Word Choice

Reported by Daniel Estrin
How Hebrew was (and continues to be) transformed into a modern language
05.05.08 COMMENTS (2)

Radical Riff

Interview by Sara Ivry
How comedians of the 1960s and ’70s revolutionized stand-up
04.28.08 COMMENTS (0)

In the Image

Interview by Sara Ivry
A literary—but none-too-sad—Keith Gessen talks about his new novel
04.22.08 COMMENTS (3)

Before the Exodus

Reported by Sean Cole
A tour of Streit’s matzo factory, while it's still in the neighborhood
04.14.08 COMMENTS (0)

The Things We Carry

by Sara Ivry
What happens when your inheritance includes a life-threatening genetic mutation? Masha Gessen finds out.
04.07.08 COMMENTS (1)

Christmas in July

By Sloane Crosley
Or, Tales from My Supposedly Secular Summer Camp
03.31.08 COMMENTS (0)

Ties That Bind

Interview by Sara Ivry
A scholar and priest traces the roots of religious violence to Abraham
03.24.08 COMMENTS (5)

Passion Songs

Interview by Hugh Levinson
Yasmin Levy brings fire to traditional Ladino music
03.17.08 COMMENTS (0)

Damascus Minyan

Interview by Sara Ivry
Eric Umansky encounters merchants, widows, and secret police at a Syrian synagogue
03.10.08 COMMENTS (2)

Death of a Pothead

INTERVIEW BY ELLEN UMANSKY
Elisa Albert talks about her first novel—a coming-of-death tragicomedy
03.03.08 COMMENTS (1)

Goat Days

By Jessie Graham
One man’s dispatches from the New Jewish Food Movement
02.25.08 COMMENTS (22)

Crossing Melodies

Reported by Alicia Zuckerman
Gregorian chant meets Judeo-Iraqi songs of prayer in Miami
02.18.08 COMMENTS (1)

Temple Seeker

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Thomas Roma photographs Brooklyn’s synagogues past and present
02.11.08 COMMENTS (5)

Chosen People

REPORTED BY ERIC MOLINSKY
Spending Shabbat with one of the biggest African American congregations in the country
02.04.08 COMMENTS (5)

Place of No Return

INTERVIEW BY JOANNA SMITH RAKOFF
Two trips to Poland offer very different impressions for the daughter of a Holocaust survivor
01.28.08 COMMENTS (3)

The Solipsist

Interview by Sara Ivry
Howard Jacobson swore he wouldn't write another Jewish novel. What happened?
01.21.08 COMMENTS (0)

Digging for Decalogues

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Murray Zimiles explores the links between Torah arks and carousel horses
01.14.08 COMMENTS (2)

From Decadence to Minimalism

Interview by Sara Ivry
Alex Ross takes us on a music tour of the 20th century
01.07.08 COMMENTS (0)

Pioneer Tunes

Interview by Sara Ivry
A conversation with Alisa Solomon about the first—and last—Zionist musical comedy on Broadway
12.17.07 COMMENTS (3)

Ocho Kandelikas

Produced by Julie Subrin
Flory Jagoda's popular holiday song has its roots in a Bosnian village
12.10.07 COMMENTS (2)

Sophie Says

Interview by Sara Ivry
A young critic weighs in on three new novels
12.03.07 COMMENTS (0)

Back to Cuba

Interview by Alicia Zuckerman
Anthropologist Ruth Behar keeps returning to the place her family left behind
11.26.07 COMMENTS (3)

Tevye on the West End

Interview by Hugh Levinson
Henry Goodman explores the inner workings of a milkman-patriarch
11.19.07 COMMENTS (0)

The Devil and Der Führer

Interview by Nermeen Shaikh
Norman Mailer brings out the evil in all of us
11.12.07 COMMENTS (11)

Hearing Voices

by Sara Ivry
Daniel Smith explores the history of the phenomenon—from the Bible to his father
11.05.07 COMMENTS (3)

Call and Response

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Cabaret-punk band Barbez pays tribute to Paul Celan
10.29.07 COMMENTS (0)

Rise and Shine

PRODUCED BY JULIE SUBRIN
What happens when 100 klezmer musicians from around the world gather for a photo op?
10.22.07 COMMENTS (7)

