The Forward

English Literature, in the Land of Aleph and Bet

2008-05-08T10:16:00

It’s a warm October afternoon, and 11 of us are in an airy classroom on the third floor of a university high-rise, talking about a draft of a short story. The writer, a 30-something journalist with a New York accent, quietly takes notes. The prose is strong, we say, the premise promising: a newly discharged soldier taking up with the sister of his best buddy from the army, who was killed in action only months earlier. But the friend’s ghost metaphorically hovers, and the soldier’s motives for the relationship with the young woman are complicated, intriguing, murky. Too murky, we tell the author. If you can figure out what’s driving your character, we say, you’ll have a terrific piece of fiction. The writer, satisfied, puts down his pen, and we all troop downstairs for coffee before returning for the second hour: a close look at a couple of gems by Canadian writer David Bezmozgis and that grand dame of fictional voice, Grace Paley, to see how they did it.

A Tree Named Jerusalem

2008-05-08T10:19:00

‘City of David” is a poem from “Descartes’ Loneliness,” Allen Grossman’s new collection. Born in 1932 in Minneapolis, Grossman has spent much of his life in the academy. And in professorial life, as in poetic work, he has never shrunk from Jewish themes.

A Diary Found, And a World Recovered

2008-05-08T10:21:00

The lilt of a Yiddish-Irish brogue is not heard often in northeastern Ohio. But thanks to the efforts of Eudice Landy Gilman, we can now connect Jewish Cleveland to the Emerald Isle.

A Jewish Pop Band Worth the Wait

2008-05-08T10:22:00

On most evenings, the lower Manhattan venue Drom, where I recently caught a live set by the Los Angeles-based Moshav Band, probably seems very much like any other subterranean hipster hangout.

Giving Galveston Its Day in the Sun

2008-05-08T10:23:00

Of all the current national issues that seem to vex us a lot, immigration is surely at or close to the top of the list. Some Americans extend a welcome hand to those who would like to call the United States their home; others turn their backs on them, and still others talk incessantly about boundaries and fences, driver’s licenses, Social Security and workers’ visas. In each instance, what’s most striking is the constancy of the discussion: Immigration has long been a hotly contested issue. Over the years, for every American who spoke lyrically of the potential that would accrue were the nation to welcome immigration, an equal number warned darkly of its consequences.

‘Israel Is Slightly Smaller Than China,’ And Other Misconceptions

2008-05-08T10:25:00

Journalist Donna Rosenthal was inspired to write “The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land” when a CNN producer (her former journalism student) told her: “I’m confused, and our viewers are confused. We have footage of Jews who look like Arabs and Arabs who look like Jews. We have black Jews, and bearded 16th-century-looking Jews in black hats and sexy girls in tight jeans. Who in the world are these people?” Rosenthal — a former Israel TV news producer and Israel Radio reporter whose articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Newsweek and The Atlantic — decided to write a “bible” for reporters who cover Israel. This country, about one-eighteenth the size of California, has more reporters per capita than any other. Since the April release of the 2008 paperback edition of “The Israelis” (Free Press/Simon & Schuster), especially updated for Israel’s 60th anniversary, Rosenthal has been interviewed on many radio and TV programs and is finding that confusion and misunderstanding about Israelis abound.

Off 2nd Avenue

2008-05-08T10:29:00

In Moishe Nadir’s 1928 Yiddish play, “Messiah in America,” theater producer Menachem Yosef and his assistant, Jack “the Bluffer,” concoct a scheme to present the messiah onstage, dressing up a bearded Jewish immigrant to play the part. Their success in attracting audiences prompts a rival producer to introduce a second messiah — this time, a young English-speaking variant who arrives on a motorcycle. After the competing producers hold a competition to determine which one is the true messiah, they conclude that the competition should take place in the boxing ring. When the match ends with the death of the younger messiah, the producers flee, with their profits, to Florida.

Israeli Arabs and Hebrew

2008-05-08T18:00:00

An unsigned e-mailer has sent me an article that appeared recently in the English-language edition of the daily Hebrew newspaper Haaretz. It’s about the use of Hebrew by Israeli Arabs, and since I had already noticed in it the Hebrew Haaretz myself and considered writing about it in these pages, the idea for this column can be said to be a joint one.

Aaron David Miller on ‘Jews and Power’

2008-05-08T20:00:00

Domestic politics, as Bill Clinton’s national security advisor, Anthony Lake, told me when I interviewed him for my book, is like sex to the Victorians: It’s on everybody’s mind, but nobody wants to talk about it. It’s about time that we start talking about it, particularly when it involves Israel, the pro-Israeli community in America and Arab-Israeli diplomacy. Furthering American national interests in the Middle East depends on it. But this conversation must be honest and clear.

Ruth Wisse on ‘Jews and Power’

2008-05-08T20:00:00

Had Jews always remained a self-governing people in their land, there would have been no Crusader wars over Jerusalem, no Spanish Inquisition and no Holocaust. Karl Marx would not have concluded that “the bill of exchange is the Jew’s actual god” and Stalin would not have mounted a lethal campaign against Jewish “rootless cosmopolitans.” Host nations would not have wreaked upon Jews some of the most terrible evils in the history of humankind. The Jewish contribution to the welfare of the world would have been all the greater had the Jews managed to secure for themselves their aboriginal land.

Unterzakhn, Part 11

2008-05-09T16:15:00

Read this week’s installment of Leela Corman’s new graphic novel, “Unterzakhn,” which is being serialized in the Forward.