Do Not Underestimate the Determination of a Quiet Rabbi
Gloria Tessler considers the welcome activities of some of our rabbinate but decries the misguided priorities of others. When we think of great rabbis we sometimes look back to philosophers of the past. Maimonides, the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslau, Abraham Heschel, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Great thinkers who have died and left us […]
A left response to left antisemitism: Is it too late for education?
Two recently-published books try and educate the left against antisemitism. Will they succeed?
The Gift of the Invisible Book
Ophir J. Bitton There is a book with no pages or words, Its illustrations are windows, some looking out, Others revealing what is within Some of the pages are torn, smudged and incomplete Yet prose, poetry, humor, philosophy, and wisdom are scribed on each sheet Raw and simple, yet inexplicably deep and complex The chapters […]
‘A stiff-necked people’: Jews and the comedy of transgression
James Harris reflects on the tradition of transgressive Jewish comedy. ‘Störenfried’ is not one of those German words which have made the transition to English, but it’d merit it; a ‘Störenfried’ is a troublemaker, someone who disturbs the peace. As somebody who performed comedy for twenty years, I can’t help noticing that, in the world […]
A flashy new diamond
Sue Fox visits the revamped Manchester Jewish Museum and bemoans the lack of storage for an umbrella and raincoat. My father, Jack Fox, who was an insurance broker, had his office in St Marks Lane, Cheetham Hill. There was a kosher slaughterer/ chicken shop and Mr Perlman the greengrocer in the narrow alley, On a visit back […]
To Life
Ophir J. Bitton Where does one go from here, In abundant clouds of marmalade – mobility is futile and success is falling down, feet were meant to be planted in the ground, with posthumous roots sprawling like streams of water seeking independent routs to a common destination Yet to fall in triumph, the soul must […]
A Lone Lee Man of Comics
Nathan Abrams reviews a new biography of Stan Lee. ‘This is a particular pleasure — or frustration, depending on one’s point of view — for Jewish critics, who have spent decades and spun a small cottage industry arguing about just what the new mythology is constructed by American Jewish artists owe to the old ideas […]
The Jewish Jaffanator
Nathan Abrams considers the Jewishness of a new flavour of Maryland Cookies. I have just discovered Burton’s chocolate orange range of its Maryland Cookies brand. Named the ‘Jaffanator’, their tagline is, ‘I’ll be snack’. To be fair, as I have written previously, despite the name, there is nothing Jewish about Jaffa oranges that take their […]
‘Final Solution[?]’
Ophir J. Bitton Did you really think we could die, in ghettos, in camps, without food or water to quench, in chambers of gas, in places that burn, from words that defame, or bullets that pierce; Did you really think we would die, people enslaved who built wonders, who spent 40 years in the desert […]
Life Eve
Ophir J. Bitton A kiss my brother a hug my brother You have created yet another A life with the name we share, The name of our father, A brother to your children real Like me, like you, brothers are we A dream for him, the yet unborn, A life well spent, laughter, and more […]