In 1927, a popular duo called The Happiness Boys had a hit song called, \”Since Henry Ford Apologized to Me,\” which lampooned the car magnet\’s supposed contrition for the anti-Semitic content of his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent.
Dylan didn\’t kvetch like your cousin Marvin or sing Israeli songs. He was steeped in old-time American music. But his Jewishness stood out — perhaps more in retrospect, especially in concert segments that are part of the new Martin Scorcese documentary on Dylan called, \”No Direction Home.\”
Poets have been known to wax lyrical about \”the glory that was Greece.\” Yet a visitor to Greece today quickly finds that the glory\’s not only in the past tense. While those who built the shrines to Zeus and Apollo are long gone, the people who inhabit modern Greece are unquestionably alive.
The goal of shaping high-quality people is especially foremost during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
A college buddy of mine — Jewish, though not a descendant of survivors — once observed that his family dynamics follow the rules of a sport: Guilt Judo. The sport requires a range of moves: arm-twists, throws, the art of the pin. Grace and style matter, and it is, of course, imperative to master that most fundamental skill: learning to fall without injury.
The course is funded by the Middle East Teacher Resource Project, an arm of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). The Quaker organization has a long, honorable history of pacifism and aiding refugees (including this reporter\’s parents), but is considered by many in the Jewish community as leaning consistently toward a pro-Palestinian perspective.
As she wrote \”In Her Shoes,\” Jennifer Weiner wanted to work through an obvious, but puzzling, conundrum: How can people who grew up in the same house wind up radically different individuals?
A new study of Jews in their 20s and 30s reveals that though these young people are underaffiliated with traditional institutions, many have a strongly defined Jewish identity that they express in creative new ways outside synagogues, Jewish Community Centers and the federation system.
Welcome to fall: The time of High Holidays, contemplation, repentance and really, really long services.
And did I mention TV?
Wex analyzes the many ways that Yiddish — a language that has perfected the art of the curse while experiencing deep discomfort with praise — developed a strategy to deal with those rare times when a Yiddish Jew (henceforth, the \”Yid\”) has nothing negative, nasty or bitter to say.
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