About From Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh to a pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden to passengers of the St. Louis being denied entry, antisemitism and isolationism raged in the United States as Nazi Germany invaded Europe. Join historian Craig Nelson, author of the new book V is for Victory: Franklin Roosevelt’s American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II, for a conversation about how FDR’s leadership transformed the United States and helped defeat the Nazis. In conversation with former CBS News correspondent and Moment contributor Dan Raviv, in commemoration of D-Day which ..read more

About Born in Israel to Jewish immigrants from Egypt, Ronit Matalon was known for giving a voice to Mizrahi (Jews of Middle Eastern/North African descent) women. And the Bride Closed the Door is a broad comedy about a bride who refuses to go forward with her wedding ceremony, sowing havoc. The book captures a segment of Mizrahi society not often featured in Israeli fiction. Matalon won Israel’s prestigious Brenner Prize the day before her untimely death from cancer. Shulamit Reinharz is professor of sociology emerita at Brandeis University and founder of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. I ..read more

About Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, editor of the legendary Jewish Catalog that taught so many people how to “do Jewish” without having to rely on synagogue and rabbinic authorities, discusses how Jewish practice has changed in the 50 years since then. He also talks about his new book, Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century, which offers new insights on how Judaism can, will and must continue to change and adapt as a toolkit to help people bring meaning to every aspect of their lives. In conversation with Moment Book and Opinion Editor Amy E. Schwartz. More ..read more

The “Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour,” held March 11 at a public park in Wadsworth, Ohio, almost didn’t happen. Organizer Aaron Reed (the self-proclaimed rock-n-roll humanist) had first arranged to hold the family-themed LGBTQ+ event at a brewery, with plans to raise money for a local charity as well as victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs. However, the Wadsworth Brewing Co. backed out after receiving violent threats and charges of “grooming,” which has become the buzzword for critics of activities that promote LGBTQ+ positivity, including drag queen story hours (which ..read more

In 2001 Moment published an article about the underground gay community among Orthodox Jews. This piece by Naomi Grossman remains relevant today, as the tensions represented in the article continue to make headlines. Whether exemplified by Yeshiva University’s banning of its LGBT student organization or hardline anti-gay activist Avi Maoz’s role in the current Israeli government, the friction between Orthodox Judaism and LGBTQ+ Jews is ongoing. Hopefully this piece will provide some context on the history of this discordant relationship and some insights on its future. To see this article in i ..read more

Jewish Politics & Power is published every other week. Sign up for our newsletter for updates. 1. Biden Rolls Out Long-Awaited Antisemitism Policy The timing was awkward. In the organized Jewish world, last Thursday was a really short day, with everyone scrambling to finish up their work and make it home before sundown, when the holiday of Shavuot began. Many were also heading out of town for the rare occurrence of a very long weekend combining Shavuot and Memorial Day. And still, the Biden administration’s plan to counter antisemitism, which was unveiled last Thursday, made Jew ..read more

Elizabeth Graver began writing her fifth novel, Kantika, in 2014, but the Turkish Sephardic dressmaker at the heart of the multi-generational, continent-spanning saga has been with her for a lifetime. That’s because she was inspired by Graver’s maternal grandmother, Rebecca (née Cohen) Baruch Levy. Not coincidentally, the character at the heart of Kantika—the word means “song” in Ladino—is also named Rebecca. Fact and fiction meet in the key elements of her migration journey, which hew closely to Graver’s grandmother’s real life. Born into a wealthy family in Istanbul at the turn of the 20th ..read more

The massive protests that filled Israeli streets in March and April ebbed somewhat after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to protesters’ demands for a “pause” in his push for major changes in the country’s judicial system. But the conflict is far from over, and indeed, is scheduled to heat up again around the end of May, when, with national and religious holidays past and other pressing business (including a budget) largely disposed of, the Knesset will be free to turn again to the much-disputed “reforms” being proposed for the legal system. And what are those reforms, exactly? Though ..read more

“I went into their bedroom and saw two beds,” my niece said after babysitting for an Orthodox rabbi’s children. “What’s that about?” I nodded as it all came crashing back. “Orthodox couples don’t touch during the woman’s period until it ends plus seven days.” Her eyes went wide. “And they can’t touch, can’t pass the salt or the chicken or the baby, until the woman goes to the mikvah, the ritual bath,” I explained. “Did you do that when you were religious?” I nodded. “But I made him sleep in the smaller bed. I kept the king for myself.” “I hope so,” she said. I learned to be a religious wife in ..read more

In August 2020, I came home to $40k of water damage to my condominium caused by a pinhole leak from my 88-year-old neighbor Marcia’s adjacent condo. As I assessed the damage, saved my cat from drowning in the puddles in my living and dining rooms, and watched the light fixtures in my bathroom slide down the wall, I couldn’t know that I was about to meet the love of my life. I was nearing the end of a long-term relationship and facing a health crisis for the second time in two-and-half years. When Marcia invited me over one fall evening for a glass of wine soon after the deluge, I almost didn’t ..read more