Wimps
Haim Watzman The third and final of my guest posts on the Jewish Book Council’s Prosenpeople blog. Are Israeli guys real men? Yes, I mean the tank commanders and pilots and infantry sergeants. The ones...
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Nobody Smiles —“Necessary Stories” column from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman Is there a dictionary of smiles? I need one. I know what my own smiles mean. I think of my face as a simple platform. It exhibits a range of smiles that clearly convey a certain range of...
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The Next Prime Monster —“Necessary Stories” column from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman “I think you should wear white this winter,” Amir says to Tziporah. He rummages through the box of dress-up clothes and dons a homburg and a brown clip-on tie that matches his hair....
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Odysseus Eats —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman “Have a biscuit,” I offered, pushing a plate of petit beurres toward him. “Sorry I don’t have anything better.” He giggled. I took a sip of syrupy Turkish coffee and a bite out of one of...
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Non Sequitur —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman God knows how Eliezer’s mind works. It goes off into other dimensions every time I try to have a serious conversation with him. That’s what happened on Purim this year. I waited through...
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A Him to him —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman My Dear Herr Kapellmeister, It’s spring here in Jerusalem. Fields, yards, and the few vacant lots that remain in this increasingly overbuilt city are burgeoning with blood-red anemones....
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Haim’s Books Go Digital!
Haim Watzman I’m pleased to announce that Company C and A Crack in the Earth are now available as e-books in all major formats as well as new print-on-demand paperback editions, all with new covers...
View ArticleFor My Money, I’ll Take the Al-Kuwaitis
Gershom Gorenberg My new column is up at the Daily Beast: I bought a pair of tickets to Dudu Tassa and the Andalusia Orchestra performing the works of Tassa’s grandfather and great-uncle, the...
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Passion —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman We were just getting on the New Jersey Turnpike when Danny Engel bent over his guitar and placed his lips on those of Debbie Lieberman. Both of them were sitting on the floor in the aisle...
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Our Lady of the Wall —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman illustration by Pepe FainbergSIZE> My back thudded on paving stones worn smooth by millions of pious Jewish feet. I cried out, gasping for air as a twelve-stone policewoman with a Meg...
View ArticleI Don’t Text on Shabbas
Gershom Gorenberg My new piece at The Daily Beast: I was sitting in a café and talking to a friend on the phone while naturally checking text messages that kept popping up on the little screen, when I...
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Revolution Until Imprisonment:
Gershom Gorenberg My latest column at The American Prospect: Sidney Rittenberg’s face fills the screen in a college auditorium where The Revolutionary is being shown. His eyebrows are bold brushstrokes...
View ArticleOn the Chutzpah of Serving Kneidel at a Spelling Bee
As you may remember, the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States stirred up a storm in a soup pot when it asked contestants for the one correct English spelling of the Yiddish word for...
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The Devil and Theodor Herzl —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman Herzl carefully adjusted his mouse-gray gloves and followed the young secretary through a massive door held open by a uniformed footman. “Mr. Herzl, Your Excellency,” the secretary said...
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Hooligan Oil —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman Hooligan oil? Did you say hooligan oil? I’m so sorry, I was deep into this letter from my sister back east, I didn’t even hear you come into the store. It’s so quiet this time of day, in...
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Dirty Jokes —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman The old clock on the café counter inside ticked at least five times before the men began to laugh. At first it was just Nissim, whose trinket shop was just up the hill on Strauss Street,...
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That’ll Be the Day —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman The American ambassador wearily removed a cleaning cloth from the black case he’d placed on the prime minister’s desk. He shook it open, gazed sadly at the dust that danced in the beam of...
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Inta Omri —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman illustration by Avi KatzSIZE> Ilana elbowed me and eyed the couple sitting to our left in the Hirsch Theater. Shaken out of the reverie brought on by the Tarshiha Orchestra’s rendition...
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The Dryad —“Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Haim Watzman She laughed and shook her head as she unrolled the clingy plastic from around her slug-shaped sandwich. Down below, raucous teenagers gamboled in a spring that seemed to be the source of...
View ArticleWhat Truman Got Wrong About a Jewish State
Gershom Gorenberg My review of John Judis’s “Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict” is now online at The American Prospect: On May 12, 1948, President Harry...
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