Journalism
Some of my recent work, organized by category.
Eat, Pray, Oy Vey: Decision to pull Elizabeth Gilbert’s Russia-set book worries Jewish writers
Russian history has long provided rich source material and inspiration to Jewish writers, especially fiction writers, from Isaac Babel to Elana Dkyewomon to Gary Shteyngart.
Should a movie about Carlebach be screened after #MeToo?
“It’s not kosher to show the film,” Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb of Berkeley told J. “How would we feel if it were about Harvey Weinstein? It wouldn’t even be a question. So how is this different?”
With a brush made of his own hair, he painted to survive in a Nazi POW camp
Paul Canin was captured and held for eight months in a POW camp in northern Germany for American and British officers, an experience he documented in a series of watercolors.
Leila Steinberg, Tupac’s first manager, sees new docuseries as a chance to heal
“Tupac was a kid, and he needed a lot more guidance,” Steinberg said. “I was too young to understand what I know now. I wish that I could have had more influence, because I always stayed connected to him.”
NBA star Domantas Sabonis’ wife says he is converting to Judaism
The 26-year-old All-Star is in the process of converting to Judaism, according to his Jewish wife, Shashana Sabonis (née Rosen).
Jewish fans rally around NorCal’s other NBA team as Kings head to playoffs
Just as the Israelites we read about at our seders wandered in the desert for decades before reaching the Land of Israel, the Kings have finally made it back to the promised land of the playoffs.
Why Israeli rock legend Arik Einstein wrote a strange song about San Francisco
Fom the opening lines of Arik Einstein’s 1979 song “San Francisco al HaMayim” (San Francisco on the Water), it’s clear that something is off.
A bestselling novel, a Holocaust-themed game, and accusations of ‘uncredited work’
Romero’s complaint raises questions about the nature of creative inspiration and the politics of acknowledgments in works of fiction. It also brings a real and potentially offensive game about the Holocaust — and one that was created by a non-Jew — into the spotlight.
‘BrownWhite’: Biracial Israeli children talk about being ‘half and half’ in Sacramento Jewish Film Fest doc
“Sometimes I wish that I was more brown because a lot of people don’t understand that I’m half and half,” says a 15-year-old girl who is half white and half Ethiopian. “People always think I am Yemenite or Indian.”
Teacher who assigned antisemitic text preaches controversial Hebrew Israelite doctrine
“We don’t believe in Jewish religion,” Henry Bens, 52, said during a Bible class he gave on Nov. 8. “There’s no such thing in the Bible as Jewish religion.”
There’s a Grammy for Christian music. These musicians want Jewish music to get one, too.
Joanie Leeds, a children’s musician and Grammy winner in New York City, and Mikey Pauker, a self-described “devotional rock” artist from California, are working on a formal proposal to add “best Jewish music album” to the list of Grammys awarded each year.
What does the Black-Jewish alliance look like in 2023? In a word, messy
"Black and Jewish relations have been written about ad nauseam, discussed ad nauseam,” the Berkeley writer Adam Mansbach said at a public forum in San Francisco. “The ups and downs of this relationship have been incredibly well chronicled.” And yet, he added, “there is still so much to say about them.”