JCurrents: New Essays & Articles

Aviva Cantor: Unveiling the Secret of the Scroll of Esther

March 4, 2012

[This opinion piece is dedicated to my maternal grandmother, Esther Eisengardt Friedman of Dubno (d. 1917).] I originally viewed Megillat Esther as a kind of instructional manual for Jews about the dangers of the Diaspora, and the strategies for surviving them, and  what the men — who took responsibility for implementing these strategies — expected [...]

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Sheva Zucker: Candles of Song

March 1, 2012

Sheva Zucker, editor of Afn Shvel (On the Threshold), the all-Yiddish magazine published by The League for Yiddish, launched a blog of Yiddish poems about mothers in February, in memory of her own mother, Miriam Pearlman Zucker, who died on January 25 of this year. “Although it is customary in the Jewish tradition to say [...]

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People of the Book 101: Ruth Whitman, Translations & Transformations

February 22, 2012

by Jules Chametzky In 1957, living in Cambridge, Massachusetts while working at Boston University, I took a summer course in Greek at Harvard, so that I could use the Widener Library the rest of the year and finish my dissertation. Next door to my class an eminent Classics professor named Cedric Whitman was teaching. That [...]

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Some Excerpts from the Memorial Service for Adrienne Cooper

February 19, 2012

Adrienne Cooper (September 1, 1946 –December 25, 2011), a vibrant performer and scholar of Yiddish song and Yiddish culture who was a member of our magazine’s Editorial Board, was memorialized on January 1st of this year at Ansche Chesed in New York. The following excerpts from her memorial service were captured by Helen Engelhardt on [...]

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People of the Book 101: Allen Ginsberg

January 31, 2012

Allen Ginsberg was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in February, 1973 — and made his last public appearance as a special guest at the NYU Poetry Slam on February 20, 1997. We honor this pioneering poet and activist with this 1st of February remembrance. by Jules Chametzky            Drawing by Marty Carey [...]

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People of the Book 101: Paul Goodman

January 17, 2012

With a new documentary film, Paul Goodman Changed My Life (www.paulgoodmanfilm.com), making the rounds of small movie theaters, we present this memoir of Goodman by Jules Chametzky. by Jules Chametzky Peter Rose, a long-time professor of sociology at Smith College, and I spent a good hour walking the streets of Northampton on a bitter cold [...]

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Nancy Romer: 53 Hours in a D.C. Jail

January 5, 2012

I spent 53 hours in Washington, D.C. lock-up after being arrested for participating in an nonviolent civil disobedience action at the White House on the morning of August 20th. Along with sixty-five other protesters, we sat in front of the White House protesting the climate-changing Keystone XL Pipeline that President Obama is deciding whether to [...]

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People of the Book 101: Tillie Olsen

January 1, 2012

Tillie Olsen was born on January 14, 1912 and died on January 1, 2007. To honor the 100th anniversary of her birth and her fifth yortsayt, we continue our “People of the Book 101″ series with this portrait. by Jules Chametzky Leo Marx brought Tillie to Amherst College for a year’s visiting lectureship in 1969, [...]

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Ken Winograd: My Dad’s Toy Store

December 24, 2011

My dad had two nuggets of wisdom for me, his youngest of three sons. First, Don’t ever ever ever go into retail. Second, Marry a school teacher. What I should do for work exactly, he wasn’t explicit about, although the moment he learned that I had started a teacher education program, his eyes filled with [...]

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Joysa Winter: First Comes Santa, Then Comes the Inquisition

December 13, 2011

At the age of 2 years and 5 months, my daughter responds to every new thing she sees as if she has just uncovered some long-lost mythical treasure. “Ohhhhh, Mommy, loooooooook!” she enthused the other day, while I was soaking in the bathtub, and she was playing nearby. “You have new razor!” I laughed. “Yes, [...]

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