Forward.com

Darwin and Gods — for Kids

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:29:00 EST

Children’s book author Deborah Heiligman has been interested in religion since she was a teenager, majoring in religious studies in college. “When you look at a people and its religion, you’re looking at sociology, psychology, history, anthropology,” she said. “You really are studying every aspect of their society.” Meanwhile, her husband, science writer Jonathan Weiner, has always been fascinated by science. His 1994 book, “The Beak of the Finch,” about the ongoing process of evolution on the Galapagos Islands, won the Pulitzer Prize. Heiligman and Weiner’s marriage is, you could say, one of science and religion. Now, Heiligman has a new book about one of science and religion’s most formidable pairings; it was a finalist for this year’s National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

Pannonica

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:37:00 EST

Music, namely hearing Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight,” caused Nina Rothschild to abandon her family to embrace the vulnerable, dangerous world of New York bebop in the late 1940s. A documentary made by her great-niece provides testimony to Rothschild’s influence.

Magen Tzedek: Model of the Jewish Future or Show Without an Audience?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:36:00 EST

The problem seems not to have changed. Back when I was at college, the egalitarian services couldn’t get a minyan, and so, while I didn’t like Orthodox liturgy, and didn’t approve of the mechitza (prayer barrier), I still schlepped up the extra flight of stairs to the traditional minyan, week after week. Whatever my personal preferences, it seemed that only Orthodox Jews cared enough to make the system work.

Mahmoud Darwish: If He Were Another

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:36:00 EST

Two summers ago, I dined at a Ramallah restaurant with a Fatah leader. I ordered Taibeh, the local beer, but my host chose Heineken, remarking: “I just dined with Mahmoud Darwish, and he told me, ‘My stomach knows no nationality.’”

Internet: The Hatred Super-Highway

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:34:00 EST

“What’s the difference between Jews and Nazis? The Jews are guilty of the crimes they’re accused of.”: The boldfaced quotes are real. They were written within the past few months by people who believe they are true. They are quotes from hateful blogs and Web sites — some written in America, some abroad. Antisemitism pulses, alive and well, on the Internet.

How, Why, Who Hates Us

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:33:00 EST

Historian Victor Tcherikover used to say that there are few phenomena in history that have a history of 2,000 years. Antisemitism is one of those phenomena. The cultural antisemitism of the ancient world; Christian religious antisemitism; the racist forms of the modern era, beginning with Voltaire and culminating in the horrors of the destruction of European Jewry — all add to these the “new” antisemitism of radical Islam and virulent forms of “Israelophobia,” and you have a cluster of issues and events that we, in 2009, cannot adequately address. For scholars, it is not merely of theoretical interest to grapple with these issues, but it is also crucial to know how to face them, both now and in the future.

Standing Up and Leading the Way

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:31:00 EST

Sybil Terres Gilmar writes from Philadelphia: “Recently, as part of my work as a docent at Mikveh Israel, the oldest continuous congregation in Philadelphia (since 1740), I came across the word ‘duchening’ in conjunction with an early 19th-century chair adorned with hands indicating the priestly blessing. In trying to research the origin of the word, I came across information that it derives from dukhan, the platform in the Temple from which the priests blessed the people, but a recent Israeli visitor said that it was from a Hebrew verb meaning ‘to stand.’ What do you think? Is it a noun? A verb? From Hebrew? From Yiddish?”

Hakoah Vienna: 100 Years Old and Still Powering On

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:43:00 EST

In Vienna, on the night of Saturday, November 7, the Sports Club Hakoah, also known as Hakoah Vienna, held a gala ball to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The evening’s entertainment included a bare-chested acrobat whose midair gyrations, on a swath of purple cloth hung from the ceiling, suggested both the precarious nature of Jews in Vienna and the skills used to pull off this event.

The Nudes of Dr. Moreau

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:23:00 EST

The floor of photographer Daniel Gordon’s studio is covered in colored shreds of paper. Here and there, an arm and leg made from those very scraps protrude from the rubble. One leg is covered in a sheath of thick gray hair that also turns out to be made of paper.

Chana Bloch’s ‘Blood Honey’

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:22:00 EST

Many of us know Chana Bloch as the translator of Yehuda Amichai, Israel’s most illustrious poet. Bloch’s own poetry, however, in her recent collection, delves into her Ashkenazic Jewish heritage and its folkloric store of imagery and engages Israel’s arch foil: the Diaspora.

