Biography
‘This man is not going to daunt me:’ Talking with Philip Roth’s biographer, Blake Bailey
If Philip Roth wasn’t a good man, he was certainly an original one.
Q&A: Shlomo Avineri On What We Get Wrong About Karl Marx
“In many cases, positions that are attributed to Marx are not his positions.”
New Biography Explores Bob Dylan’s Spiritual Journey
“Bob Dylan was born a Jew. Then he wasn’t, but now he’s back.”
How Sammy Davis Jr. Became the Great Jewish Entertainer
As a self-proclaimed ‘one-eyed black Jew,’ Sammy Davis Jr. didn’t have it easy. Tracey Davis explains in a new memoir that being his daughter could be tough too.
Was Adolf Hitler Leader or Follower?
Three new biographies of Hitler or Himmler succeed to a degree in doing what Milton did for hell in Paradise Lost: they make darkness visible to the rest of us.
Jerusalem's Three Unauthorized Portraits
Jerusalem lives in the past and present simultaneously, which makes figuring it out so frustrating and difficult. Three new books take a crack, with uneven results.
The Man Who Out-Sainted Einstein
Physicist James Franck’s most remarkable distinction may be that on a human level, he was even more saintly than his friend and colleague Albert Einstein.
Introducing Avraham Burg's Torah Tent
More and more in our generation the Torah is claimed as the domain of a select few, whose interpretations are said to be authoritative for all. Avraham Burg reveals a new way of interpreting the weekly Torah reading, which seeks to return the Torah to its rightful owners – all of us. Written from a worldview deeply committed to Judaism, he reminds us that the responsibility for interpretation and identity rests on each and every one of us. The Torah is not in heaven but in the hearts and mouths of us all, to study and to live by.
Polishing the Golden Rule
The story goes that a certain heathen approached the Jewish sage Shammai and asked to be converted, on the condition that he is taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Indignant at receiving such a ludicrous request, Shammai chased the man away. Undeterred, the heathen then approached the sage Hillel with the same request. Hillel replied with what Jews regard as the golden rule: “That which is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. This is the whole Torah, all the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.”
Mad's Al Jaffee's Little-Known Ties to Chabad
One of the more shocking revelations in Mad magazine artist Al Jaffee’s biography – reviewed in the Forward last week — is the secret identities of several contributors to The Moshiach Times, a 25-year-old kids’ magazine published by Chabad.