By Anthony Weiss
Robert Alter has now translated more than 60% of the Hebrew bible in 20 years. He’s up to the part about the schisms and assassinations following the death of Solomon.
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By Anthony Weiss
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. Scholar Robert Alter has some issues with the translation of the holy book.
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By Nicholas Weiss and Anthony Weiss
In Allan Appel’s recently published novel, “The Hebrew Tutor of Bel Air,” teen nebbish Norman Plummer is drawn into a battle of wills and values when he is hired to tutor the seductive and wealthy Bayla Adler for her bat mitzvah. To better understand the book’s unique subject matter, the Forward turned to an expert: Nick Weiss, brother of former Forward staff writer Anthony Weiss, is himself a Hebrew tutor in Los Angeles as well as a film director. Anthony recently sat down with Nick in a Beverly Hills delicatessen to discuss the life of a Hebrew tutor.
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By Anthony Weiss
On September 11, 2001, Harold Ramis was in a car making its way through the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn — the heart of the Satmar Hasidic community — watching as people covered in ash from the just-fallen Twin Towers came streaming over the bridges from Lower Manhattan. “We got to Williamsburg, and the Hasidim were walking around in their
shtreimels, and I thought, what an image of religion today: the insular fundamentalism of Judaism, and the violent fundamentalism of Islam,” Ramis said during a recent interview with the Forward.
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By Anthony Weiss
More tawdry news on the Madoff front.
Lawsuits have been filed against Stanley Chais and Jeffry Picower for receiving what appear to be suspiciously generous and apparently preferential returns for their investments. An
investigative report by ProPublica documents that Picower and his family withdrew an astonishing $5.1 billion from Madoff — more, apparently, than Madoff himself.
Chais and
Picower had been two of the most generous donors to Jewish causes, as well as a number of non-Jewish causes. (Just four months ago, Israeli non-profits held an event to
honor Chais for his generosity through the years).
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Cleveland Kidnapping, Elizabeth Smart and Us
Tracing the Jewish Origins of the Holy Ghost
Ethical Kosher Seal Stalls Amid Orthodox Opposition
Baby Boomers’ Rocky Road to Jewish Love
'War' With Ultra-Orthodox at Kotel? Bring It On
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