Rochelle Furstenberg, at The Blogs

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Apr 8, 2019, 9:48 AM

Elections 2019-Wake-Up Call In The Eleventh Hour

LET'S FINALLY TALK ABOUT THE ISSUES Blue and White, both the party and the country, must finally awake. Retrieve the election campaign at the last minute. Don’t let Bibi define the agenda – even the scandals and corruption, as ugly...

Jan 28, 2019, 9:06 PM

In memory of Amos Oz – exorcising the tribe’s demons

Portrait of Israeli author Amos Oz as he poses in his study, Arad, Israel, July 19, 2007. (Photo by Dan Porges/Getty Images)

I didn’t know Amos Oz personally. I never made my way to Arad where he lived for the last few decades after leaving Kibbutz Hulda with his family. So why the choking sensation in my throat when I heard...

Dec 6, 2018, 10:05 PM

The Culture-Loyalty Bill — Shut Up and Be Loyal

An Israeli artist holds up a sign during a protest against a new law by culture minister Miri Regev, on November 25, 2018, in front of the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem. The Hebrew sign reads:"be loyal and shut up" (referring to the parliament ) - The bill conditioning arts funding on 'loyalty' to the state approved for final votes, the artists say the law will essentially enshrine state censorship over the arts. (Photo by GALI TIBBON / AFP) (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli democracy can breathe a small sigh of relief. The most recent in the chain of draconian laws proposed by Israel’s 20th Knesset, “The Loyalty in Culture Law,” is thankfully dissipating into a higher ether. It will not be...

Nov 11, 2018, 7:26 AM

Manofim Art Festival 2018

Yoel Gilon,Van Gogh Chair Painting From Keter PLastic 2018

Each Fall for the last ten years, the Manofim Festival has opened the gallery season in Jerusalem, revealing an amazing array of art spaces, whose purpose is to celebrate art and artists in the capital. …The exhibits range from the...

Oct 23, 2018, 1:37 AM

The humble willow — a metaphor for the human condition

Israeli poems, plays, novels are the conduits of Judaic culture. Biblical figures and literary structures, as well as moral directives are filtered through these aesthetic forms. They promote the play of the imagination, a creative-thinking-out of-the- box for the constant...

Sep 13, 2018, 7:07 PM

Poetry saved his life — the story of Abraham Sutzkever

(photo courtesy of the film producers)

There have been many fine film festivals this summer, but none as powerful in my mind, as the Docu-Text4 at the National Library on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, A new Jerusalem experience. The...

Aug 25, 2018, 9:33 PM

Caricatures, comics, and all the rest

Courtesy of ANIMIX Festival, Tel Aviv

Caricature as exaggeration -- and truth The caricaturist often looks upon public figures, and even those not so public, with a jaundiced eye, ready to make fun, see the foolish, or perhaps, even the evil in politicians. The Knesset members, jubilantly...

Aug 13, 2018, 3:19 PM

Educational TV takes its final breath — what a pity

"Save Educational TV" (via Facebook)

Israel's oldest broadcast company shaped generations of kids with intelligent, sensitive programming. It was axed for no good reason

Jul 31, 2018, 6:00 AM

Seeking the sublime – the museum as a spiritual space

In her provocative blog, “What are Museums for, Anyway,” Renee Garfinkel brings a large historical perspective to the museum’s role in our lives. She says, “museums are no longer the province of the elite and the expert…They have become...

Jul 17, 2018, 9:22 PM

Remembering Aharon Appelfeld

TOULOUSE;FRANCE - JUNE 17: Israelian author Aharon Appelfeld poses while visiting a book fair in Toulouse, France on the 17th of June 2006. (Photo by Ulf Andersen/Getty Images)

Writing the Jewish Iliad in a Jerusalem cafe

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About Me

Rochelle Furstenberg is a journalist and literary critic who has written extensively on literary and cultural topics.

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