Gila Berkowitz

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Jul 25, 2019, 9:19 PM

Present at Sinai

Few subjects draw as much contention as conversion to Judaism. On the one hand the Israeli rabbinate sets up formidable blocks consisting entirely of religious obligations. On the other hand the liberal diaspora movements fall all over themselves with...

Jul 15, 2019, 9:47 PM

A Tyranny of Professors

Since when did professors become the arbiters of all things Jewish? As much as Jews value education should a cartel of scholars have the right to make political, moral, even existential decisions on behalf of the Jewish people? Recently a...

Jul 1, 2019, 3:14 PM

Talking Heads 2: Men

When you walk down the street in Jerusalem and see someone, you instantly know everything you could ever want to know about their religious standing. Israeli men’s headgear and hairstyles, even more than that of women, tells us about...

Jun 17, 2019, 2:00 AM

In Israel headgear tells you volumes about a person’s cultural and religious opinions. In this post we examine women’s headdress and hair styles. Another time we’ll give men their due. Since ancient times married Jewish women covered their hair, but...

Jun 4, 2019, 6:04 PM

Blanche DuBois Among the Nations

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,” says the tragic protagonist of A Streetcar Named Desire. This declaration could just as well sum up the history of Jews in the Diaspora. Jews have always depended, and continue...

May 27, 2019, 12:37 PM

Three suitcases

It’s the rule: every immigrant to Israel is entitled to a free El Al flight, with an allowance for three pieces of checked luggage. The one-way ticket makes sense but why three bags? Many a young single can barely...

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About Me

Gila Berkowitz was born in Haifa and received a B.A. from the Hebrew University. The daughter of survivors, she grew up in ultra-Orthodox communities in Brooklyn. Her curiosity is so intense and her interests so broad that friends have dubbed her "the walking Wikipedia." She has been a news reporter in Israel as well as a science writer here and abroad. She taught journalism at Stanford University and has written best-selling novels. Two of these novels are about women in the Holocaust, "The Ugly Sister" and the forthcoming "Your Sister's Blood."-- as victims and survivors, heroes and perpetrators -- books based on real events and people.

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