The Dude Abides

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
What happens when an agnostic follows all the rules in the Bible? A.J. Jacobs finds out.
10.15.07 COMMENTS (8)

So Help Me Word

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Shalom Auslander reads from his new memoir—and waits for calamity to strike
10.08.07 COMMENTS (3)

The Etrog Man

REPORTED BY DANIEL ESTRIN
A consummate salesman sings the praises of this unusual fruit
10.01.07 COMMENTS (4)

With a Capital "J"

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Alisa Solomon gives us the story behind West Side Story
09.24.07 COMMENTS (3)

Memory Trip

Interview by Hugh Levinson
Rachel Lichtenstein takes us on a tour of forgotten places along London's Brick Lane
09.17.07 COMMENTS (2)

Sing a New Song

Interview by Sara Ivry
Robert Alter's version of Psalms strives to recapture their Hebrew beauty
09.10.07 COMMENTS (13)

You Be Saved

STORY BY JANICE ERLBAUM
Janice Erlbaum gets more than a manicure at the nail salon
08.27.07 COMMENTS (5)

Stolen Gems

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Dalia Sofer depicts one family's fearful and bittersweet days in revolutionary Iran
08.20.07 COMMENTS (6)

Funny Girls

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
An off-Broadway show pays homage to the queens of comedy
08.13.07 COMMENTS (1)

Bubbling Over

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
The many meanings of seltzer, from thirst quencher to missile decoy
08.06.07 COMMENTS (2)

Summer Lovin'

Interview by Laurel Snyder
Reminiscences of sleepaway camp, where sleep was the last thing on anyone's mind
07.30.07 COMMENTS (9)

Prayer Revival

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
A poet brings a collection of 19th-century supplications back to life
07.23.07 COMMENTS (9)

Brush with History

Produced by Rebecca Sheir
How an Alaskan sailor contributed to Jewish statehood
07.16.07 COMMENTS (5)

Staged Rebellion

BY ERIC MOLINSKY
Yiddish playwright Jacob Gordin inspired fury and adulation
07.09.07 COMMENTS (1)

Peer Review

Moderated by Amanda Stern
A three-kid panel reviews three new works of young adult fiction
07.02.07 COMMENTS (7)

Gertel's Last Stand

by Joanna Smith Rakoff and Julie Subrin
After 90 years, a Lower East Side institution shuts its doors
06.25.07 COMMENTS (1)

Rise and Tithe

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Charitable giving from Leviticus to Rothschild
06.18.07 COMMENTS (1)

Lady Intrepid

Interview by Sara Ivry
Ruth Gruber has seen it all—from refugee camps to Virginia Woolf's parlor
06.04.07 COMMENTS (4)

It's Not About You

PRODUCED BY EMILY BOTEIN
Jesse Green's post-bar mitzvah wrap-up (in sound)
05.21.07 COMMENTS (1)

Possessed

PRODUCED BY ERIC MOLINSKY
A century ago, S. Ansky breathed new life into a shtetl folktale. His play, The Dybbuk, still captures creative minds.
05.14.07 COMMENTS (2)

Land of the Lost

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Michael Chabon's new novel depicts a frozen homeland where beat cops speak Yiddish, snack on blintzes, and chase Hasidic gangsters
05.07.07 COMMENTS (20)

Grave Digger

Interview by Ellen Umansky
Nathan Englander unearths stories that many in Argentina would just as soon forget
05.02.07 COMMENTS (3)

Jerusalem Time

Interview by Sara Ivry
Examining the rival interests that energized the city a century ago
04.25.07 COMMENTS (3)

Solomon's Son

Interview by Hugh Levinson
Half a century ago, Albie Sachs sat defiantly on a bench designated "for non-whites only." Today he sits on South Africa's highest court.
04.23.07 COMMENTS (1)

Next Year in Sulaymaniyah

By Jessie Graham
Passover takes on new meaning for a reporter far from home
03.26.07 COMMENTS (3)

Liberated Bride

Interview by Sara Ivry
Alix Kates Shulman on the creation of an ex-prom queen and protofeminist
03.19.07 COMMENTS (2)

All in the Family

Interview by Sara Ivry
Andrea Stern's new collection of photographs chronicles the intimate life of a family—her own
03.12.07 COMMENTS (5)

