Found Lit

“Why hadn’t I known Jews could be so sexy before?” asks a tourist visiting Israel in Miriam Libicki’s illustrated essay. American Jews like to joke about the aphrodisiac powers of the Holy Land, which can turn even the most ardent universalists into fetishists of their own people. Is it the sun? The complexion-flattering tendencies of nationalist pride? Libicki, who grew up Modern Orthodox in Ohio and moved to Israel to enlist in the IDF, has another idea. We’re suckers for the transgressive, and as Israel’s reputation on the world stage gets more controversial, coveting a man or woman in uniform just gets kinkier. You know the pick-up line: Baby, you can occupy my territory any time. To read ...

Shamrocks and Stars of David: The happy couple and their identically ethnic fathers Much has been written on the Jewish themes that underlie the world's most successful comic book franchises. It is no longer a matter of debate whether Superman, Wonder Woman and Batgirl are Jewish, but to what degree they support the emergence of non-Orthodox forms of worship in the State of Israel. (In Justice League of America #224, when Green Lantern formed a giant green canopy for women to pray at the Western Wall, it was a rallying moment for ...

What a difference a half-century makes. Fifty years ago, Germans were pulling out my relatives’ gold fillings with a vise grip; today, they are sending me and every other Jewish writer they can find large certified checks for the right to publish us in Germany. (I'd ironically ask for my payment in gold, but the gold market is hot right now, and I'm afraid they'd non-ironically "Jew" me down to bronze.) Man plans, goes the expression, and God laughs. Novels, short stories, plays, poetry collections—in Germany, Jewish is the new black. Guilt? Morbid fascination? A quest for understanding and healing? Who knows? If Ahmadinejad drops a nuke on Tel Aviv, will Iran be a hot market for Jewish writers in fifty years? Ja, it vill. This is our threat, this is our Jewish finger in the chest of the world: Kill us now, assholes, but you'll be ...

Graduating from college sucks. It’s just awful. If you’ve failed to line up a job during your senior year, then commencement marks your transition from scholar to slacker. If you have managed to get your inexperienced ass employed, then it commemorates your shift from scholar to abused underling, since there’s no such thing as a good first job. Even if you’re doing something impressive to parents—med school, say, or i-banking—chances are good that you won’t see sunlight again until your thirtieth birthday. Graduation is that rare ceremony celebrating a change for the worse. Commencement speakers know this, and so usually they organize their speeches around a set of useful fictions. Follow your dreams, they tend to advise. As long as you never stop working at becoming rich, saving the world, and achieving fame, you’ll be happy. Which is why we loved the graduation speech Ben Karlin recently gave at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. As the ...