FROM THE FILTER
As Tears Go By
David Berman chats with the
Village Voice about the
Silver Jews' forthcoming album, and a little-seen documentary about the band's Israel tour. The finale shows him at the Wailing Wall, "and apparently, I have an
emotional experience where I was crying." (He hasn't seen it.) Berman also
spoke with Nextbook.
04.16.08 | EMAIL | PERMALINK
Extreme Makeover
In
The Hebrew Republic, Bernard Avishai advocates turning Israel into a secular democracy.
Commentary's David Billet has some harsh words for his proposals, accusing Avishai of "still yearning...for the heaven of 'authenticity,' and cursing the Jews who have
wickedly deprived him of it."
04.04.08 | EMAIL | PERMALINK
Gender Neutral
Rey, the transgendered man at the center of a
Times Magazine story, had a bat mitzvah back when he was a 13-year-old girl. At 18, he went to Israel for his bar mitzvah, and found he was finally able to "[take] the
rite of passage to heart."
03.18.08 | EMAIL | PERMALINK
Holier Than Thou
A "budding movement" of women in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh have begun covering their bodies in ways that resemble the hijab. They argue that such covering actually originated with Jewish women, and that now, "the women of Israel are lessening in God's eyes because the Arabs are
more modest."
03.07.08 | EMAIL | PERMALINK
Aharon Amir, Translator
Amir, who died last week,
translated into Hebrew works by authors including Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, and Albert Camus, and was a winner of the Tchernichovsky and Israel prizes for translation.
03.03.08 | EMAIL | PERMALINK
