New american haggadah lemony snicket biography

Letters

Letters, Spring 2012

The Bimah Takes Center Stage and Chutzpah or Khezbh'n hane'fesh?

Features

Comes the Comer

Leon Wieseltier

The New American Haggadah boasts a high-profile cast of contributors—Jonathan Safran Foer, Nathan Englander, Nathaniel Deutsch, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, and Lemony Snicket.

But it also features a series of unfortunate translations and commentaries.

President Grant and the Chabadnik

Jonathan D. Sarna

In 1869, President Grant received an unexpected visitor at the White House: Haim Zvi Sneersohn, a flamboyant and eccentric Chabad emmisary from Jerusalem.

Bedecked in what The New York Times described as an "Oriental costume" consisting of a "rich robe of silk, a white damask surplice, a fez, and a splendid Persian shawl fastened about his waist," he strode self-confidently toward the president.

Grant instinctively rose to greet him.

Reviews

Chasing Death

Adam Kirsch

The director of the landmark documentary Shoa