Opinion | Are Jews Historical Artifacts in Europe?
The future of Europe’s dwindling Jewish communities is bleak.
‘Broken Glass’ Shines at Theater J
Though a broken mirror foretells seven years of bad luck, Theater J’s production of Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass foreshadows nothing but promise from the riveting cast exquisitely directed by Aaron Posner.
What ‘Genius’ Gets Right—and Wrong—About the Jewish Einstein
In the popular imagination, Albert Einstein is a benign, whimsical and endearing old man. Yet of course, the real Einstein was more complex—though he was brilliant and had his fanciful quirks, in many ways he was also self-absorbed and careless, obsessive and absent-minded to the point of callousness.
Free eBook: Defining Moments in Israeli History: 1967–2017
Moment reached out to an eclectic group to ask: which event most defined the last half-century of the Israeli experience?
Memories of the Six-Day War—Fifty Years Later
I sat in front of our black-and-white 19-inch TV watching the progress of the war, my heart in my mouth the whole time.
How the Six-Day War Veterans Felt: Revisiting ‘Soldiers’ Talk’
The candidness and emotional vulnerability of Israeli soldiers is of such renown today that there’s even a pejorative for it: yorim ve'bochim, shooting and crying.
Interview | Yuval Harari
Born in Haifa to Eastern European immigrants, Harari now lives with his husband in a moshav outside Jerusalem. A vegan deeply distressed by the suffering of domesticated animals, Harari meditates daily (plus a 60-day silent retreat each year). He does this, he says, to understand more fully the nature of human consciousness and “human dissatisfaction.” Moment talks with Harari about the role of technology in politics and the rise of big data, as well as topics Harari does not usually discuss, such as Judaism and Israel.
Book Review | The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age by Steven Weitzman
As the subtitle of the book says, we live in a rootless age. People everywhere, not just Jews, seek their roots, their ancestry, their genetic makeup. We yearn to discover who we are; alas, our tools are not always up to the task. But there is pleasure in the pursuit, and we should be grateful to Weitzman for being a reliable guide.
Book Review | The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
Bulgaria. How little thought I had ever given to Bulgaria, but here it is in the vivid, fast-paced, fascinating new novel The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova. Author of the best-selling novel The Historian, Kostova is a writer who knows how to keep you in suspense, to frighten and amaze you, all while building characters whose fate will matter to you more and more as she reveals a whole country, its history, its tragedy, its politics, its scenery and its sad beauty.
Defining Moments in Israeli History
Which event most defined the last half-century of the Israeli experience?
A Rare Peek Into a Renowned Library’s Vault
The extraordinary works in this exhibition are rarely seen, and this is their first time in America.