In Search of the Moderate Voice

Rabbi Haim Sabato is a unique figure on the Israeli scene, both head of a yeshiva and a prominent Hebrew writer. His best known work, the novel titled Adjusting Sights, won Israel's most prestigious literary award and was made into a movie.

From the Four Winds  Haim Sabato,  Toby Press.  In one of Sabato's novels, a young Egyptian immigrant to Israel meets his Hungarian neighbors—and learns, for the first time, about the Holocaust.  SAVE

D’varim: Weeping for the Generations  Moshe Sokolow,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Exegesis from Haim Sabato, performing his day job.  SAVE

The Romance of Gush Etzion  Aryeh Tepper,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Lichtenstein's yeshiva inhabits a community with a storied past and a vibrant present.  SAVE

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Photo by Natalie Weinberg.

Rosh Hashanah with the Chief Rabbi

Ten years ago, the first day of Rosh Hashanah—the two-day Jewish New Year—fell on September 18. That was one week after September 11, 2001, when almost 3,000 people were killed by Muslim terrorists. On that Rosh Hashanah, rabbis did not lack for sermon topics.

Endless Devotion  Hillel Halkin,  Jewish Review of Books.  Prayer, says Sacks, is the "language of the soul in conversation with God."  But the struggle to keep it from becoming routine is intrinsic to every religion in which prayer is a regular duty.  SAVE

The Chief Rabbi's Achievement  David Wolpe,  Jewish Review of Books.  Sacks has a gift for providing plausible, if not entirely sufficient, interpretations of the most problematic questions of theology.  SAVE

Where Faith is Weak, Life is Weak  Jonathan Sacks,  Jewish Chronicle.  Intermarriage, assimilation, and vulnerability are not the causes but the symptoms of a transcendent malaise affecting a people once aflame with devotion.  SAVE

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Enmity; or, Yiddish in America

He was irascible, neurotic, self-obsessed, and socially inept; a brilliant misfit and misanthropic dilettante. Upon his death in July 2010, Harvey Pekar's few close friends insisted that the underground comic-book writer was also a gem in the rough, an out-of-date socialist naïf.

“I’ve been aggravated . . .”  YouTube.  Harvey Pekar gained notoriety for his clownishly antagonistic appearances on NBC’s David Letterman Show.  More from a formidable Pekar video archive here and here.  SAVE

“Whadya think?”  Harvey Pekar, Tara Seibel,  Jewish Review of Books.  A comic review of R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis, in which Pekar attests to the artistic versatility of his long-time collaborator.  SAVE

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Radio Israel

Radio in Israel is as ubiquitous as hummus, falafel, and politics. During their morning and evening commutes, motorists as well as bus passengers (captive to the listening tastes of their drivers) are likely to be hearing either one of seven Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) affiliated stations or one of two Army Radio outlets.

Hear O Israel  Michael Handelzalts,  Haaretz.  How the soldiers' station broadened its appeal to a wider audience.  SAVE

Save Army Radio!  Amit Segal,  Haaretz.  GALATZ needs to better reflect the Israeli consensus.  SAVE

Broadcasting Views  Yisrael Medad, Eli Pollak,  Ariel Center for Policy Research.  For good reason, Israel's media has never been accused of adhering to a right-wing bias. (PDF; 1998)  SAVE

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International Yiddish Theater Festival.

Montreal, a Love Story

The second International Yiddish Theater Festival, an elaborate ten-day fete whose program ranges from carnavalesque performances to academic symposia, just wrapped up last week in Montreal. What is especially surprising about this celebration is that Montreal is a city with a Jewish population of less than 80,000.

Growing Up Jewish in Montreal  Lois Dubin, Jack Kugelmass, Allan Nadler, Ruth R. Wisse,  Yeshiva University Museum.  Four scholars discuss their distinct and shared educational, religious, communal, and cultural experiences of Montreal. (Video)  SAVE

Montreal’s Hebrew Melodies  Allan Nadler,  YouTube.  A tour of the schools and synagogues of Montreal, with a focus on the city's rich cantorial tradition. (Video)  SAVE

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