Do the Religious Beliefs of Supreme Court Justices Influence Their Decisions?
A Moment Symposium with Robert Barnes / Lyle Denniston / Tony Mauro / Sarah Posner / Leslie C. Griffin / Stephen Wermiel / Marshall Breger / Emily Bazelon / Dahlia Lithwick
Ask the Rabbis // Happiness
Should Jews strive to be happy?
INDEPENDENT
No. Jews should never strive to be happy.
Happiness should not be something to strive for. It should be solidly entrenched...
What Makes Us Happy? A Symposium
The search for happiness is as old as humanity itself. In Jewish culture, the subject of happiness surfaces in biblical psalms, rabbinic commentary, Talmudic pilpul...
Opinion: The American Jewish Thought Police on Patrol
A political “big tent” would be better for Washington, DC's Theater J and everyone else. // By Marshall Breger
Is There a Secret Ingredient in the Jewish Relationship with Food?
A wide-ranging discussion that includes food makers and thinkers Jami Attenberg, Sue Fishkoff, Ari Hart, Gil Marks, Allan Nadler, Joan Nathan, Yotam Ottolenghi, Mimi Sheraton, Michael Stern, Ruth Reichl, Claudia Roden, Shalva Weil and others.
From the Editor
One could argue that Israel is the country where non-Orthodox Jews have the least religious freedom: They can’t marry, divorce or convert according to their...
Elephant in the Room | How Has Anxiety Affected You, Your Family or the Jewish People?
Our second annual Elephant in the Room Essay Contest—in partnership with the Andrew Kukes Foundation for Social Anxiety—seeks to lessen the stigma surrounding anxiety by...
Book Review | Black Jews in Africa and the Americas
How to Be Black and Jewish
Tudor Parfitt
Harvard University Press
2013, $29.95, pp. 232
Tudor Parfitt’s last book, Search for the Lost Ark, was a...
A Jewish Life
Talking Jewish With Deborah Tannen
It was Thanksgiving 1978 in Berkeley. Some guests brought cranberry sauce, some brought sweet potato pie; Deborah Tannen—who was analyzing conversations...
From the Managing Editor
I was nervous when I answered the phone call from Bennett Greenspan, president and CEO of the genetic testing company Family Tree DNA. As part...
Letty Cottin Pogrebin: Two Bat Mitzvahs, 60 Years Apart
Not long ago, my eldest granddaughter celebrated her bat mitzvah—two months shy of 60 years after I celebrated mine. I was one of the first...
The Jewish National Pastime
By Aarian Marshall
Some people collect stamps, others baseball cards—Neil Keller collects famous Jews. He speaks quickly, with a slight lisp, and with his red polo...