About Jacob Silverman

Jacob Silverman's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Tablet, and many other publications. He lives in New York and is also a contributing editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review. He tweets here.

Culture Kvetch: How Poverty Became Merely Another Spectacle

By July 25, 2012

Moshe Silman’s self-immolation in Tel Aviv grabbed our attention, but will it hold it? Read More

Culture Kvetch: Gabriel García Márquez and the Slow Fade of Memory

By July 11, 2012

Considering memory, literature, and family in the wake of the announcement that the One Hundred Years of Solitude author has dementia Read More

Why Anti-Semitic Elmo is Creepier—and Less Funny—Than We Had Thought

By June 28, 2012

The 48-year-old ran a pornography website in Cambodia before buying the plush Sesame Street costume and posing with children for tips Read More

Culture Kvetch: Harvey Pekar’s Unfinished Lament

By June 27, 2012

The late comic book writer’s newly published book about Israel, which tragically feels far from finished, shows how liberal critiques of Israel can founder in their own solipsism Read More

Shia LaBeouf’s Strange Nude Sigur Rós Video

By June 18, 2012

Shia LaBeouf stars in an 8-minute Sigur Rós music video, and the result is weird but also oddly beautiful. Read More

Hoaxocaust! The Satirical Play About Holocaust Denial

By June 14, 2012

Barry Levey’s one-man play shows how Holocaust denial never dies; it only changes shape Read More

Culture Kvetch: The Campiness of Summer Camp, A Summer-Long Pageant

By June 13, 2012

With skits, chants, and drama, camp is the defining aesthetic of the Jewish summer camp experience Read More

Culture Kvetch: Jon Stewart’s Happily Ignorant Jew Routine is Getting Stale

By May 30, 2012

‘The Daily Show’ host is most comfortable—and successful—playing the bemused naif, especially when it comes to his Jewish identity. Read More