Jonathan Kesselman

By Jonathan Kesselman

Culture
Part V: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

After the battle at Tamra, my father’s commander, Norm Schutzman, moved the men of B-Company up to the coast North of Haifa for more training. In late fall, Schutzman received orders that the entire 7th Brigade, including his company, was to clear the Galilee of Arab troops to the Lebanese border. Schutzman’s company’s assignment was…

By Jonathan Kesselman Jun 24, 2009 | 6 min read
Culture
Part IV: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Prior to the arrival of my father and the first wave of Machalniks in May 1948, the fledgling Israeli army had taken huge losses. These losses weren’t simply because the soldiers were heavily outnumbered, but because the Israeli army had not yet become a unit: It was still a disorganized patchwork quilt of antagonistic freedom…

By Jonathan Kesselman Apr 29, 2009 | 7 min read
Culture
Part III: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

My father arrived in Marseilles in late July 1948, as a lace salesman from Belgium. Gloria Kessler, a nurse working at a hospital in Chicago, had decided to give up her career to smuggle herself into Palestine to help. She, too, received falsified documents from Teddy Kollek at the Hotel Fourteen and remembers sailing with…

By Jonathan Kesselman Mar 25, 2009 | 6 min read
Culture
Part II: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

When my father was 9, his mother, Bessie, developed cancer. At the age of 12, my father returned home from school to find all the mirrors in his home covered; Bessie had passed away, and my father was told by his father, Bennie, a fruit salesman, that Bessie had died because my father had been…

By Jonathan Kesselman Feb 25, 2009 | 6 min read
Culture
Part I: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

This is a story of loyalty and betrayal. It’s a story of bravery and subtlety, of mortal stakes on a global stage. It is also a thrilling story filled with “cloak-and-dagger elements,” featuring storied American men both famous and infamous: Harry Truman, Mickey Marcus, Hank Greenspun, Jimmy Hoffa and Charles Winters (the man who was…

By Jonathan Kesselman Jan 21, 2009 | 4 min read
Culture
Being a Profound Critical Analysis of Contemporary Jewish Comedic Literature

Jew-Jitsu: The Hebrew Hands of Fury By Rabbi Daniel Eliezer and Paul Kupperberg Citadel, 112 pages, $12.95. Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century By Simcha Weinstein Barricade Books, 192 pages, $15.95. How To Profit From the Coming Rapture: Getting Ahead When You’re Left Behind By Steve and Evie Levy, as told to Ellis…

By Jonathan Kesselman Nov 20, 2008 | 5 min read

Explore

Jonathan Kesselman

By Jonathan Kesselman

Part V: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part IV: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part III: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part II: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part I: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Being a Profound Critical Analysis of Contemporary Jewish Comedic Literature

Most Popular

In Case You Missed It

Right-wing insurrectionists tried to topple the German government in 1920 — it’s happening again in Trump’s America

Can a kinky new Yiddish musical resurrect a lost art — and one man who got spanked to death?

Josh Shapiro’s Judaism was not why Kamala Harris snubbed him, new book claims

דאָקטוירים פֿון אַן אַנדער שניטDoctors of a different sort

Jonathan Kesselman

By Jonathan Kesselman

Part V: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part IV: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part III: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part II: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Part I: Writing in My Father’s Footsteps

Being a Profound Critical Analysis of Contemporary Jewish Comedic Literature

Most Popular

No Jews allowed: White supremacists are building a segregated community in Arkansas, but is it legal?

Zohran Mamdani has represented Astoria’s Jews for 4 years. What do they think of him?

Curtis Sliwa has a plan to beat Zohran Mamdani in NYC mayor’s race — and it starts with apologizing to Jews

Barbra Streisand’s brand-new duet with Bob Dylan is a whole lot different than you might think

In Case You Missed It

Right-wing insurrectionists tried to topple the German government in 1920 — it’s happening again in Trump’s America

Can a kinky new Yiddish musical resurrect a lost art — and one man who got spanked to death?

Josh Shapiro’s Judaism was not why Kamala Harris snubbed him, new book claims

דאָקטוירים פֿון אַן אַנדער שניטDoctors of a different sort

Shop the Forward Store