Saul Austerlitz is the author of Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy. He will be blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council‘s Jewish Authors Blog. Being on tour for a book is simultaneously an exhilarating and a terrifying experience. Exhilarating because, after toiling so lengthily in the mines of authorial solitude, [...]

Here are the best things that happened at MJL this week–with no additional Tu Bishvat related material! Is Saag Paneer specifically Jewish? I believe the country of India would disagree. However, it still makes an amazing kosher dish! Franz Kafka was a clue on Monday’s episode of Jeopardy–the exact same day he was featured on [...]

“Three ways are open to a man who is in sorrow. He who stands on a normal rung weeps, he who stands higher is silent, but he who stands on the topmost rung converts his sorrow into song. ” –Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk Find more Wise Fridays wisdom on MJL.

Flying is the worst, right? I mean, except for being able to fly across the world in a matter of hours, it’s still not a fun experience. That is especially truly if you have a long lay over or if you’re flight is delayed. Usually, what I do is walk aimlessly around the airport for [...]

I know you probably weren’t asking for it, but if for some reason you wanted proof that I am a Canadian Jew, all you’ll need is this. Yesterday, when I read this story about professional hockey player, and Canadian Jew, Jason Bailey, I went straight to Facebook to see if I could find his profile. [...]

The Sway Machinery’s new album House of Friendly Ghosts, Vol. 1 won’t be out for another few weeks (who are they? check out our interview with the band) but this is too good not to share. The band, who recently returned from recording their new album in Africa, plays “Billie Jean” live in Mali. It’s [...]

These days I spend a lot of time volunteering as a gabbai at Kehilat Hadar, and among other things this means dealing with our budget concerns, i.e. making sure we have enough money to pay rent. So it was especially interesting to me to read this article in the Wall Street Journal about churches and [...]

If you are a regular on our website or any other Jewish website for that matter, you’ve probably noticed that a new film, Barney’s Version, starring Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, and Minnie Driver, has been featuring ads all over the place. Even if you know nothing about the film, or the original book by Mordecai [...]

Weekend is coming. My friend from Newfoundland is coming to town (actually, I have numerous Newfoundland friend. Good folk). They have their own time zone! This week, we featured a lot of Tu Bishvat material, which might seem irrelevant now being that Tu Bishvat was yesterday, but maybe you can archive this stuff for next [...]

Yesterday I had occasion to google the term “double mitzvah.” Growing up going to Jewish day schools, we all knew the joke that having sex on Shabbat was a double mitzvah, because in theory you could be both fulfilling the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, and the commandment to enjoy the Sabbath. I googled [...]