An Interview with Elise Bernhardt, Executive Director of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture
June 28, 2010
Elise Bernhardt, Executive Director of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, recently took some time to answer a few questions via email about the work of the foundation for the New Vilna Review.
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An Interview With Israeli Ornithologist Dr. Yossi Leshem
Junes 21, 2010
Dr. Yossi Leshem is a professor at Tel Aviv University and long-time environmental researcher, educator and activist. Recently he took some time to answer a few questions about his work from the New Vilna Review, via email.
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An Interview With Adina Allen and Jeff Kasowitz, Founders of Attar
June 16, 2010
Adina Allen and Jeff Kasowitz founded the organization Attar with the goal of creating innovative programming that combines Jewish texts and traditions with sustainable environmental practices. This past year Jeff Kaskowitz was part of a small group of CJP/Presentense Fellows in Boston who received mentoring and other support as he worked to expand the work of Attar. The two founders recently took some time to answer a few questions from the New Vilna Review via email.
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An Interview With Artists4Israel Founder Craig Dershowitz
June 1, 2010
Artist Craig Dershowitz recently took some time to answer a few questions via email from the New Vilna Review about Artists4Israel, an organization devoted to showing the world that there is support for the Jewish State within the arts community. In this interview, Mr. Dershowitz talks about a recent trip to Israel by a group of artists which he organized, how Artists4Israel is working to combat the violent rhetoric of Hamas and what inspired him to use his artistic talents to advocate for Israel.
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An Interview with Esther Cohen, Founder of My Israel Wine Tours
May 26, 2010
On June 25, 2008, Boston area native Esther Cohen made alyah and moved to Jerusalem to begin her new life as a citizen of Israel. After several years of working in the Jewish community in Boston as an advocate for Israel, the move was a natural one for Cohen. In 2009 she started My Israel Wine Tours, a business dedicated to helping people discover the wines and wineries of Israel. Recently, Esther Cohen took some time to answer a few questions from the New Vilna Review via email from her home in Zichron Yaakov, a major wine producing center along Israel’s Mediterranean coast.
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Tisha B’Av at Ground Zero, and keeping Jewish time since
by Bill Miles
May 26, 2010
8th of Av, 5759, at the Kotel. It is now politically incorrect to called it the Wailing Wall, the last extant rampart of the Second Temple where for two thousand years Jews demonstrably lamented the destruction of Jerusalem. For self-conscious modern Zionists, proud of the ’67 recapture of Old Yerushalayam and still a wee bit ashamed of their pious ancestors’ open-air lachrymosity, Western Wall has become the preferred term. But on the annual summer fast day that commemorates the demolition of both Solomon’s Holy Temple and that of the returnees from Babylon, the wail is still in vogue – at least among the ultraorthodox “black hats,” the haredim, who on this day reclaim the Temple Plaza as their own.
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Peace Talks Begin Anew, But Tough Times Lie Ahead
by Daniel E. Levenson, ALM
May 21, 2010
The ultimate goal of any peace negotiations should be to create a peace that will be real and lasting. To rush to a solution, out of either frustration or sudden inspiration, is a tack which does not seem likely to succeed in creating a framework for peace and cooperation, between Israel and the Palestinians, which will be able to weather the difficult steps of implementation which are sure to follow a final settlement. Anyone who thinks that a peace solution, once found, will be easy to implement, is either vastly ignorant of the history of the region, or delusional as it is clear that there is bound to be significant resistance from hardliners within both camps who will find any solution, which is not wholly in their own interest, to be objectionable.
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An Interview with Or Mars, Director of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program
April 29, 2010
Or Mars recently took some time out of a busy schedule to answer a few questions for the New Vilna Review via email. Before coming to work at the Wexner Foundation in 2006, Mr. Mars held a number of different positions relating to leadership and education in the American Jewish community.
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Other: Ashkenazi
by Bill Miles
It’s census time again: are you ready to be visited by the Bureau? Have you ever wondered why the Census Bureau doesn’t want to count us as Jews?
DNA analysis out of Israel not only traces the origins of forty percent of Ashkenazi Jews to just four female ancestors. It also helps threaten a half-century taboo on an exceedingly sensitive notion: that there is such a thing as a Jewish race. Ever since the Nazis employed their pseudo-science to identify and then wage war on the “Jewish race,” bureaucrats and biologists alike, even in America, have been understandably skittish about using the term, lest it be misconstrued or abused.
