In His Own Words
The Times Literary Supplement explores the concept of intertextuality in a review of
The Cambridge Companion to Primo Levi. Contributors see
Levi as "a double agent, engaged in 'ironic rewriting of divine utterances in
secular terms.'"
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05.08.08
Developing Intolerance
Michael Kimmelman assesses the rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary. While Communism attempted to eradicate differences, the opposite may have since become a problem: "What is now
being denied here is the notion that Jews, no matter how we behave, are the same as non-Jews," a sociologist tells him.
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05.08.08
Riding the Waves
Surfwise portrays
"Doc" Paskowitz, a legendary health-nut who brought surfing to Israel, as "the
alpha-male antithesis of the shtetl Jew." The film operates in "colorful-geezer mode," says
The Village Voice; Paskowitz complains director Doug Pray "wanted to
make me an oddball."
Tony Michels included Paskowitz in his take on Jews who hang ten.
The
LA Jewish Film Festival kicks off tonight; a highlight—
Little Traitor, based on
Amos Oz's
Panther in the Basement.
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05.08.08
The Cat Came Back
The Rabbi's Cat 2, the latest installment in
Joann Sfar's graphic novel series about an observant talking feline in 1930s Algeria, drifts "between precise historical details, enthusiastic
tall tales and meditations on what it means to live as a person of faith in a world that doesn't share it," says Douglas Wolk.
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05.07.08
By Any Other Name
Haaretz reprints a letter in which writer
Aharon Reuveni claims credit for naming the Jewish state in 1948. In it, he summarily rejects "all manner of bizarre, faulty, untoward and tasteless names" including "State of the Hebrews." Israel, he wrote, "hints at
man's war with the forces of nature, which is the basis for all human progress."
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05.07.08
Ilyas Malayev, Musician
"What Malayev knows almost
nobody knows," a colleague once said of the performer, composer, and poet legendary in the Bukharan community. In Queens, his adopted hometown, he was known for his interpretation of traditional
folk music that "originated as the court music of feudal Bukhara." Malayev died last week.
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05.07.08
Nextbook's Festival of Ideas
Nextbook is hosting "Jews and Power," a festival of ideas, in NYC on May 18. Come hear Cynthia Ozick, Shalom Auslander, Ruth Wisse, and others.
Click here for details.
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05.06.08
Silver Lining
In his upcoming book, provocateur
Avraham Burg reiterates that the Holocaust must be remembered, "but no longer by prostrating ourselves
in the dust." Perhaps he would be buoyed by an "
oddly vibrant exhibition" at
Yad Vashem featuring the contributions of survivors, particularly in the design realm.
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05.06.08
Midwestern Hospitality
After gathering articfacts for the past 14 years,
Jewish Museum Milwaukee has opened its doors, and has a special display about native daughter
Golda Meir. The city "is
a microcosm of America," says the museum's executive director.
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05.06.08
Animal Wrongs
The undercover
PETA agents who busted kosher slaughterhouse
AgriProcessors in 2004 have outed themselves to bring publicity to their cause. Hannah and Philip Schein are concerned that Orthodox practices have gotten "so focused on the letter of the law that they've lost sight of the fact that [kashrut] is about
reducing suffering."
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05.06.08
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