Observation ·
Where Did Shylock Get His Name?
By PhilologosThe unusual appellation testifies to the individuality of the character who bears it.
Subject
Arts & Culture
Latest Mosaic Content for Arts & Culture
Observation ·
Nobody Wants All Hell to Break Loose. But Who’s Breaking, and from Where?
By PhilologosDonald Trump, Paradise Lost , and the origins of a phrase.
Response ·
Christians Believe in Divine Art. Jews Believe in Divinely Inspired Art. What Does the Difference Mean?
Committed to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Twisted Tales: Christian Art Re-Presents the Hebrew Bible
By Larry SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
The Messages about Jews in Christian Art
By Edward RothsteinCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Hebrew Language’s Wildly Unpredictable Gender System
By PhilologosAll nouns and adjectives in Hebrew are gendered. Why do those genders keep switching?
Monthly Essay ·
How Western Artists Used and Abused the Hebrew Bible
By Dr. Jacob WisseFor centuries, visual artists, nearly all Christian, turned to the Hebrew Bible for inspiration even more often than the New Testament. What did they find there, and did they treat it well?
Observation ·
An Unusual and Beautiful Hebrew Poem by a 19th-Century Catholic Priest
By PhilologosI can’t think of a single serious Hebrew composition written by a Christian other than “In Praise of the Hebrew Language.”
Response ·
To Do Better in Our Time, We Must Learn What Abraham Cahan Accomplished in His
Committed to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Why Goats Show Up in So Many Idioms
By PhilologosHebrew is full of goats these days, and English and French aren't too far behind. Where'd they all come from?
Response ·
The Cold Litvak
By Gennady EstraikhCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Watch Gary Saul Morson and Jacob Howland Discuss the Dostoevsky Problem
By Gary Saul Morson, Jacob Howland, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
The Special Sway Dostoevsky Held over Soviet Jewish Minds
By Marat GrinbergCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2023, Part II
By Andrew Koss, Jonathan Silver, Rabbi Meir SoloveichikFeaturing fears, fates, burdens of power, memory wars, Sabbath days, Russian writers and timeless questions, years of upheaval, Japanese Jews, and more.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2023, Part I
By Elliott Abrams, Cynthia Ozick, Neil Rogachevsky, Dr. Ruth WisseFeaturing prime ministers, kidnappings, popes, silences, exiled shadows, portraits, intellectual origins, the best minds, and more.
Response ·
Anti-Semitism Appeals to Intellectuals Because It Feels Like an Idea
By Adam KirschCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Does the Slang Word “Shamus” Come from the Yiddish “Shammash” or the Irish “Seamus”?
By PhilologosThe long-running case of the word for private detective can finally be considered closed.
Monthly Essay ·
Why Dostoevsky Loved Humanity and Hated the Jews
By Gary Saul MorsonThe case of the literary master helps explain why people who devote themselves to compassion for all so often make an exception for Jews.
Observation ·
“This Is the Yom Kippur of”
By PhilologosIn the wake of the Yom Kippur War, the words yom kippur shel , “the Yom Kippur of,” have referred in Israeli speech to any debacle that might have been prevented by better judgment.
Response ·
The Presence of Peretz: A Discussion with Ruth Wisse and Andrew Koss
By Andrew KossCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Monthly Essay ·
I.L. Peretz and the Golden Chain
By Dr. Ruth WisseThe great Yiddish writer envisioned an unbroken transmission of Jewishness through the generations, from biblical prophets to talmudic sages to literary giants like Heine—and himself.
Observation ·
The Wheels of Jewish Language in the New Netflix Show “Rough Diamonds”
By PhilologosOne of the show's main pleasures has to do with which of the four languages spoken by its main characters—Yiddish, Flemish, French, and English—they use with whom.
Observation ·
A Religious Musical in Secular Tel Aviv
By Sarah RindnerTraditional lines between the secular and religious populations are fading, particularly in the realms of music and art.
Response ·
Watch Mosaic’s Dramatic Reading of “The Dawning of the Day”
By The Editors, Jonathan Silver, Daniel BouskilaCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2022, Chosen by Mosaic Authors
By Elliott Abrams, Tamara Berens, Andrew Koss, Daniel Polisar, Neil Rogachevsky, Sarah Rindner, Jonathan SilverFeaturing wars, peacemakers, two cultures, pogroms, plays, four ages, wild problems, caves, magic, letters, American conservatives, liberal parents, radical children, and more.
Monthly Essay ·
The Sage and Scribe of Modern Israel
By Dr. Ruth WisseThe novelist and rabbi Haim Sabato infuses tradition into fiction as well as any of the Yiddish greats. The difference? His work is unencumbered by modern angst.
Observation ·
The Scourge of “Jewsplaining”
By PhilologosI've been spared an encounter with the neologism until lately. But, frankly, now that I have made its acquaintance, I find it idiotic. (And don't get me started about "goysplaining.")
Observation ·
What the Israeli Show “Tehran” Means to This Iranian
By Shay KhatiriThe spy show seems so accurate I found myself wondering whether its creators are themselves former Mossad agents who spent time in the titular city.
Observation ·
Anti-Semitism in the British Spy Novel
By Robert D. KingLooking back to the venerable genre, I'm struck by how often anti-Semitism presents itself. The late John Le Carré is only the most recent to be accused of that unpleasant condition.
Observation ·
Archie Rand, the Jewish Michelangelo?
By Menachem WeckerMichelangelo had a thousand years of Catholic art to build on when creating the Sistine Chapel. Jews haven't had such a tradition, until a secular Jew from Brooklyn stepped up.