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Making Space
Part one of a series on Jewish identity
by Daniel E. Levenson, ALM
When I started the New Vilna Review in December of 2007, I did so with the goal of creating a space online where authors, thinkers and artists could explore the ways that Jewish identity is formed and understood in the modern age. I wanted to ask the question, on a large scale, of how Jewish identity is formed and changed by individuals and communities in the early years of the twenty-first century. This is a question I will be returning to in a series of essays that will appear here on the New Vilna Review website, the first of which you are now reading.
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A Day in Zichron Ya'acov
June 22, 2009
A photo essay by Daniel E. Levenson
Located between Tel Aviv and Haifa, the town of Zichron Ya’acov sits a short distance from the Mediterranean Sea and feels a world away from its bustling industrial neighbor to the north and the busy metropolis to its south.
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Diaspora Museum Offers a View of Jewish Life Outside of Israel
by Daniel E. Levenson
June 11, 2009
JERUSALEM -The narrow alleyways of the Old City of Jerusalem, the magnificent views from the mountaintop city of Tzvat, the ruins of an ancient synagogue in the Golan – all of these things tell a piece of the story of the Jewish people.
Wedding Party: This is one of several exhibits devoted to key moments in the Jewish life cycle, depicting a wedding party standing beneath a chuppah, or traditional Jewish wedding canopy.
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Ramparts Walk Offers a Birds-Eye View of Jerusalem
Photo essay by Daniel E.Levenson
June 9, 2009
JERUSALEM- When visitors come to Jerusalem there are certain things they all want to see and do.
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Jerusalem Graffiti: Urban Images
A photo essay by Daniel E. Levenson
May 30, 2009
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Subway Evangelism
by Laura Berger
May 19, 2009
His appearance is haggard. His hair is overgrown and tangled, his clothes are torn, and his front two teeth are missing. He shouts at the commuters who mostly rush by without even glancing at the older man standing by the subway turnstiles. But at second glance, he isn’t angry. He’s shouting about Jesus, and inviting people to come and talk to him about Christ’s love.
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A Visit to the Museum of Psalms
April 9, 2009
by Nina Robinson
JERUSALEM - Once in a while one comes across a hidden gem, which is what happened when a group of friends and I set out for a visit to the Bet Ticho Museum on Yafo Street in Jerusalem. As we headed toward the gallery, a bright blue sign caught my eye, indicating the entrance to the Museum of Psalms. And what a museum it is. As you enter the courtyard that leads to the main part of the museum, you could be anywhere. Well, except America, as someone pointed out. I guess anywhere where there are old tin cans lying around, dusters, rusting pipes, stray cats and a general sewer smell.
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Shalit Family, Demonstrators, Maintain Vigil Outside Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem
A photo essay
March 17, 2009
by Daniel E. Levenson
JERUSALEM- It has been nearly three years since Corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists and the people of Israel and the Israeli government are still clearly concerned about getting him back alive.
A group of Israeli Arabs visits the Shalit family tent outside the Prime Minister's residence, in order to show their support for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit and his family.
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Jerusalem Bird Observatory Focuses on Education and Research
March 18, 2009
by Daniel E. Levenson
JERUSALEM - It was a typically busy day at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, when a New Vilna Review photographer stopped by to take some pictures of the bird ringing operation in action, with groups of schoolchildren, a TV camera crew, birdwatchers, and volunteers of all ages enjoying a clear, cool and sunny March morning.
The Jerusalem Bird Observatory uses a variety of different size rings for different kinds of birds.
A wren which was caught in one of the nets and banded is about to be released.
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An Interview with Robby Berman, Founder and Director of the Halachic Organ Donor Society
March 3, 2009
Robby Berman, founder and director of the Halachic Organ Donor Society, recently took some time to answer a few questions about the work of his organization for the New Vilna Review. According their website (hods.org) the mission of the Halachic Organ Donor Society is to “… save lives by encouraging organ donation from Jews to the general population (including non-Jews).”
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The Arava: A Photo Essay
by Daniel E. Levenson
Far from the crowded streets of Jerusalem and the bustling metropolis of Tel Aviv, the Arava sits at the southern end of the state of Israel, nestled between the red Edomite mountains of Jordan on one side and the vast sandy plains of the Egyptian Sinai on the other.
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Jerusalem Bird Observatory Offers an Oasis for Both Humans and Birds
by Daniel E. Levenson
February 9, 2009
A sign points the way to an urban oasis.
JERUSALEM -While it often seems that Jerusalem is in danger of being rapidly engulfed by rampant development, there is one spot right in the heart of the city that has remained an oasis of green for a wide variety of animal life. The Jerusalem Bird Observatory was founded 14 years ago as a refuge for wildlife in Jerusalem’s urban environment and as a place for people to come and enjoy a little bit of nature right in the middle of the city.
