Tablet Magazine and The Scroll will be dark through the end of the week in observance of Sukkot. This calls for an extra-long (and improperly named) Sundown.
• Elif Batuman examines what is to become of Franz Kafka’s papers? [NYT Magazine]
• A private Israeli security guard shot a Palestinian dead in a predominantly Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Clashes have since ensued. Gulp. [LAT]
• Russia is nixing the planned sale of sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles to Iran in deference to the U.N. sanctions. [JPost]
• J Street head Jeremy Ben-Ami calls on Prime Minister Netanyahu to extend the freeze (and J Street is running a whole bunch of print ads backing him up). [JTA]
• American Jews’ outsize political influence runs headlong into disproportionately un-Jewish Iowa’s outsize political influence. [Jewish Week]
• Yesterday, former President Clinton fingered not only settlements but also Russian immigrants in Israel as obstacles to peace. [Foreign Policy]
• Harold Bloom on Isaac Bashevis Singer. [NYRB]
• President Abdullah Gul talks Turkey … and Israel and Iran. [WP]
• Matt Duss compares what Helen Thomas and Martin Peretz said, and contrasts their fates. [Boston Globe]
• A profile of JDub Records artist Clare Burson, whose new album is Holocaust-inspired. [NYT]
• Barry Gewen situates the Park51 controversy in the broader American historical context. [Entanglements]
• Support the (Jewish) troops! While there are plenty of military rabbis, there is a severe shortage of Torahs. [Arutz Sheva/Vos Iz Neias?]
• Israeli know-how + Chinese manufacturing = a lot of money for one Israeli private-equity fund (maybe). [WSJ]
• Fascinating first-person essay from a Jewish U.S. Marine. Reminded me of “Defender of the Faith”. [Commentary]
• A Serious Man lead Michael Stuhlbarg plays Arnold Rothstein in HBO’s new Boardwalk Empire. [Jewish Journal]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.