October 2006

Features

The Seven Laws of Noah and the Non-Jews who Follow Them

Michael Kress

Called Noahides, they talk like Jews, pray like Jews and hope to pave the way for the Messiah, but they’re not Jews. Thanks to the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim, their numbers are growing.

19 Hours and 20 Minutes in Tel Aviv’s Central Bus Station

CARL HOFFMAN

Spend a day and a night in what may be the epicenter of modern Israel—a schizophrenic monster of a building in which synagogues and tattoo parlors coexist under one roof.

Letter From Macedonia

CHRISTOPHER DELISO

Sixty-five years after 98 percent of its Jews died at Treblinka, this Balkan nation’s 200 Jews are reconnecting with Judaism.

A Jewish Life

Etgar Keret Has A Cold

Rebecca Frankel

Israel’s young literary star shares his thoughts on life in the Middle East, fatherhood, Jerry Springer and over-the-counter flu remedies.

Essays

Hoarding Mabsouta

David Busis

Fresh out of college, an American befriends one of his Palestinian charges at a camp in Maine.

Uri, My Dear Son

DAVID GROSSMAN

The renowned Israeli author and peace advocate pens a eulogy for his son, killed in August in the war with Hezbollah.

Departments

From the Editor

Nadine Epstein

Stand with Israel but question its generals.

Leonard Fein

How many times must we relearn the same lessons?

Suzanne F. Singer

The use of force cannot ensure Israel’s security.

Marshall Breger

Why Israeli mothers send their sons to war.

Naomi Ragen

Hezbollah and Al Qaeda—it’s not a love story.

Matthew Yglesias

The Jewish Word

Zion: A hill, a metaphysical longing, or a nation?

Jewish Enterprise

Arthur Shugarman trades in baseball cards for rabbi cards.

Ask the Rabbis

Should Jewish children trick-or-treat?

Books

The Challenge of Creation, Darwinism and Its Discontents and The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich.

A Moment With...

Rabbi Niles Goldstein and Gonzo Judaism.

Spice Box