Allison Hoffman
Allison Hoffman is a senior writer for Tablet Magazine.
Israel a Hot Topic at Presidential Debate
Created opportunity for unscripted dialogue between candidates
Why Doesn’t Federation Blush Anymore?
JFNA would honor several unsavory folks, if they pass political litmus test
Shaken Up
Egypt’s politically expedient ban on the export of palm fronds has altered the lulav market in unexpected ways
Fast Talk
Diplomat Dennis Ross and Times columnist Tom Friedman give an annual Yom Kippur seminar at Kol Shalom in Rockville, Md., a synagogue they helped start
Talking Points
After the Arab Spring, a summer of Israeli protests, and the Palestinian bid for statehood, what will rabbis say in their High Holiday sermons?
Bibi’s Brain
Ron Dermer, a Florida-born Jew who started in politics working on the 1994 Republican Revolution, is Benjamin Netanyahu’s most influential aide
Friday Night Lights
Ten years after Sept. 11, in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood that hasn’t had a dedicated Jewish sanctuary since before the Civil War, a new synagogue opens
Mother Russia
The new Lifetime reality show Russian Dolls portrays the Russian-American Jews of Brighton Beach as celebrating neither America nor their Judaism but the freedom to be stereotypically Russian
Common Ground
With a looming deadline, deep-seated distrust, and competing claims to resources, Washington’s effort to reach a debt deal is a stateside version of the ongoing quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace
A Spin
Jordan’s late King Hussein and his unsuccessful efforts to make peace get a courtier’s treatment in the new memoir from Jack O’Connell, a former CIA station chief in Amman
Ben-Gurion
The Eichmann Trial
Sacred Trash
The Tenth Man
The key to Christopher Hitchens wasn’t his iconoclasm; it was his desire for belonging—and the proof can be found in an unexpected place
Sounding Off
Note to some of my fellow progressives: If we can’t argue about Israel without using anti-Semitic tropes, then the debate is lost before it even begins
- RT @mortonland: 'Sentimental Journey' http://t.co/AyKGMfV6 via @tabletmag: Adam Kirsch reaffirms his status as his generation's Lionel Trilling.
Twitter: tabletmag
Cheap Eats
An entrepreneur opened a Jewish-themed restaurant in Lviv, Ukraine. Chopped liver is on the menu, but not its price—diners get to haggle over it.
Grace Notes
Orthodox klezmer and bluegrass virtuoso Andy Statman and evangelical country star Ricky Skaggs cross genres and faiths to form a mighty duo
Goodbye to All That
For generations, the Jews of Caracas had idyllic weather, prosperity, and vibrant communal organizations. Things have changed under Hugo Chávez.
-
Heroine Stupor
Wanted Women, a new joint biography of two Muslim women, refuses to distinguish between an al-Qaida terrorist and a feminist intellectualby Andrew RobertsSt. Leonard’s Passion
Leonard Cohen releases his 12th album, Old Ideas. The troubadour and poet hasn’t always been popular, but he is always profound.by Liel LeibovitzSentimental Journey
In the new collected stories of Nathan Englander, and in his revised Haggadah, Jews cling tenuously to the easily broken chains of traditionby Adam KirschPregnant Pause
Pregnancies are fertile ground for superstition, especially for those who assume their traditions and lucky charms are based in Jewish lawby Allison HoffmanHostage Crisis
The Egyptian government is preparing a show trial for 19 American pro-democracy organizers. Is this what life after Hosni Mubarak looks like?by Lee Smith




