Jerusalem — In a historic ruling, the Israeli rabbinate has finally decided to recognize Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative Jews — as the perfect entree for Shabbat dinner. Israeli Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Moshe Metzger issued the ruling yesterday. The Sephardic chief rabbi agreed with the declaration of Jewish edibility, adding only: “preferably stewed with dried fruits,…
[ ![][2]][2] When people ask me who put the “sin in cinema,” I respond, “Kenneth Marcus of Englewood Heights, N.J.” Into their dropped jaws I explain that during the early days of American movies — when Englewood and environs were Hollywood and Broadway rolled into one — Mr. Marcus wanted to lend a sheen of…
[ ![][2]][2] It has recently come to my attention that you’ve got some disagreements with me about the issues. In a series of letters to the editor, you’ve suggested that my logic is flawed, that I’m ill-informed about issues, that I misrepresent facts and that my knowledge of history is thin at best. These are…
[ ![][2]][2] A newly-discovered hand-written letter written in Yiddish by Isaac Bashevis Singer to Magdalena Salazar, his Mexican maid of seven years in the Upper West Side apartment he shared with his wife Alma, offers insight into a previously unknown romantic liaison by the Nobel Prize winner. Stuck to a Zabar’s grocery list which had…
[ ![][2]][2] Hope For Israel Dear Backward, I always love to turn to your Arts & Culture pages. In a world where everything is so uncertain and life can sometimes seem so cheap, it makes me proud to be a Jew. Benjy Netanyahu Jerusalem, Israel Winter Olympic? Dear Backward, After my Bar Mitzvah in October…
Traditionally, Purim celebrants drink enough alcohol to confuse the Book of Esther’s villain, Haman, with its hero, Mordechai. But this year, two unlikely female characters were confused: Queen Esther and the mermaid depicted in the Starbucks Coffee logo. “The girl in the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther … the queen of the Jews,” Safwat Higazi,…
From women’s perspectives, there are more layers to be unpacked from the Purim story than there are seeds in a poppy hamantasch. My current favorites are the themes of covering and uncovering as they relate to power and powerlessness — experiences I’ll be tasting in my own Purim costume this year as a totally covered…
Oh dear. Two monkeys have escaped from Jerusalem’s Tisch Family Zoological Gardens, better known as the Biblical Zoo — the same zoo at which Rabbi Marc, an Asian lion, resides. The monkeys broke free yesterday morning, and at time of writing one has been found but the other is still on the loose. It’s hard…
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