Новости за 14.02.2018

The defining feature of modern politics is stupidity. This is an unassailable fact.

In the beginning, there was the voice. David Grossman’s young, raspy, seductive voice narrating the early afternoon kids’ radio show Hatul Basak (Cat in the Bag) we all listened to religiously while our parents took their nap before going back to work. There was something assuring, and self-assured, about that voice. It was the voice of someone who spoke from within the consensus and had no scruples about narrating reality according to the mainstream ethos—a voice reminiscent of one’s admired... Читать дальше...

Growing up Orthodox, everything I learned about women came from my non-Jewish driving teacher and old episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

“Re: Conclusion of investigations on Case 1000 and Case 2000”

Thus began the memo, circulated yesterday evening by the Israeli police, which may spell the beginning of the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s career. The police recommended that Netanyahu be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust—all jailable offenses. It is now up to state prosecutors to examine the evidence collected by the police, weigh the chances of a conviction in court, and decide whether to move forward with indictments. Читать дальше...

And so, it’s Valentine’s Day. Feh. Named for a saint and championed by the crassest crusaders of commerce, today isn’t much of a simcha for Jews. For that, we have Tu B’Av, which has a much better origin story and is celebrated in the summer, which is when sensuous festivals ought to be celebrated. But if you’re in the mood for love despite the sub-arctic temperature outside, you should at least consider commemorating the holiday in the most romantic language ever created: Hebrew.

“We are in a pretty dramatic shift around sex and relationships,” Celeste Hirschman told the group of nearly 50 people gathered two weeks ago at a spiritual center in Berkeley, California. “It’s time,” she said. “It’s messy. It’s complex.”

Like sentinels, a series of photographs stand in a row in the living room of my parents’ home. They depict several couples who, stiffly at attention, face the camera. The women are encased in lacy white gowns that cover every inch of their bodies; the men are similarly entombed in suits, ties, and top hats. Near as I can tell, there’s no sparkle in anyone’s eyes; the kind of moony glances characteristic of the lovelorn are absent, too. No one is smiling.

Editor’s Note: Yakov Hirsch is a person who came to our attention on Twitter, where he regularly assails “hasbara culture,” a banner under which he regularly berates a group of Jewish journalists including Liel Leibovitz at Tablet, Bret Stephens of The New York Times, and Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, and also the thinker Sam Harris. 

Have you heard the good news? Starting later this year, when you text your friends asking to go out for a bagel brunch, there will be a bagel emoji to help you emphasize your point.