Oh, to use “appetizing” as a noun! Oh, to remember sunny summers spent splashing on the beach at Coney Island. Oh, to have a knish do for me what a madeleine did for Proust — unleash a torrent of memories, except instead of tortured and French, mine are warm and borough based. A violin fiddles…
The public debate that erupted surrounding attacks by the Im Tirtzu organization in Israel against the New Israel Fund has now ignited a secondary fire: J Street against Christians United for Israel, and vice versa. On the sidelines of the NIF debate, J Street came out against funding provided by CUFI to Im Tirtzu. In…
At time when newspapers, magazines and journals are experiencing a crisis unprecedented in the history of print, launching a new publication devoted to Jewish issues is either a fool’s errand or a bold attempt to revive the minds of American Jews using some old-fashioned intellectual journalism. Abraham Socher is the editor of The Jewish Review…
Last year, my parents took my younger sister and brother to see Annie (one of my favorite musicals). My sister Mira (who was eight at the time) was terribly upset by the show. The show recounts the story of an orphan who is adopted by a billionaire businessman. Mira was so disturbed at the idea…
On a recent Monday morning in southern Brooklyn, 20 kindergarteners sat on a rug, staring up at a photo of President Obama. Their teacher, Nitzan Graham, asked them, in Hebrew, to identify the parts of Obama’s face, and the children were ecstatic, yelling out the Hebrew words for “nose” and “mouth.” When the ruckus had…
As human rights organizations continue to be vilified by an Israeli government still smarting from the effects of the Goldstone Report, the Forward has learned that the Israeli military has been in conversation and even actively working with Human Rights Watch, the international organization that has been often — and loudly — denounced by the…
The Jewish Theological Seminary is eliminating the position of dean of its cantorial school as part of a major reorganization and consolidation at Conservative Judaism’s flagship seminary. Chancellor Arnold Eisen said that the restructuring would take place in lieu of closing the cantorial school — the course of action recommended by an outside consultant. Eisen’s…
Barring snowstorm-induced printing delays, during the week of February 15, mailboxes across the country will receive the launch issue of The Jewish Review of Books, a new print journal. A quarterly magazine devoted to Jewish literary and political affairs, the JRB boasts heavy hitters on its editorial board, such as Michael Walzer, Leon Wieseltier and…
In a small chapel overlooking a frozen sea inlet, Dick Heyman leads a tiny congregation in a Sabbath-evening service. “Blessed are you, endless one, who makes the evenings fall,” he says, opening the Ma’ariv service with an English rendition of the prayer Asher Bidvaro. “Oh, wait,” Heyman says, pausing. “We can’t say that here.” Heyman…
A recently aborted Knesset proposal to investigate whether the largest financial supporter of Israeli human rights groups is subversively anti-Israel is merely the opening salvo planned against the New Israel Fund in Israel’s parliament. With support from several Knesset members, Im Tirtzu, the group that sparked the Knesset investigation move, wants to stop Israelis, who…
Days before the controversial appearance by the head of J Street at the University of Pennsylvania’s Hillel, critics of the left-wing Israel lobby announced that they would hold a counter-event in the same building at the same time. The prospect of an explosive evening came on the heels of weeks of harsh criticism aimed at…
