JENIN, Northern Samaria — Life is returning to normal here in the city once known as the suicide-bombing capital of the West Bank. The economy is picking up, services are being restored and local leaders describe a new optimism. The reason, Israeli military officials say, is the nearly completed security fence separating this sector of…
The biblical text doesn’t identify the Pharaoh of the Exodus, no doubt because the text is a timeless story of the journey from slavery to freedom, and what is needed is a generic Pharaoh, not a historical figure. But the story seems set in the Egypt of the New Kingdom period. How can we accommodate…
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is feeling heat from human rights and Jewish groups pressuring it to send a high-level official — preferably Secretary of State Colin Powell — to head the U.S. delegation to the upcoming Berlin conference on antisemitism. The executive director of Human Rights First, Michael Posner, sent a letter to the…
We gave the Passover Seder a “Queer Eye” makeover and came up with this little retro number. Like “Queer Eye,” it’s a little over the top, but if you’re looking for something different this year, it might just be the theme for you. It’s not entirely inappropriate, either. The Jews celebrated the crossing of the…
BATUMI, Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Georgia — Emil Krupnik and Oksana Vasilkova may not yet live in a Jeffersonian democracy, but politics in their home country has certainly changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. One day before the March 28 parliamentary elections here, a reporter from the local radio station paid a visit…
• In our color supplement: photos of Passover from the Forward archive, and the Abel Pann exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. • We reprint a rare article on the origins of the Haggada by Isaac Bashevis Singer from when he used the pseudonym “Yitskhok Varshavsky.” In This Week’s Russian Forward • An interview…
Poll: Jews Get More Blame The belief that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus is on the rise among Americans, particularly young people and blacks, according to a new nationwide survey conducted after the release of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” The telephone survey conducted March 17-21 by the Pew Research…
WASHINGTON — Despite his mounting legal and political problems at home, Prime Minister Sharon is making headway in securing U.S. support for his unilateral withdrawal plan and aggressive efforts to crush Hamas, according to American and Israeli sources. Encouraged by the relatively mild response of Arab leaders to Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed…
Foiglman By Aharon Megged, translated by Marganit Weinberger-Rotman Toby Press, 277 pages, $19.95. * * *| For those readers acquainted with the torrent of novels, story collections, reportage and histories pouring out of Israel, it is hard not to be struck by the wrenching re-examination of the past that characterizes much of it. It is…
It’s hard to believe “Sesame Street” is turning 35. It still looks so dewy and youthful. Big Bird still peers out at the world with his big innocent unwrinkled birdie eyes; nerdy Bert still does his patented slow burn at Ernie’s goofball antics; Oscar still snarls when excessive sappiness and sentiment get too near his…
There are many reasons to celebrate The Turner Classic Movies restoration of Edward F. Cline’s charming 1925 ethnic comedy “The Rag Man.” Not least, it offers a chance for audiences to finally watch a full-scale, feature-length performance by the famed but mostly forgotten Jewish performer Max Davidson. He was exceedingly popular early in the 20th…
