Eddy Portnoy, a contributing editor for Tablet Magazine, teaches Yiddish language and literature at Rutgers University.
Mr. Israel
Rafael Halperin—who died last month—was an ordained rabbi, an ambitious businessman, and a middling politician. He was also a professional wrestler.
Paschal Lampoon
Forget Purim. Passover has a rich comedic tradition all its own, with parodies of the haggadah mocking everything from rabbis and the rich to Mussolini and Hitler.
Enforcers
In early-20th-century Warsaw, making sure people observed the Sabbath was serious business
Politics and Poesy
In early 20th-century Poland, poet Shmuel Nadler took off his yarmulke and took up with the Communists
Divorce Court
Long before Jerry Springer, divorcing couples fought it out before Warsaw’s rabbinical court
Ben-Gurion
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
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.
