Book Review | FDR and the Jews
Marc Fisher reviews FDR and the Jews, by Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman.
26
Feb
16
Jan
Noble Books
Nine Nobel laureates reflect on their favorite classic and contemporary Jewish books
“I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the Earth might be killed, but enough men capable of thinking, and enough books, would be left to start again, and civilization could be restored,” Albert Einstein wrote in 1945, 24 years after he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. What books, in addition to the Torah and the Talmud, would we want to pass on to the future? We’ve asked Moment co-founder Elie Wiesel and eight of his fellow Nobel laureates—from fields as diverse as economics, physics and medicine—to reflect on their favorite Jewish books. Although most were born before World War II, their selections span the whole of...
04
Jan
A Jewish Time Capsule
Five years ago, I got the thrill of a lifetime when, as a collections manager for the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC, I placed a 10th-century parchment fragment into a display case for a Bible exhibition. This fragile fragment was a palimpsest, a layered text on which an earlier writing had been replaced by a later one. The first was a sixth-century copy of a Greek translation of a section of the Book of Kings by the famed second-century writer Aquila. The later text was a 10th-century copy of a liturgical poem fragment by the seventh-century Palestinian Jewish poet Yannai, a precursor to the poets of the later Golden Age in Spain. The fragment was found in the famed Cairo Geniza, a repository of sacred texts, and is just one piece in a collection...
31
Dec
Uncle Xenon: The Elemental Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks opens the door of his lower Manhattan apartment himself because his assistant, Kate Edgar, is in the emergency room with a twisted ankle. He looks somewhat befuddled, although he is expecting us. He is neither tall nor short, slightly round in the middle and wearing a button-down shirt, one middle button undone. His shyness, which is legendary, is evident from the moment he greets us, as he steps back awkwardly to make room for us to come inside.
My 15-year-old son Noah is with me, skipping school for the opportunity to meet the writer behind The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, An Anthropologist on Mars, the new Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain and other volumes. Using the old-fashioned but powerful technique of medical narrative, with patients as heroes, Sacks’s work has bridged the...
21
Nov
A Jewish Life
Talking Jewish With Deborah Tannen
It was Thanksgiving 1978 in Berkeley. Some guests brought cranberry sauce, some brought sweet potato pie; Deborah Tannen—who was analyzing conversations for her doctoral dissertation in linguistics—brought her tape recorder. Over a turkey dinner that lasted two and a half hours, three Jews and three Gentiles, ages 29 to 35, discussed 38 topics that included New York geography, relationships, Quonset huts, piano hands and—of course—food.
When Tannen later listened to the tape of the lively discourse, it struck her: unlike the three Gentiles (whom she calls Sally, David and Chad), she and the other two Jews (Steve and Peter)—all of whom had grown up in New York City and were of Eastern European descent—spoke dramatically and rapidly and pursued a variety of topics simultaneously. In fact, so many distinctions between the two...
05
Jan
Speaking Volumes | Crying for Jean Valjean
I read Les Misérables when I was 25, studying at the London School of Economics. I was searching for my path. I’d spent several years as a journalist and was considering trying to make a go of it as a foreign correspondent.
29
Nov
Book Reviews
Kosher Nation: Why More and More of America’s Food Answers to a Higher Authority
reviewed by Robin Aronson
17
Dec
People of the Book: Not Asking or Telling
Times are hard for those who want to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. "Major setback for 'don't ask' repeal," blared a headline last week on the front page of The Washington Post. "The Senate Stands for Injustice," announced an editorial in The New York Times. After a military policy bill stalled in the Senate last week, it seems the odds of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell before the year is over are slim. The Senate is revisiting the issue this weekend in a vote that may decide, in one direction or another, the future of the 17-year-old policy.
The core of Don't Ask, Don't Tell–the idea that there are pieces of ourselves we must hide, that a part of one's identity might be inherently threatening and problematic–is not limited to the military. Andre Aciman's 2007...
18
Nov
People of the Book: Foreskin's Lament
by Sala Levin
The month before Hanukkah is designated as Jewish Book Month; in honor of the occasion, IntheMoment is launching a new feature: People of the Book. Every week, staff writers will share a Jewish book that they love and tell us why the book speaks to them. Of course, the world of Jewish literature is expansive and varied, and we hope that you, our readers, will share with us your own favorite Jewish books in the comments section--maybe one of your picks will be chosen for the spotlight.
The issue of favorite Jewish books inevitably raises an important question: Just what, exactly, is a "Jewish" book? Is it any book written by a Jewish writer, regardless of subject matter? A book whose main characters are Jewish, whether or not the writer is? What about a book...
29
Sep
Reminder: Moment's 2008 Book Poll
We had a wonderful response to our Presidential Poll, and now is the time to have your voice heard in our Book Poll. What's your favorite Jewish book? Write an email to vote@momentmag.com, and we might share the results in our next issue. Be sure to include your name, city, favorite book and reason for your choice.
Please have your votes in by this Friday, October 3 at 5:00. And be sure to check out the newsstands in November for Moment's Book Issue.
Photo by josiehen.