Culture

When France Embraced a Jewish Avenger

‘Vive la France, Vive la France!” Some 81 years ago this month, a person in Warsaw would have enjoyed the odd spectacle of a mob of Jews surrounding France’s Polish embassy, wildly proclaiming the greatness of the French Republic. The occasion: Jews everywhere were celebrating France because, after a sensational eight-day trial (which even made…

Putting a Campaign Spotlight on the (Hebrew) Character Issue

Who will get the Hebrew vote November 4? There must be a big one, since I can’t imagine why else the Obama and McCain campaigns and their supporters would be putting out so many Hebrew buttons, stickers, T-shirts, shopping bags, hats, mugs, mouse pads and other paraphernalia. Will it be a close race? If it’s…

Shout

Family: A Self-Portrait

I Am My Family: Photographic Memories and Fictions By Rafael Goldchain Princeton Architectural Press, 168 pages, $40.  There is something unsatisfying about Rafael Goldchain’s faux family photo album, “I Am My Family” — and it is this very quality that accounts for its considerable fascination and power. A photographer who has long explored questions of…

Kosha Dillz: Rhymes of a ‘Nice Jewish Boy’

There has never been a luckier or more morbid time to be a Jewish rapper; Jewish white suburban boys can now look to Israel to find some mass misery to rhyme about, taking their pick from suicide bombings, inner-governmental strife and Holocaust paranoia. Oh, and there’s also the women who — army-hardened and Mariah Carey-shaped…

Shooting Hoops, a Jewish History

It’s true that Major League Baseball has seen a renaissance of Jewish players during the past few years, but the historic American Jewish sport is surely basketball. It makes sense if you think about it. Easy to play on the concrete surfaces that are ubiquitous in urban areas, basketball was the sport most accessible to…