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Moment
Articles from Vol. 37, No. 2, March-April
Are Jews Still Expecting a Messiah?
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* INDEPENDENT Very few of us ever expected the Messiah. We spent most of our history hoping for one. And one day, indeed, the dove will return with those hopes grasped firmly in its beak. But it is up to us to do what Noah did--open the window of...
Are We Too Fair-Minded to Take Our Own Side? Prominent Jewish American Thinkers Are Reinforcing Anti-Israel and Anti-Jewish Rhetoric
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In the 20th century, a war was waged against the Jews of Europe. It culminated in the Holocaust. In the 21st century, a war is being waged against the Jews of the Middle East. How that turns out will depend in large measure on whether people in the...
A Word Fit for a King
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Today, "messiah" usually brings to mind a personal savior, the end of time, the Kingdom of Heaven--or Jesus Christ. This grand, contemporary understanding, however, hides the word's humble origins--and its millennia-long evolution. The word messiah...
Can a "Messiah" Save Israel Now? Israel Regularly Anoints Political Leaders but So Far They Have All Proved False
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"The Messiah is not coming. The Messiah is not going to phone, either" In a still-popular song from the 1980s, Israeli rock singer Shalom Hanoch mocks secular messianism. But that hasn't kept secular Israelis from waiting for a political messiah...
Infections
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THE ONION LOTZI WAS EATING COULD BE smelled five floors below him in the entrance to Migdal Zahav, the Golden Tower of Jerusalem, where he lived. Lotzi always waited for me to arrive before retrieving his knife from the cupboard, a gesture that was...
Is the American Right Too Right for Israel? Republican Primary Hopefuls Have Been Putting Forth Policies That Even the Israeli Government Considers Extreme
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This election cycle has officially ended the decades-long debate over whether Israel should be an American campaign issue. For better or worse, it is. We've grown used to hearing Israel mentioned in every televised debate and every stump speech, whether...
It Is Time to Ask a Question Rarely Brought Up in a Public Forum. Does It Make Sense to Believe in the Messiah Today or Is It an Antiquated Notion That Is Holding Us Back?
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Welcome to our Messiah Issue! The specter of a messiah is alive and well in the 21st century. We may not think of it in these terms, but many of us are wishing for someone to swoop in and fix America's economy, secure Israel's future, eradicate...
Jerusalem: The Unholy Story
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Jerusalem: The Biography Simon Sebag Montcfiorc Alfred A. Knopf 2011,835, pp. 650 Jerusalem is in an awful location. There's no water. It's far from any main trade route, surrounded by mountains, and sitting on an earthquake fault. It shouldn't...
King David's Genes
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Three thousand years ago, tradition says the prophet Samuel anointed a lowly shepherd named David king of Israel. A warrior who could defeat Goliath and write love psalms, David managed to pull the quarreling Jewish tribes together into one nation...
Marc Maron: Recovering Messiah
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If ever there was a tale of comic resurrection, it belongs to Marc Maron. The 48-year-old comedian's climb back from drugs, drinking and despair--with a lot of help from iTunes--is a modern-day redemption story. The progeny of a Jewish doctor and...
Messiah Mania: A Short History of Four Jews and Their Legacies
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No one can verify the exact number, but to date, Judaism has rejected at least 24 Jews claiming to be the Messiah. The religion's deep skepticism is reflected in the advice of the first-century sage Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai, who said that if you are...
Messiahs at the Movies: Moment Presents Ten Messianic Flicks
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Superman (1978) In Richard Donner's adaptation of the comic-hook classic, Jor-El (Marlon Brando) launches his son Kal-El (Hebrew for "voice of God") into space before the planet Krypton blows up. After crash-landing in the Midwest, Kal-El-turned-Superman...
My Spring Break with Philip Roth
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At the end of 1995, I briefly dropped out of college. It was an unpleasant time, to say the least. I kept asking myself who I was and, foolishly, desired answers. When I returned to school six months later I thought it might be good to meet some different...
Prophets in Tinseltown
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ACROSS 1 "Right you _!" 4 Junket 8 Sit-up muscles 11 Nip in the bud 15 Quaint bath towel stitching 16 Highway toll unit 17 Actress Ruby 18 Ump's decision, e.g. 19 Capable, slangily 20 2010 Josh Brolin western based on...
The Anti-Semite Who Wasn't
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When General Grant Expelled the Jews Jonathan D. Sarna Schocken 2012, $24.95, pp. 224 Jonathan Sarna's book When General Grant Expelled the Jews is going to make a significant splash amidst a wave of new books reevaluating the career of one of...
The Gospel According to Fish
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A divider, not a uniter: such is the plight of fish. From sushi to car adornments--where the original "Jesus fish" emblem has spawned spinoffs with the name "Darwin" and a version with "Gefilte" in Hebraic lettering--fish polarizes, splitting people...
The Talmud Says, "Death to Those Who Calculate the End of Days," but That Hasn't Stopped Jews and Non-Jews from Trying. Here Are a Few Notable End Time Predictions That Never Came to Pass
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2012 After his tailed 1944 prediction, Harold Camping gave it another try-and declared the Rapture would take place on May 21, later revising his prediction to October 21. 2000 The cult Heaven's Gate thought this was the year Earth would be...
The Ultra-Orthodox's PR Problem: Haredim Need to Finally Speak out against the Extremists in Their Community
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The cultural divide in Israel between Haredi and secular Jews has reached new extremes. In December, Haredi men spat upon a terrified eight-year-old girl, Naama Margolese, as she made her way to a Haredi-opposed national religious girls school in Beit...
They Don't Make Jews like Jesus Anymore
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Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ Daniel Boyarin The New Press 2012, $21.95, pp. 190 Daniel Boyarin, professor of Talmudic Culture at die University of California Berkeley, may be die most influential scholar of ancient Judaism today....
What Does the Concept of Messiah Mean Today?
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A MOMMENT SYMPOSIUM FEATURING: AMOS OZ KENNETH SEESKIN RUTH MESSINGER JACK DANN DAVID HALPERIN MAYIM BIALIK SHALOM AUSLANDER ESTHER JUNGRELS STEPHEN DIAMOND SAMUEL HEILMAN SHLOMO EZAGUI CHAIM RICHMAN DEB MARGOLIN SHMARYA ROSENAERG HARRIS LENOWITZ...
