Esther Schor
By Esther Schor
-
Culture Crocodiling in Esperanto On the Streets of Hanoi
Hanoi, Vietnam – A few weeks ago, on a sultry day in the western reaches of Hanoi, I crocodiled with an Australian. I also alligatored with a Nepalese and, with a charming young woman from Madagascar, I caymaned — in French. Most of the time, however, I was trying hard to speak Esperanto, the most…
-
Culture The Shtetl Next Door
In my synagogue, the Jewish Center of Princeton, the lobby where mazel tovs drop like manna doubles as an art gallery. Often the art provides a demure backdrop for well-heeled congregants — a still life of lilacs here, a lithograph of the Old City over there. But not The Jewish Shtetl Today, an arresting exhibit…
-
Culture FALL BOOKS
Kafka By Nicholas Murray Yale University Press, 440 pages, $30. ——– Kafka may have died childless, but Kafka’s biography is a series of begats, with each generation turning on its elders. In the beginning was Max Brod’s Judaic saint, a rapt visionary; the visionary Kafka begat the ironical Kafka of the absurdists and existentialists; that…
-
Culture My Favorite Demon
Writers are famous for their demons, whether they battle alcoholism, depression or the savage pain of a rotten youth. Isaac Bashevis Singer was no exception, except that his demons were demons. Unlike many writers, he made no secret of them: “I am possessed by my demons,” he declared to Commentary. Later, he made a telling…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News No Jews allowed: White supremacists are building a segregated community in Arkansas, but is it legal?
- 2
Opinion Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go
- 3
News What a Mayor Mamdani would mean for New York Jews
- 4
Opinion Mamdani’s victory is an opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Dr. Ruth taught me everything I know — because she was my mom
-
Fast Forward Pro-Israel Jewish Democrats say Zohran Mamdani’s Israel stances are cause for concern, but not panic
-
Fast Forward Report: Unilever cuts funding for Ben & Jerry’s foundation as it audits giving to progressive and pro-Palestinian causes
-
Yiddish World Venice’s international arts festival gets unexpected taste of Yiddish
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