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Festival Held in Jerusalem to Support Southern Israel
JERUSALEM -On Friday, January 16th, a special festival was organized in the German Colony neighborhood of Jerusalem to benefit communities in the south of Israel which are currently under attack from Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.
The festival attracted a large number of shoppers.
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Revisiting My Childhood in Antwerp
November 8, 2008
by Claude Wolf
I have to start off this article by admitting something.
I’m a twerp.
To be more accurate, I’m a semi-twerp.
My parents are full twerps.
Both my mother and father were born in the city of Antwerp, a little while before the second world war broke out and destroyed part of the city, decimating the Jewish community (although not as effectively as that of Amsterdam). Tragically, 28,000 of the 35,000 Jews of Antwerp perished.
My grandfather managed to get a place aboard the last ship leaving for New York and so my father didn’t “enjoy” the war in the city of his birth. My mother meanwhile was whisked away to the resort of Spa and only came back after the war, growing up with the returnees from the camps. All this however, is another story because this article is about my Antwerp.
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Pariah or Charmed Hero: America's Obsession with Jews and Israel
October 27, 2008
by Shaul Magid
(Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared on the site Religion Dispatches)
Like seventy million other people around the world, I watched the Joe Biden v. Sarah Palin vice presidential debate with some apprehension. I didn’t expect to learn anything new (about the issues or about each candidate), but the debate’s proximity to world events and an ever-expanding financial crisis gave it a sense of urgency that extended far beyond its importance. But I did learn something new.
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The Human Place in Nature
July 24, 2008
by Ellen Bernstein
And God blessed them and God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and master it,
and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the flyer of the heaven,
and every live creature that creeps on the earth.” (1.28)
Va-yivarekh otam Elohim va-yomer lahem Elohim
Peru u-revu u-milu et-ha-aretz ve-khiveshu-ha
u-redu bi-degat ha-yam u-ve-of ha-shamayimu
ve-khol chayah ha-romeset al-ha-aretz.
In 1967, historian Lynn White argued in a now famous essay in Science Magazine, that the Bible gave humanity a mandate to exploit nature when it empowered the adam/human to “master the earth,” and “have dominion over” it.i Many environmentalists and theologians are still haggling over White’s thesis even after hundreds of articles and books have tackled the topic over the last 30 years.ii
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An Interview with Yehuda Poch, Director of Communications For the One Family Fund
July 25, 2008
Yehuda Poch is Director of Communications for the One Family Fund, an Israeli organization dedicated to providing support and services to victims of terror and their families in Israel. Mr. Poch recently took some time to answer a few questions about the organization via email. More information may be found online at onefamilyfund.org.
NVR: For those who might not be familiar with the work of OneFamily, can you give us a brief description of the work your organization does?
OneFamily provides comprehensive assistance for the victims of terrorism in Israel and their families. This assistance includes financial, material, legal and emotional assistance, victims' retreats, therapeutic workshops, support groups, home visits, youth programs such as camps and a Big Brothers/Sisters program, programs for young adults, and special programs for bereaved parents. The overall aim of this assistance is to give the families the feeling that they are not alone, and that there is a broader, more experienced family there for them to help them cope with the tragedy and rebuild their shattered lives.
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A Renewable Light Unto the Nations
July 23, 2008
by Yosef Israel Abramowitz
The convenient truth about the Jewish people is that when we put our minds and capital to work, we can make miracles happen. There is no more noble cause than saving humanity itself, ensuring that God’s covenant not to wipe out the planet with rising waters will be — in some small measure — because of our actions.
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Is There an Orthodox War Against Modern Orthodoxy?
Reading Flipping Out? Myth or Fact: The Impact of the "Year in Israel”
June 30, 2008
by Professor Shaul Magid
Indiana University/ Bloomington
Modern Orthodoxy is arguably one of the great success stories of American Jewry in the past forty years. Although it dominated American Orthodoxy before the Second World War, the arrival of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Holocaust survivors coupled with less stringent traditional Jews who migrated toward Conservative Judaism because of its ideology of Americanization after the war resulted in a decline of Modern Orthodoxy in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. In the wake of Identity Politics in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, the mainstreaming of multiculturalism, the Baal Teshuva movement and its own strong program of outreach, Modern Orthodoxy made a comeback.1 Its day-schools flourished as did its summer camps, youth movement (NCSY) and it seemed Modern Orthodoxy had survived the onslaught of its haredi challengers and the defections of its more liberal constituency.