Urban Desert Holy Land Hip-Hop

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:21:00 EST

The hip-hop bravado of Soulico, the Israeli DJ collective, comes with an undercurrent of adorable self-consciousness. Although the members are veterans of the business, they seem surprised by their breakthrough with an album and an American tour. Their affect is an excited, “Can you believe it?” Because of the vibrant complexity they create, you shouldn’t be surprised by feelings of happy mindlessness on the dance floor. But if you do decide to pay attention, the album lends itself to bigger ideas and more important questions.

Man of the Hour

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:20:00 EST

Once underestimated in favor of his more acclaimed artist friends, like Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia, Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia in 1890) is now finally the man of the hour, honored with two major exhibits: Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention, which runs from November 15 to March 14, 2010, at New York’s Jewish Museum, and Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens, from October 10 to January 10, 2010, at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. These exhibits, displaying a rich variety of Ray’s photos, sculptures, paintings, and drawings, provide an occasion for reassessing the inspirations of Man Ray from early canvases, which, like works by his predecessors Picasso and Braque, were strongly influenced by the powerful abstraction of African sculpture, as well as by the less obvious, but equally essential, influence of his own self-camouflaged Jewish origins. Together, these two exhibits help place Ray in context both as a visually obsessed and inspired creator of his times and as a 20th-century American Jewish expatriate in France.

What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:17:00 EST

At the end of last week’s column about the traditional use of Hebrew characters to write Jewish languages, like Yiddish and Ladino, I promised that this week’s column would deal with the opposite development — namely, the growing tendency in America to write Yiddish in Latin characters. More and more, one finds Yiddish written that way in books and articles, and on the Internet.

The Kosher Contender

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:48:00 EST

Professional athletes lead interesting lives. Yuri Foreman’s life has been really interesting. Foreman was born in 1980 in the Soviet Union and started his boxing training at 7 years old. He kept it up when his family immigrated to Israel in 1991, eventually winning three national championships. To further his career, Foreman came to the United States in 1999 and worked a full-time job while training at night. In 2002, he became the New York Golden Gloves champion.

A Concerto for Ancient Hebrew Ram’s Horn

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:55:00 EST

Composer Meira Warshauer is not the first move the shofar from synagogue to concert hall, but her new concerto for shofar-trombone soloist and orchestra, called “Tekeeyah (a call),” highlights the instrument’s range beyond its traditional ritual role.

'18' and Life — as an Arab-Israeli

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:58:00 EST

Natan Dvir’s “18” is a photo-documentary project that focuses on the lives of 18-year-old Arab-Israelis. This is a pivotal age — one at which most Jewish Israelis join the Israel military, while most Arab-Israelis do not. Divr’s exhibit — opening November 12, 2009, and on view through January 28, 2010 at Laurie M. Tisch Gallery at the JCC in Manhattan — is being shown in conjunction with the Other Israel Film Festival.

Talmud vs. Anna Akhmatova

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:25:00 EST

This week’s Torah portion is Parshat Vayera in which Lot’s wife looks back and turns into a pillar of salt. Midrash makes some guesses at the reasons for the punishment, but the famous Russian poet Anna Akhmatova writes not about events but about what she was feeling as she disobeyed her husband and looked back at the city she had left.

Transforming the Y

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:50:00 EST

Since taking over as executive director in 2007, Stephen Hazan Arnoff has looked to transform the 14th Street Y of the Educational Alliance both conceptually and physically. The first phase of the building renovation reflects the Y’s attempt to use art and design to enhance a sense of community. In this audio slideshow, Esther Sperber from Studio ST Architects discusses the challenges she and her colleague, Guy Zucker of Z-A Studio faced as Jewish architects renovating a Jewish communal space while preserving and enhancing its inclusive mission.

Against Israeli Anti-Mizrahism

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:11:00 EST

Rachel Shabi’s “You Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands” provides an impassioned argument against the neglect of the country’s Middle Eastern identity. In this Q&A, Shabi explains why she thinks, “the Israeli take on history is not terribly accommodating to different narratives.

EnviroJews Avant La Lettre

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:09:00 EST

When it comes to talk of eco-Judaism, the history the story of how largely urban immigrants from Eastern Europe found themselves cultivating chicken in New Jersey, gets lost in the shuffle, Jenna Weissman Joselit writes.