Kenneth Koch (1925-2002), the larger-than-life poet and much beloved Columbia University English professor who recently died from leukemia, didn’t invent jouissance in poetry, but he certainly revived it when he discovered the playful French surrealist and avant-garde poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Gerard de Nerval during the dreary days of 1950s academic poetry. In his long…
LONDON — Jews in the British capital are on “high alert” for attacks after a recent crackdown on Islamist extremists and because of a heightening of tensions owing to the likelihood of a war in Iraq. The Community Security Trust, a wing of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the country’s central Jewish representative…
The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets in the Twenty-first Century By Michael Mandelbaum Public Affairs, 512 pages, $30. * * *| It’s been almost 12 years since the first President George Bush, flush with triumph in the Cold War and victory over Iraq, declared a burgeoning New World Order with…
The five remaining Jewish prisoners held in Iran on spying charges may be freed within the next two months, according to the sole Jewish member of the Iranian parliament. “From the discussions I had in Iran, I sincerely hope they will be released either on the occasion of the anniversary of the Islamic revolution on…
Your Mouth Is Lovely By Nancy Richler Ecco/HarperCollins, 386 pages, $25.95. * * *| Contemporary Jews reconstruct the lost places of the European past in search of ground solid enough to support the foundations of their future. This Jewish search for what Jewish literature professor David Roskies has called a “usable past” animates fictional as…
Anti-Israel rhetoric within the anti-war movement is raising concerns among Jews who oppose an American attack on Iraq. Much of their anxiety surrounds a controversial group, International Answer, formed after the September 11 attacks, that has played a key role in anti-war organizing. It sponsored the massive anti-war demonstrations in Washington, D.C, and San Francisco…
CHAPTER 60: THE QUEST FOR A CULPRIT By Anne Roiphe IIn Chapter 59, Ina asked Sergei to help with researching her new idea about cell reproduction. * * *| Leonid did not take time for lunch. He needed a lawyer right away. A man had a good idea only so often. He did not intend…
Mitchell Cohen is not the first commentator to make the case that the United States should use force to remove Saddam Hussein’s “fascist-like” regime from power — sooner rather than later — warning that “his menace, especially nuclear, will only swell” with time. What makes Cohen’s arguments noteworthy, if not original, is that they were…
Many of you have read by now of the “Jehoash inscription,” the black stone tablet with an ancient Hebrew text allegedly found by Palestinian workers while digging on the Temple Mount and purportedly dating to the reign of the Judean king Jehoash in the ninth century BCE. If this inscription is authentic, it would be…
New York is the latest state to adopt measures to counter the movement to force governments and universities to withdraw their investments in Israel. The state’s second highest-ranking official, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, told the Forward that he intends to increase the investments of the state’s $105 billion pension in Israel, and has spoken to entrepreneurs…
It was a moment that would make any Jewish breast swell with pride: No, not Senator Joseph Lieberman entering the race for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, but the record-breaking time it took a company to cash in on it. At joebeanie.com, you can find a white leather yarmulke for $12.95…
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