Let's Put on a Show

by Sara Ivry
Daily Show writer Rob Kutner talks about his Purim parody
03.05.07 COMMENTS (0)

Blues Brother

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
With a little self-invention and a lot of talent, Doc Pomus left his mark on rock 'n' roll
02.26.07 COMMENTS (2)

Beyond Longing

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
André Aciman turns up the heat
02.19.07 COMMENTS (13)

Loudmouth

by Sara Ivry
Aline Kominsky Crumb tells all
02.05.07 COMMENTS (23)

Spoils of War

BY AMANDA ARONCZYK
Importing dates, Iraqi-style
01.22.07 COMMENTS (1)

Operation Shylock

BY ERIC MOLINSKY
F. Murray Abraham tackles theater's most vexing villains
01.15.07 COMMENTS (12)

La Nona Kanta

Produced by Julie Subrin
Flory Jagoda sings the songs of her great-great-great-great-great grandparents
01.08.07 COMMENTS (6)

In Case You Missed It - Part 1

PRODUCED BY JULIE SUBRIN
Our favorite audio segments from 2006
12.26.06 COMMENTS (1)

Blade II and Fried Rice

STORY BY JANICE ERLBAUM
Christmas Eve for those who have nowhere else to be
12.18.06 COMMENTS (1)

From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills

Interview by Sara Ivry
Growing up Jake Fuchs thought of his father as a screenwriter. At 12, he discovered otherwise.
12.11.06 COMMENTS (0)

Belief Net

Interview by Sara Ivry
Nelly Reifler is casting about for answers to eternal questions
12.04.06 COMMENTS (4)

Trip to Bountiful

by Sara Ivry
Sensory overload kicks in on a tour through a kosher food convention
11.27.06 COMMENTS (3)

Minstrel Show

by Sara Ivry
Parodies that make us cringe today used to make people roar. A music critic discovers Abie Cohen, the Jewish version of Aunt Jemima.
11.13.06 COMMENTS (1)

Table Talk

Interview by Hugh Levinson
Cooking with Claudia Roden
10.30.06 COMMENTS (4)

Laughing Out Loud

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Adam Gopnik follows the yuks from Groucho to his 12-year-old son
10.23.06 COMMENTS (1)

Across the Great Divide

Interview by Sara Ivry
Jeffrey Goldberg goes the distance from an insecure boyhood on Long Island to the muscularity of military policehood in Israel
10.16.06 COMMENTS (26)

Paper Trail

BY JULIE SUBRIN
In bidding on a batch of stamps, Reinhard Kaiser unearthed the story of an ill-fated wartime romance
10.10.06 COMMENTS (2)

All the Right Moves

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
A chess amateur shows how the game has mesmerized through the ages
10.03.06 COMMENTS (0)

Sway to the Music

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Bluesman Jeremiah Lockwood finds his voice in his grandfather's liturgical repertoire
09.25.06 COMMENTS (2)

Family History

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
In The Lost, Daniel Mendelsohn excavates some unsettling truths about brotherhood, betrayal, and the Book of Genesis.
09.18.06 COMMENTS (3)

A Higher Purpose

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
What happens when a secular Jewish feminist immerses herself in the world of Evangelical Christians
09.11.06 COMMENTS (7)

Rebel Yells

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Naomi Alderman takes on Britain's Jews
08.21.06 COMMENTS (3)

Private Dancer

Produced by Julie Subrin
Jill Slater will get you off your seat
08.14.06 COMMENTS (2)

Something Wild

Interview by Sara Ivry
Eve Grubin on what happens when poetry and religious life collide
07.31.06 COMMENTS (0)

Feel the Burn

Interview by Blake Eskin
Poet Wayne Koestenbaum reveals his toxic attractions
07.17.06 COMMENTS (0)

Childhood in Black and White

INTERVIEW BY SARA IVRY
Miriam Katin makes her own Holocaust comic book
07.10.06 COMMENTS (0)

Roots Music

Interview by Sara Ivry
Galeet Dardashti finds the Israeli audience her grandfather never had
06.19.06 COMMENTS (7)

The Greatest American Hero

Interview by Sara Ivry
Everyone made fun of little Gary Shteyngart. Now it's his turn.
06.05.06 COMMENTS (3)

