From the Executive Editor

In My Own Words: Lockdown by Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Let me see if I have this correctly: being asked to stay in your homes in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 is the exact same thing as “men and women stripped completely naked, lined up and facing a mass grave, where they are shooting them in the back of the head and falling in the grav…

Off the Shelf: Novels that take place in Israel – part two

Part one of this review focused on the more domestic aspects of Israeli life. This review speaks to the complex issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While politics are involved, all three authors focus on the personal side of these issues, which allows readers to see how they…

Off the Shelf: Hollywood and Jewish refugees

by Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Before I read the press release for “The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler’s Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood” by Donna Rifkind (Other Press), I’d never heard of Salka Viertel. While I knew that many Jewish and non-Jewish refugees who were act…

In My Own Words: Various personal, societal and political thoughts

Alone time

I’ve been rediscovering my inner introvert. I’m not exactly a hermit since most weekdays I communicate with Reporter staff via numerous e-mails over the course of the day. I’ve also had Skype/Zoom conversations with friends. (One of those is not new: the friend lives out of…

Off the Shelf: Novels that take place in Israel-part 1

Novels that take place in Israel tend to fall into two categories: those that talk about domestic life and those that focus on hamatzav (literally “the situation,” referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). However, it’s difficult to draw lines between domestic and political arena…