Let us take a moment to paraphrase a teaching from the Mishnah on the subject of atonement: For transgressions against readers of the Forward, the Schmooze atones. But for transgressions against Meghan Markle, the Schmooze does NOT atone until it becomes clear why Meghan Markle seems so Jewish. Let’s backtrack. Last Spring we were ecstatic…
All cultures have a tendency to make their building blocks into part of a collective myth, oversimplifying them in textbooks and in the collective consciousness of their members. We Jews are hardly immune from this impulse. Indeed, we have performed this very simplification upon a touchstone of our culture: the Hebrew language. Hebrew plays a…
One of the most treasured collections of ancient Hebrew manuscripts and books will be digitized and available for public view online under an agreement by the state libraries of Russia and Israel announced on Tuesday. Israel has long sought the transfer to its national library of the 14,000-item Guenzburg collection in the Russian State Library…
The textbook for the intensive Hebrew class that I enrolled in this past summer was called “Hebrew from Scratch”. Which didn’t technically apply to my situation, at age 48, in the Beginner Aleph classroom. Forty years earlier, living in Brooklyn and attending my neighborhood public school there, I had begun Hebrew School in Sheepshead Bay’s…
COIMBRA, Portugal (JTA) — From its mountaintop perch, the University of Coimbra towers majestically over the downtown square that used to be the regional headquarters of the Portuguese Inquisition. It’s a fitting location for the 737-year-old university, the seventh oldest in the world, which outsmarted and outlived the campaign of persecution against Jews and freethinkers…
Over the weekend, the 24-year-old rapper Lil Twist posted a video of himself getting three in-home tattoos — including the Hebrew word “ne’eman,” meaning “loyal,” stenciled above his left eyebrow. The tattoo artist can be seen looking up the Hebrew spelling of “loyal” on Google in the video. Twizzy Tat Session @rockrollg @ashtonkingg YOUNG MULA…
Harei at m’kudeshet li b’tabaat zo k’dat Moshe v’Yisrael. Harei atah m’kudash li b’tabaat zo k’dat Moshe v’Yisrael. Behold, you are consecrated for me, with this ring, according to the religion/tradition of Moses and Israel. We memorized these Hebrew vows for weeks, drilling until we could recite them without a hitch when the pressure was…
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Middle East peace may remain out of reach, but at least the Hebrew and Arabic languages have found a compromise. Israeli typography designer Liron Lavi Turkenich has created a stylized writing system that merges the two ancient alphabets, allowing Hebrew and Arabic speakers to read the same words. Her hope is…
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