Light and Sweet

Interview by Blake Eskin
A slice of life at a Bronx cheesecake factory
05.30.06 COMMENTS (6)

A Man Possessed

by Blake Eskin
A visit with the composer who took over where Marc Blitzstein left off
05.22.06 COMMENTS (3)

How to Lose Gracefully

Interview by Sara Ivry
Etgar Keret on death, optimism, and the virtues of confusion
05.08.06 COMMENTS (6)

Sketches of Spain

Interview by Sara Ivry
Marcel Cohen's Ladino lament. Plus: an excerpt from his letter to Antonio Saura
04.24.06 COMMENTS (7)

Halves and Halve-Nots

Interview by Sara Ivry
Laurel Snyder reclaims her split identity
04.19.06 COMMENTS (3)

Silver Lining

Interview by Sara Ivry
David Berman learns to live up to his band name. Plus: a new song and an old poem.
03.27.06 COMMENTS (5)

Being Leah Bloom

by Julie Subrin
When both Sung-Nam and Jerusalem beckon
03.20.06 COMMENTS (4)

Radical Roots

Interview by Sara Ivry
Why the Yiddish workers' movement was an American phenomenon
03.13.06 COMMENTS (4)

Aunt Linda's a Singer

Story by Janice Erlbaum
So why won't she sing at her daughter's wedding?
03.06.06 COMMENTS (6)

Beats Without Borders

Interview with Sara Ivry
Balkan Beat Box's diaspora mix
02.20.06 COMMENTS (0)

My Son, the Assimilator

Story by Jesse Green
Allan Sherman's page in the American songbook
02.13.06 COMMENTS (14)

Falling Out

Story by Julie Subrin
What happens when Hasidim stray outside the fold
01.25.06 COMMENTS (2)

Immaterial Girl

Story by Alana Newhouse
Madonna, Kabbalah, and me
12.28.05 COMMENTS (1)

Barbie, Daughter of Ruth

Interview by Sara Ivry
Tiffany Shlain reaches back to the Pleistocene era to explain assimilation in America
12.19.05 COMMENTS (5)

Ghetto Music

Interview by Boris Fishman
When Italians fell for klezmer, Francesco Spagnolo tuned them in to the forgotten sounds of their own people.
12.12.05 COMMENTS (0)

Headlights

Text by Jackie Hoffman
A comedienne's special kind of holiday cheer.
12.05.05 COMMENTS (0)

Pulling Out the Stops

Produced by Laura Starecheski
The rise and fall of the synagogue organ
11.28.05 COMMENTS (0)

From Bukhara With Love

Text by Jonathan Mitchell
The music of Central Asia by way of Queens.
09.01.05 COMMENTS (4)

The Little Believer

Text by Julie Subrin
What's a secular couple to do when their 6-year-old gets into religion?
08.16.05 COMMENTS (0)

Block Buster

Text by Laurel Snyder
Jonathan Rosen talks about the tortured vision of Henry Roth. With a reading from Call It Sleep.
08.09.05 COMMENTS (5)

Playing the Jester

Text by Jackie Hoffman
Two stories from a perfomer who discovered fun late in life.
07.22.05 COMMENTS (0)

To Jewishness

By Kenneth Koch
A poet addresses a lifelong companion
07.01.05 COMMENTS (2)

Summer Reading

By Stephen Vider
Hear recommendations from Tony Kushner, Myla Goldberg, Gary Shteyngart, and others
05.04.05 COMMENTS (2)

Golems I Have Known

Text by Michael Chabon
Or, Why My Elder Son's Middle Name is Napoleon
04.17.05 COMMENTS (18)

Hog Wild

Text by Debra Cash
Maurice Sendak tinkers with Peter and the Wolf, rendering the villain as a pig and the boy as a guide to the illustrator's own childhood.
12.03.04 COMMENTS (1)

Crazy Talk

Text by Stephen Vider
Jonathan Goldstein riffs on his Hebrew name, gifted students, space aliens, and other things he thinks you should know about him.
06.04.04 COMMENTS (0)

Beach Reading

Text by Sara Ivry
Hear streaming audio of three short stories by Israeli writer Etgar Keret as well as excerpts from his recent conversation with Ira Glass.
04.20.04 COMMENTS (0)