Welcome to the Jewish Review of Books!
The Jewish Review of Books mourns the passing of Harvey Pekar whose comics—with Tara Seibel's gorgeous illustration—graced our first two issues (here and here).

The Summer 2010 issue is now available. Check out our Letters section for Jewish Narnias, Slighting the Conservative Movement, Strong Coffee or Weak Tea? ... and more. Also, read the inaugural editorial of the Jewish Review of Books here.

FEATURES

Underground Man: The Curious Case of Mark Zborowski and the Writing of a Modern Jewish Classic

by STEVEN J. ZIPPERSTEIN

Life is with People is perhaps the most well-known work of shtetl nostalgia. But how should it be read in light of its author's bloody career as one of Stalin's best spies?

The Kibbutz and the State
by ANITA SHAPIRA, TRANSLATED BY EVELYN ABEL

How the position of the kibbutz in Israeli society has changed, and why. READ MORE

The Poet from Vilna
by RUTH R. WISSE

Avrom Sutzkever and Max Weinreich, a memoir. READ MORE

READINGS

The Limits of Prayer
by MOSHE HALBERTAL

One who prays to change the past, says the Mishnah, “utters a vain prayer.” A person should not beseech God to undo events that have already taken place, even when the outcome is still unknown. And yet there are circumstances where one is naturally tempted to do just that. READ MORE

LOST & FOUND

Rashi and the Crusader: A Legend
by GEDALIAH IBN YAHYA, TRANSLATED BY MATT GOLDISH

Did the great biblical and talmudic commentator meet Godfrey of Bouilon? A fascinating excerpt from Gedaliah ibn Yahya's Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah. READ MORE

REVIEWS

All the Good Things of Spain
by ROBERT ALTER
The greatest Hebrew poet gets the English bio he deserves.
Old-New Sabbath
by MARTIN KAVKA
Does everyone need a Sabbath? Judith Shulevitz thinks so.
The Christian Road to Jerusalem
by ROBERT CHAZAN
Looking back on the clash of civilizations.
Animal Foible
by DARA HORN
The author of Life of Pi trivializes the Holocaust.
Going Public
by ANNE TRUBEK
The Jewish Jane Austen, or better?
Friends of Zion
by WALTER RUSSELL MEAD
Getting by with a little help from our friends.
With Interest
by YUVAL LEVIN
Have the Jews been capitalism's best friends or worst enemies, or both?
Posthumous Prophecy
by BEN BIRNBAUM
Milton Steinberg's unpublished novel about Hosea was forgotten for a long time. For good reason.
Montefiore and the Politics of Emancipation
by DAVID SORKIN
More than a shtadlan.
I, Terrorist
by MARGOT LURIE
Whither the great anti-American novel?

THE ARTS

The Rothschilds of the East
by RICHARD I. COHEN
The Splendor of the Camondos and the pity of it all.
Swept Up
by ELLA TAYLOR
A new documentary displays the process of conversion to Judaism.
The Weaver
by GABRIELLA SAFRAN
An-sky's photographs.