Obama's Brandenburg Should Be In Pakistan One of the most interesting things about the Obama-McCain showdown is that for the most part, most of the world, including the Americans, have already begun treating Obama as President. The sort of coverage he gets, and more importantly, the kind ... [Read more]

Heavy Metal Monk Jams About Sex You might not expect to see many *Men of God* at a heavy metal concert, but that doesn’t mean there are no monks rocking out -- on stage, no less. Take Fratello Metallo, or the Metal Friar, a 62-year-old Capuchin monk who’s based in Milan ... [Read more]

The Jewcy Guide To: Breaking Up Welcome to the Jewcy Guide to Breaking Up, where you'll be ushered through a universally difficult experience. Not sure how to handle the end of your relationship in a world of email, IM, and blogs? Looking for the right book to help ... [Read more]

What's That? A Jewcy Party Tonight? Oh, Awesome. Calling all Jewcers! We are having a party! And it is TONIGHT! Starting at 7:00, Author Adam Mansbach will be joining us for an exclusive chat about The End of The Jews, his new book about ethnic identity, music, and cross-generational ... [Read more]

Barack Bonaparte: Obama's Afghan Scheming Could Lead to a Disaster of Napoleonic ProportionsIn 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte of France, head of the largest army in the world, began the worst military campaign in history. His ill-fated and tragic invasion of Russia led to nearly two thirds of the French army getting killed. The effects of the ... [Read more]

That Jewish Kind of Guanxi I was chatting with a Chinese co-worker last December when she asked why I wasn't going back to America for Christmas like other foreigners she knew in Beijing. I offered what seemed like a simple explanation: "Jews don't ... [Read more]

Is Giving Guns to Kids What it Takes to Find Faith? The Windsor Hills Baptist Church of Oklahoma City gave away a gun at its annual youth conference, held last week. The youth conference included a shooting competition (Jesus loves a good target range, after all), and the winner received an AR-15 ... [Read more]

Talking Torah with Rabbi Rebecca Alpert Zeek's Editor-in-chief, Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, talks with Rabbi Rebecca Alpert about social justice, feminism and her book, Whose Torah? Zeek: When people hear your name, Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, they tend to think, "Jewish feminist ... [Read more]

What’s So Bad About Satanism? A custody battle is brewing in Indiana, and it hinges on whether or not Satanism is a real religion. Jamie Meyer, a 30-year-old factory worker, is the divorced father of three young girls, and a member of the Church of Satan. Meyer’s ex-wife ... [Read more]

Must Have: Jewish Rosaries This will, admittedly, freak some of you out. Jewish Rosaries is a hot new line of “(jew)elry” by multi-tasking Brooklynite Carlen Altman. Carlen first got the idea for Jewish Rosaries after the traditional, Catholic rosary was popularized ... [Read more]

Summer Viewing: Starting Out in the Evening There’s a New York you don’t read about anymore but you should. It’s the one in which the Ansonia is still a residence hotel on the Upper West Side, catering to dying salesmen, down-at-heel hucksters, and catchpenny gutter philosophers. ... [Read more]

Bald-Headed Church and State Controversy in Monsey When Sarah Cohen of Monsey and her husband were arrested for welfare fraud last month they both had to have mug shots taken, and the police asked Sarah, a Chasidic Jew, to remove her sheitel (wig) for her mug shot. Traditionally, Chasidic Jewish ... [Read more]

Summer Reading: The German Bride The German Bride, Joanna Hershon’s third novel, is that rare thing: a historical novel that unfolds organically without a whole lot of “Look at me! I’m a historical novel!” Her first two novels, Swimming and The Outside of August, ... [Read more]

From Sacred Space to Home Sweet Home Tajikistan’s last synagogue was razed to the ground recently, to make way for the new presidential palace, despite outcry from the community. Reading this got me thinking about sacred spaces that have been converted into not-so-sacred spaces. ... [Read more]

The Protocols: An Introduction Shortly before the beginning of seventh grade, when I entered the public school system for the first time after spending my earliest formative years at Nebraska’s only Jewish day school (student body: 37), my mother came to me with a ... [Read more]

A World Without AshkenazimSince its release in 1982, Jacob Goldwasser's first feature, Under The Nose (Mitahat La'af) has acquired cult status in Israel, setting the cinematic standard for portraying domestic social problems for many years to come. To mark its 25th ... [Read more]

These Hollows, and SuchlikeDonari Braxton has written brave quantities of fiction, poetry, theater, and "cross-genre work," and has also translated. His writing has been widely anthologized in the UK and the United States, and his first collection of stories, I, ... [Read more]

The Origins of Israeli Post-Rock During the late 1970s, I can't remember how many times my siblings and I would hear a song on the radio--most often English-language pop and disco--and try to sing along. We'd mimic the lyrics, switching back and forth between English and ... [Read more]

Sacha Baron Cohen's Mom is Pissed The mother of Borat star and creator Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t happy. What has put Mama Baron Cohen (let’s just call her M.B.C.) over the top is that fact that her son and his (whisper) non-Jewish fiancé seem to have no intention of getting ... [Read more]

Must Have: Whimsical Bath and Travel Products from Funtastic Plastic Funtastic Plastic products are at once whimsical, fun, and functional. Whether you are looking for a way to enhance your bath, or a decorative travel item to set you apart from other jet setters, Funtastic Plastic mastermind, Ossnat Alon, has ... [Read more]