We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust By Ellen Cassedy University of Nebraska Press, 288 pages, $19.95 This past May, the remains of the Nazi-quisling head of Lithuania?s wartime Provisional Government (PG), Juozas Brazaitis, were ceremoniously disinterred from Putnam, Conn., where he was buried in 1974, and reinterred a few days later in Kaunas,…
The American Jewish Committee, a centrist pillar of America’s organized Jewish community, is breaking with the long-standing establishment consensus that settlements on the Israeli-occupied West Bank pose no impediment to peace. The committee, in a press release issued on July 12, affirmed the legality of settlements throughout the West Bank and rejected the notion that…
When culinary historians look back at the first two decades of the 21st century, they’ll no doubt conclude that this was the golden age of food trucks. Brightly colored trucks with kitschy names roll out onto the streets of cities across North America each day, dishing out delicacies like artisanal ice cream sandwiches, snacks from…
In this week?s podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by columnist J.J. Goldberg and staff writer Paul Berger to discuss a recent pronouncement of an Israeli commission that the Israeli presence in the West Bank is not an occupation and the resulting international outcry. Then, summer interns Hannah Rubin and Simi Lampert give a preview…
One of the members of the Levy Committee on the legality of settlements in the territories has angrily rebuffed the protest letter against its final report sent to Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier this week, accusing its signatories of “insulting” the Committee members, making “incorrect and ill-advised assumptions” and of providing ammunition to those seeking to…
In all my years of watching Jacques Cousteau’s undersea documentaries, I do not recall any reference to an ocean denizen known as a “Jewfish.” The species, however, is featured prominently in “Oceans and Other Worlds,” a fascinating exhibition of works by Brooklyn-born artist Stanley Meltzoff. The exhibit can be seen at the Society of Illustrators…
A “normal”-looking man carrying a fake Michigan driver’s license carried out the suicide bombing that killed seven people in a bus transporting Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, the country’s interior minister said. Israel said Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants were to blame. The attack, carried out by a man wearing shorts and carrying a backpack, took place on…
Regardless of whether you have tried Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda, you likely have an opinion about it. With its grassy smell and vegetal flavor, it’s one of those foods — like licorice or Vegemite — that one either craves or despises with equal vigor. For some, it’s an essential part of the deli experience, with…
Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community in Israel and one of the most well-known figures in the Haredi world, died Wednesday at the age of 102. Elyashiv died Wednesday at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he was hospitalized for several months due to heart, lungs and kidney complications. Since…
If you want to be buried in New Jersey, try dying early in the week. Jewish law requires speedy burial, but bans Saturday funerals. So a death late in the week often means a funeral on a Sunday. And in New Jersey, a Sunday funeral means extra burial fees of up to $500, even more…
Holding a thinly sliced piece of prosciutto between two of her fingers, Marina, my Italian host mother, declared, “Dai, provalo!” Come on, try it! It was my first night living in Italy for a semester abroad, and I arrived as a kosher-keeping vegetarian. I hadn’t eaten any meat, let alone pork, for nearly four years,…
