Not sure how I missed this, but thanks to Mark Berch for pointing out this story about Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and friends trying to pull off a Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount. In their efforts to sacrifice a live animal at the Temple Mount, the New Sanhedrin Council adopted an almost underground modus operandi. [...]

Or at least He likes former Ohio State wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. more. Or at least that’s what Ginn thinks. Ginn had this to say after the Miami Dolphins selected him in Saturday’s NFL draft, passing on the former Notre Dame star: “Brady Quinn is a great quarterback, and just to be in competition [...]

Our partner, Jewish Coalition for Service, recently launched its new web initiative, the Jewish Service Online Network (JSoN, for short — I love the name). It’s a social networking-cum-informational site for people who have participated or are considering participating in formal Jewish volunteerism. Good cause, and the site’s got some interesting content, such as this piece [...]

I just received a copy of Don DeLillo’s new novel, Falling Man, which will be published in mid-May. DeLillo is one of my favorite writers, but his last two books have been deeply disappointing. But there’s reason to think he may pull out of his slump with this one. Falling Man is DeLillo’s 9/11 novel, [...]

In this week’s Forward, Leonard Fein takes on the anti-circumcision crowd (and makes a few jokes along the way): Google “circumcisionâ€? and you will see why. Learned paper after learned paper informs us that we’ve been irreparably traumatized by our experience; that circumcised infants exhibit behavioral changes after circumcision; that some circumcised men have strong [...]

The latest installment of Adeena Sussman’s MJL food column “The Inspired Kitchenâ€? is now available. The newest recipe: Kasha Varnishkes, buckwheat with bowtie noodles. Tasty comfort food–try it this Shabbat!

Some more notes on last night’s Nathan Englander/Ben Karlin conversation. – Karlin was, for the most part, hilarious (which should be no surprise, since he’s one of the men behind The Onion, Jon Stewart, and Steven Colbert). He remarked that after reading Englander’s work he thought: “I’d be interested in hearing me to talk to [...]

Last night, at the New York Public Library, Nathan Englander conducted his first reading/program for his new novel, The Ministry of Special Cases (whose official publication date was yesterday). The night was MC-ed by Ben Karlin, co-creator of The Colbert Report. It’s not shocking, but a program featuring two Jews talking about a Jewish-ish book [...]

This Yom Haatzmaut, Israeli artists have a lot to celebrate. As JTA’s Ben Harris recently reported, Israeli art is doing as well as ever. In 2002, the video artist Michal Rovner had a solo show at the Whitney Museum in New York and Ori Gersht had one at the Tate Britain in London. The following [...]

The amateur etymologist in me enjoyed this piece on the genesis of the Yiddish term shmendrick in the April issue of Moment: The shmendrick is the nincompoop of Yiddish lore, a pipsqueak. A synonym for a hopelessly neurotic bumbler, this brand of shmendrick has become an archetype of American entertainment—think Jerry Lewis in The Bellboy, [...]