Yid Lit: Jeffery Eugenides
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘Middlesex’ crafts a college love triangle in his new novel. When he saw ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ he thought it was about Greeks.
Yid Lit: Anna Solomon
Jewish mail-order bride. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? And for that matter, “Jewish pioneer” does too. But they existed. And they inspired Anna Solomon to write her debut novel.
Lesson from Elul: No One Should Dance Alone
Summer is hard to take seriously with nobody in the office, and everybody running around half-dressed. No wonder High Holidays fall when school resumes and the air grows brisk — when life starts taking itself seriously again.
Bar Mitzvah Boy Serenades Tornado Victims
Thirteen-year-old Eli Clarke was so moved by the plight of Joplin, Mo. tornado victims, that he took to his string instruments. The Montclair, New Jersey native and Bnai Keshet synagogue member will be a bar mitzvah in November, and for his tikkun olam service requirement, he wrote a song to raise funds to rebuild Joplin. One of the deadliest tornados in U.S. history tore through the town at the end of May, killing more than 100 people and demolishing much of what was the birthplace of Langston Hughes. Clarke knew no one in Joplin, but he still felt moved by the tragedy.
Yid Lit: Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman doesn’t object to his best-sellers being dubbed ‘Harry Potter for adults.’ The books are filled with magic and wizardry, but they don’t shy away from grown-up nastiness.
Lev Grossman Writes Fantasy Novels Even a Grown-Up Can Love
Lev Grossman doesn’t object to his best-sellers being dubbed ‘Harry Potter for adults.’ The books are filled with magic and wizardry, but they sometimes end badly.
Yid Lit: Carmela Ciuraru
Many authors who wrote under pseudonyms led strange lives. Carmela Ciuraru tells tales of writers who killed themselves or their lovers and one who used jail as a artistic retreat.
Not Your Average Matchmaker
Areleh Harel is not your average matchmaker. The Orthodox rabbi in Jerusalem sets up marriages between Orthodox gay men and Orthodox lesbians. The goal is to allow Orthodox Jews to fulfill their desires to marry and have children with partners who understand what it’s like to be gay, and who can keep the secret.
Trio of Jewish Women Religious Leaders
The Huffington Post is out with its list of the top 10 women religious leaders, and one is a rabbi, another a Jewish activist and a third is a spiritual guru with Jewish roots.
For Tu B'Av, Solar Gets Sexy
Tu B’av is the Jewish love fest, so what better time to promote hooking up? To solar energy, that is.