Mel Brooks' new memoir is short on the laughs By PJ Grisar, Forward Nov 30, 2021 This piece first appeared at the Forward. Mel Brooks’ memoir begins with a promise. In a preface, the 95-year-old actor-writer-director vows an intimate confession — not to be shared with anyone. Then, he thinks a bit more about the economics. “This book needs to sell!” Brooks realizes. “Tell all! Tell everybody! Let everybody you know… Read More
Books Stanford alum shares family's story, from Holocaust to basketball fame As a graduate student at Stanford University from 2015 to 2017, Dan Grunfeld paid regular visits to his Romanian-born grandmother, Lily, in Burlingame.… By Andrew Esensten Nov 23, 2021
Celebrity Jews Paul Rudd is sexy; Batsheva Haart is separated; etc. One sexy Jew Paul Rudd, the 52-year-old Jewish movie star whose original family name was Rudnitsky, has been named People magazine’s “sexiest man alive”… By Maya Mirsky Nov 22, 2021
Off the Shelf Dig into Jerusalem’s subterranean history with new graphic novel Jerusalem has a particularly fraught archaeological heritage, with the battle over the city’s present and future reflected in disagreements surrounding… By Howard Freedman Nov 18, 2021
Books On book tour, Gary Shteyngart is happy to be out of the house “My tours used to be 15 to 20 cities, but because of Covid it’s like five or six,” a masked Gary Shteyngart told a small but enthusiastic crowd of fans at… By Andrew Esensten Nov 12, 2021
Organic Epicure Our columnist's cookbook goes around the world for a year of Shabbat Shabbat dinner fare has come a long way since the days when roast chicken graced most tables, right alongside the challah and Manischewitz. For some… By Alix Wall Nov 12, 2021
Books With 'Frog and Toad' illustrations, puppet designer is 'Doing Her Best' Much of Ellie Hajdu’s artistic career has been devoted to designing puppets. Now she’s trying her hand at book illustration, and her first work is a “Frog… By John Ferrannini Nov 9, 2021
Books How Meir Kahane’s extremist ideas entered the Jewish mainstream Meir Kahane is the “Jew whom Jews would like to forget.” Yet, as Shaul Magid writes in “Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American… By Emily Burack, JTA Nov 5, 2021
Books ‘Please Scream’: New book revisits 2020’s collective nervous breakdown Dave Pell calls himself the “managing editor” of the internet, a half-joking title he uses to sign off his NextDraft newsletter, in which he culls… By J. Staff Nov 2, 2021