Translating poetry from one language into another is always a daunting challenge. The translator must not only convey the essence of the original meaning but must also adhere to the rhymes and rhythms of the original. The task is doubly troublesome when the original material in English is a work of the Savoyards — as…
“It is the proverbial elephant in the room,” wrote liberal columnist Michael Kinsley in the October 24, 2002, edition of the online journal Slate. “Everybody sees it, no one mentions it.” Kinsley was referring to a debate, once only whispered in back rooms but lately splashed in bold characters across the mainstream media, over Jewish…
He is what would be considered by many as an unlikely advocate for Israel: a French Socialist. But as a member of the European Parliament, Francois Zimeray has been the driving force behind an unprecedented move to shed light on the possible misuse of European funds by the Palestinian Authority. Although his efforts to launch…
Now Georgie Bush’s in Washington He got there by a stunt he spun: His friends in court said he’s the one Although he really hadn’t won. Georgie said, “I don’t feel shame, For that’s the way we play the game. There’s nothing that should make you stop, So long as you end up on top.”…
BELARUS Page 17OSHMENE, Belarus — Only once in the 12 years that I’ve conducted these little expeditions to Eastern Europe have I come across a three-generation Jewish family that lives under one roof in a shtetl. Not that they’re all talking to each other, mind you — as Ecclesiastes once remarked, “There is nothing new…
JERUSALEM — Delivering babies and treating victims of terrorism: Those aren’t the typical activities for a tourist in Israel, even one who has signed on for a rigorous volunteer or study program. But for Sara Ahronheim, 23, it’s a dream come true. “To be helping a 20-year-old Israeli woman give birth to a child, it’s…
The 2003 Maine Jewish Film Festival brings five days of celluloid offerings to the big screen, kicking off with a reception and screening of Henry Bean’s 2001 portrait of a neo-Nazi skinhead, “The Believer,” based on a true story and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year. This year’s festival’s “Crossing Cultures”…
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is being accused of putting politics ahead of policy for dismissing a Secret Service notice and welcoming terrorism suspect Sami Al-Arian into the White House complex for a June 2001 meeting. Al-Arian, a Florida professor indicted last week for his alleged role as a leader of a Palestinian Islamic terrorist…
Forward reader Michael Katz writes: In a recent piece of yours, you referred to the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet as daled. I believe that the correct spelling is dalet, with the Hebrew letter tav as the word’s last consonant. I wonder why it is that Ashkenazim, who traditionally pronounce the final tav of…
Lectures and Discussions Networks of Old: National Jewish Book Award-winner Seth Schwartz (“Imperialism and Jewish Society: 200 BCE-640 CE”) discusses “Charity, Friendship and Social Relations Among the Ancient Jews” in the inaugural Gerson D. Cohen Memorial lecture, endowed by Stephen Axinn, who founded the Gerson D. Cohen Chair in Rabbinic Culture in tribute to his…
Of Noteworthy Items in the Press A Certain People: If the Reformation was a giant oyster, were the Jews the irritant around which grew the pearl known as the Enlightenment? One professor seems to think so. In its February 28 issue, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the “highly anticipated” first book by 33-year-old…
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