Posted in Popular culture on Jul 8th, 2008
I recently finished reading Philip Roth’s American Pastoral, which won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1997. Roth of course has written extensively about Jewish men who fall in love with non-Jewish women–and the parents who disapprove–and American Pastoral is no different. Except when it is.
Unlike most of his other protagonists, the central character in American Pastoral is […]
Posted in Popular culture on Jun 12th, 2008
The list of Jewish players who have ever played in the NBA is short (and the list of notable ones is even shorter). The best ever is Hall-of-Famer Dolph Schayes, who was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996.
The newest Jewish talent in the NBA–and first since Dolph’s son Danny last played in […]
Posted in Popular culture, Other religions on Apr 16th, 2008
I always thought that Tom Hanks’ wife, Rita Wilson, was a charming woman and a good actress. She met Tom when she played an idealistic Jewish Peace Corps member in the 1985 film, Volunteers. Hanks starred as a WASP playboy who joined the Peace Corps to get out of the country just ahead of some […]
Posted in Passover, Popular culture on Apr 3rd, 2008
I like any opportunity to show how Jewish culture can be integrated with other cultures and make a beautiful hybrid. I don’t know what culture should take responsibility for marshmallow Peeps, but I think you’ll join me in enjoying Peeps for Passover. Yes! The 10 Plagues, acted out by PEEPS! (No, no, Peeps are not […]
Posted in The Rest of the World, Popular culture on Mar 17th, 2008
My 5-year-old son is really interested in holidays, especially ones that have special costumes. How do you explain St. Patrick’s Day to a Jewish boy–who lives in Boston? We passed people wearing green clothing and sparkly hats on the street yesterday, probably on their way to the famous St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which is the […]
Posted in Popular culture on Feb 29th, 2008
Most people hold dear books that they read as a child. Me, I can barely recall anything I read prior to turning 15 (and those books that I do remember, like the Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventure series, hold no special place in my heart). So “Judy Blume” has long been just another author […]
Posted in Popular culture on Feb 28th, 2008
I find a lot of great stuff on The Jew and the Carrot, a blog about Jews and food, like this blurb about Natalie Portman’s new project. She’s going to star with Irrfan Khan in Mira Nair’s next movie, Kosher Vegetarian. The title alone sends me, and it’s a movie about a relationship between a […]
Posted in Popular culture, Conversion on Feb 8th, 2008
Opening on Valentine’s Day is a romantic comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Breslin called Definitely, Maybe. Yawn.
But Jewdar, a blogger on Heeb magazine’s website, points out that two of the three leading women–Elizabeth Banks and Isla Fisher–are converts to Judaism. Banks converted in 2003 upon marrying her college boyfriend, Max Handelman, and Fisher recently converted […]
Posted in Israel, Popular culture on Jan 22nd, 2008
JTA’s Dina Kraft has a nice piece today that connects to several of our recent stories. As Nate Bloom reports in today’s installment of Interfaith Celebrities, Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Meadow Soprano on “The Sopranos”) recently visited Israel as part of a birthright israel tour. Birthright israel provides young Jewish adults who’ve never visited Israel before with a […]
Posted in December holidays, Outreach, Popular culture, Conversion on Dec 28th, 2007
It’s a little late, but I need to pass along this amusing story of the Jewish daughter of a Jewish mom and a Christian dad named Sarah Christmas.
The Forward has a wonderful story about a group of 55 African-Americans who converted to Judaism in Cairo, Ill.–home to 40 churches and only 4,000 people.
Also in The […]
