst?
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By
Liam Hoare
The notion that Germany has special responsibilities due to the Holocaust influences Merkel’s outlook on the world significantly. But this is not to say everything is rosy.
07
Apr
Book Review // Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman
A double myth about Yitzhak Rabin has prevailed since his assassination in 1995. For the Israeli right, his peacemaking attempts were and still are evidence of traitorous subversion. For the Israeli left, and especially to much of the outside world, his memory is crowned with rare nobility.
07
Apr
Book Review // Heretics
Leonardo Padura’s Heretics is a remarkable book. Padura, who is certainly the most prominent of a small number of Jewish Cuban authors, might also be the most famous writer in Cuba today. Best known in this country for his Inspector Mario Conde detective series…
17
Mar
Spring Cookbooks for Passover and Beyond
King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking Around the World / Fress: Bold Flavors from a Jewish Kitchen / Matzo: 35 Recipes for Passover and All Year Long
17
Mar
Book Essay // Refracted Identities, Mirrored Lives
Suleiman’s new book, The Némirovsky Question: The Life, Death and Legacy of a Jewish Writer in 20th-Century France, explores Némirovsky’s tragic career and the deteriorating civil society of pre-World War II France that first nurtured the writer and then ultimately turned on her. Drawing on parallels to her own life, Suleiman makes of the story a meditation on allegiance, foreignness and assimilation—one with uncanny echoes for today’s politics.
21
Feb
An American Jew in Israel
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By
Sarah Breger
By Uri Regev
Jessica Fishman's skillfully written memoir Chutzpah and High Heels: The Search for Love and Identity in the Holy Land presents to the reader...
06
Feb
Book Review // Light Come Shining: The Transformations Of Bob Dylan
When Bob Dylan became the first songwriter to win the Nobel Prize in Literature last October, the internet erupted with reactions ranging from euphoria to dismay.
06
Feb
Book Review // Twenty Girls to Envy Me: Selected Poems of Orit Gidali
Until the 1980s, women were a small minority among Hebrew writers. There was Russian-born Rahel Bluwstein (1890–1931), considered the “founding mother” of modern Hebrew poetry by women. Esther Raab (1894–1981) was the first native-born Israeli woman poet, principally known for her rich use of modern Hebrew.