Alana Newhouse

Finding Deeper Truths in Fiction—the Best About Israel

Published on September 7, 2006

One should read Israeli writers, of course -- Agnon, Amichai, A.B. Yehoshua, Aharon Appelfeld, Orly Castel-Bloom, Etgar Keret. But the more appropriate template may come from fellow Americans, writers who, by exploring the Diaspora Jew's relationship to Israel, have gone down this road before.

Modern Orthodoxy’s Marriage Crisis

Published on June 8, 2006

Hard-to-marry-off children have been worrying parents since Genesis, when Leah, her eyes tender from the sadness of being unwanted, took part in a hoax to trick Jacob -- her younger, prettier sister's suitor -- into marrying her.

In Search of My Sephardic Ancestors

Published on March 18, 2004

Some months ago, I saw a Jewish homeless man near my New York apartment. He was wearing a yarmulke and muttering Hebrew words, and I think I saw a tattered prayer book in his shopping cart.