That Noise in the Background

Maybe you’re in a crowded restaurant, deep in conversation, when you gradually start to realize that there’s a song you like penetrating the din. Or your browsing at the mall to a piped-in soundtrack that refuses to be consigned to the ... [Read more]

Monotheism and the Spirits of Nature

Recently, on a trip to South Korea, I was moved to tears at a rock formation venerated by Korean shamans.  The place was so holy that the power of it, the energy of it, was immediately apparent and absolutely obvious.  And it ... [Read more]

Angetevka

From: King David To: Governor Sanford Dear Governor Sanford, Lying here in my crypt in Jerusalem, I heard across the span of 3,000 years that you recently gave me a shout out.  You said, "King David...fell ... [Read more]

Borges and the Jews-Part III

In Part I of this series, author Ilan Stavans explored Borges' self-identification as a Jew. Part II focused on Borges' infatuation with Kabbalah. Here, Stavans argues that Borges carefully styled himself as a literary son of ... [Read more]

What is British Jewish Politics?

Politics is an inescapable part of human existence. It concerns the way that people organise themselves, in particular how they act within institutions and units of governance. Above all, politics concerns the way humans interact with power. It ... [Read more]

The Neglected Poetry of Yossel Birstein

This summer, Zeek has been re-examining the work of Yiddish writer Yossel Birstein. Our summer print issue includes a never-before translated Birstein story; here, we offer Andrew Firestone's discussion of Birstein's only book of poems, ... [Read more]

Another Crack

I was walking down Carlebach Street when the wailing air raid siren announced the biggest civil drill in Israel’s history. Though I’d timed a morning interview around it, (who wants to pause for two minutes of alarm?), I was otherwise ... [Read more]

Al Andalus: Tales of an Imaginary Spain

"The most important thing in this portion is seldom noticed," Rabbi Solomon ibn Uzair said, as he lay on a pile of cushions beside his lover Joseph. A small scroll of the Torah lay open in front of them, rolled to the ... [Read more]

Queer Liturgy

Why do we pray? What do we pray for? Liturgy raises the most fundamental theological questions, daily, if we pay attention. But we rarely do. We are born into or find a denomination, are born into or find a congregation, and learn its ... [Read more]

Unnatural Growth

"Israel will not freeze settlement construction for natural growth, despite intense pressure from the Obama administration to do so," The Jerusalem Post, June 1, 2009. The argument that “natural growth” is crucial to Israel's ... [Read more]

Angetevka

At my son’s eighth grade graduation ceremony, his class sang a song in which “hallelujah” was repeated so many times that I almost shouted “Hallelujah!” when it was, mercifully, finally over.  What made it somewhat bearable was ... [Read more]

Riot Grrrl Goes Tehran

On January 30th, Unveiled: New Art Form the Middle East opened at London's Saatchi Gallery. A collection of recent works by Arab and Iranian artists, the exhibit documented the extent of social criticism engaged in by photographers, painters and ... [Read more]

All That Is Rock Melts Into Hope

Fifteen years ago, the alternative music press was fixated on the idea of  “post-rock.” Whether that label was applied to artists that featured guitar, bass and drums – like the Chicago band Tortoise, whose excellent new album Beacons ... [Read more]

Angetevka

"Faith of Our Fathers" is a rousing hymn that never fails to inspire even the weakest of voices to roar.  I well remember singing it in church with my family, the words and the swelling music eliciting from deep in my soul ... [Read more]

Seir Cafe

1. Jake I look up again at the sign, and it seems this must be the right place. It says Seir Cafe, in bold letters, broken neon lights filling up the antique-looking script, and I think of my family, think of how they didn't ... [Read more]

Everywhere But There

The only consolation about Benjamin Netanyahu's second government is that two months into office it appears to be the most universally disliked in Israel's 61-year history. Whether at home or abroad, no one, it seems, has anything good to say ... [Read more]

The Noise of Middle Age

Advance word on Sonic Youth’s latest record The Eternal was mixed. Some listeners praised it for picking up where its predecessor Rather Ripped left off, disciplining the band’s tendency for extended improvisation in single-length, ... [Read more]

Borges and the Jews-Part II

In Part I of this series, author Ilan Stavans explored Borges' self-identification as a Jew. This next section focuses on Borges' infatuation with Kabbalah. I feel a contentment in defeat. -J.L.B., "Deutches ... [Read more]

Murders in the Cathedral

The Holocaust Museum murder and the murder of Dr. George Tiller at his church in Wichita share several characteristics: Both men who have been accused of the murders have long histories of involvement with ultra-right-wing ... [Read more]

Angetevka

In the beginning: There was adam, a human being, a creature of the earth.  On the sixth day of creation, God performed surgery, removing a rib from the human, thus creating man and woman.    Six thousand years later, or ... [Read more]