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An Interview with AJWS President Ruth Messinger
June 11, 2008
American Jewish World Service President Ruth Messinger recently took some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for the New Vilna Review. Ms. Messinger assumed the leadership role of AJWS in 1998 and prior to that she was a member of the New York City Council and served as Manhattan Borough President for eight years.
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Continuity vs. Unity
May 28, 2008
by Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz
Maintaining continuity and unity are the two greatest challenges facing the Jewish community.
Jewish unity is slowly disintegrating. Post –Shoah feelings of Jewish solidarity are now gone. Divisions over matters of religion and political affiliation have even lead to violence. Books like A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America and Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry chronicle the growing tensions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews in North America. In Israel, religion has been politicized, with religious and anti-religious parties stoking an atmosphere of mutual contempt. And of course there are the political tensions related to Israel’s foreign policy, which led to the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin. With the Jewish people seemingly breaking apart into warring tribes, Jewish unity is a serious problem indeed.
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An Interview With Karin Kloosterman, Editor of greenprophet.com
May 27, 2008
Writer and editor Karin Kloosterman recently took some time to answer questions about Green Prophet, a blog that looks at many of the pressing environmental issues facing Israel and the world today.
NVR: What exactly is greenprophet.com and where did the idea for the site come from?
Green Prophet is a blog that reports on environment news from Israel. Although our writers are all based in Israel, and the majority of us are Jewish, the goal (at least mine) is to collect writers from other countries in the region in order to advance cooperation and technology on environmental issues. We'd love to hear Muslim voices from Gaza, Egypt, Jordan or Iraq and learn about the spiritual and "green" sides of Islam. Unfortunately the environment isn't a fashionable topic in Arab countries right now. If climate change predictors are correct, it will be.
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From Teenage Romance to Deeper Understanding: The Spiritual Journey of the Omer
May 2008/Nissan 5678
by Mishael Zion
As you wake up to a new day, in the shower, brushing your teeth, you find yourself going over the events of the previous evening again and again. You have only just met, but what a night! There was something special in the air which made not only for a great date, but for what seems now like a life changing experience. That feeling of a real connection to someone, so rare and hard to come by. Last night was magic…
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Why I Wash The Dead
April 18, 2008
by Leslie What
The first time I touched a dead man, I was twenty-one, a student nurse on a rotation to ICU, bathing an elderly man whose failed heart required a pacemaker to spark his pulse. He was critically ill, unconscious, sheet pale, with a blue tinge to his lips.
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Embracing Our Inner Reverend Wright
April 10, 2008
by David Gottlieb
It's that time of year again -- that time when nothing that's irritating shows signs of going away. It's the endless expiration of the Midwestern winter (even though tomorrow is Opening Day), the sado-voyeuristic pleasure found by the financial press in the mess of our markets, the slow-motion, anarchic implosion of the Iraq War, and the logorrhea of the presidential campaign.
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Inscribing Jewish Identity: Reading an Italian Hebrew Sonnet
April 9, 2008
by Cheryl Goldstein
As a “people of the Book” we Jews have often defined ourselves in relation to, and as possessors of, “the Text.” One element in this communal self-fashioning (to tweek Stephen Greenblatt’s phrase), involves, even requires, an ongoing dialogue with language and interpretation where the relationship between the people and the book provides a demonstration of chosen-ness in the interpretative act of choosing. And the community has experienced this status, this chosen-ness, as having a double-edge, as a privilege and a burden, as a force for communal unification and a rationale from both within and outside the Jewish community for separation and cultural distance.
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Thoughts on Purim
by Rabbi Avi Poupko
Nachmanadies confirmed, at the great Disputation of Barcelona in 1263, the “accusation” made by the Jewish apostate Pablo Christiani that Jews are, in fact, not the People of the Bible, rather we are the People of the Talmud.
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The Scroll of Esther – The First Purim Torah
by Rabbi Henry A. Zoob
There are a number of things that make human life unique. Among them are the fact that human beings are the only species who blush from embarrassment as well as the only species who recognize their grandchildren.
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A Lone Star-of-David Encounter
by William Miles"You have a Jewish accent," said the El Paso Yellow Cab driver as he picked me up from my Holiday Inn in Texas one recent, pre-dawn morning.
"Oh, really?" I said, a bit quizzically. "Do Jews have a different accent from Christians?"
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DANIEL E. LEVENSON Editor in Chief |
At the root of faith is a question or many questions perhaps, about the nature of the universe and the meaning of life. Read More |
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