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JTA
EST 1917

Culture

Sholem Aleichem was one of the first authors to write in Yiddish–a language that’s been around for hundreds of years, but has only had a body of literature for 150 years or so. Before Sholem Aleichem, Yiddish was thought to be a low, plebian language, used in daily conversation but never in serious literature. The new documentary Sholem Aleichem: […]

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One of the most famous Shabbat prayers–Nishmat Kol Chai (literally, “the soul of all that lives”)–might have actually been written by an apostle of Jesus. The oldest extant Ashkenazic siddur, the Mahzor Vitry, attributes Nishmat to “Simon Peter, the error of Rome,” who “established this prayer…when he was on the rock.” Puzzling? In his new book Why We Pray What We […]

“There aren’t a lot of Jewish cowboys,” says 52-year-old Scott Gerber. In the 1940s, his uncle Sol moved from Chicago to California, and worked along with other family members as a chicken rancher. They were progressives and workers’-rights activists…and they were cowboys. Today, Scott keeps up the tradition. He sings Yiddish songs and plays country guitar. And he tends […]

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