Volume 67, Issue 3  

Alibaba – A Flavorful Diamond-In-The-Rough
by Jessica Russak

 Alibaba
Serves flaishig Israeli

Does size matter? Not when it comes to this diamond-in-the-rough Israeli restaurant. Though there is only one table, the food is worth it. Eat it there, in your car, or standing on the street corner. If you’re in the mood for a snack or even a full meal at any time of day, even the early morning hours before dawn, Alibaba is the place to get it.

BOOK REVIEW: Climbing the Ladder of Mussar
by Moshe Glasser

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder:
One Man’s Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Tradition
by Alan Morinis

For anyone who has ever been in involved in NCSY, Aish Hatorah, or any other Orthodox Jewish organization, the story of someone discovering or rediscovering religion during one of life’s soul-searching stints is household and more than a bit cliché. This is unfortunate, however, because each one of these narratives involves resurrecting a soul to its true purpose.

MUSIC REVIEW: A Morning With a Melodic View
by Josh R. Becker

Straight from Los Angeles, Californ-I-A, Incubus stuns the public with yet another great album: Morning View. Released late last year, this follow up to their last album, Make Yourself, contains thirteen full tracks that have been growing increasingly popular with the fans, as demonstrated by increased sales and prolonged tour dates. This will be the group’s fifth official studio album, but to understand where its music is coming from, we must backtrack a little.

Re-Reading The Plague: A Religious Perspective
by Rabbi Shalom Carmy 

One definition of a classic is a work that can profitably be read more than once. When I first read The Plague, as a young teenager, my education had hardly begun; my religious convictions were not yet settled. I reunite with the novel over thirty years later, with a great deal of life, study and, one would hope, growth in yirat Shamayim behind me. I have changed, and so has the book.

(Mis)reading in the wake of Trauma: Responses and Responsibility
by Dr. Holly Haahr 

Albert Camus’ The Plague is the anchor text of the 2002 Yeshiva College book project, “Writing in the Wake of Trauma: Responses and Responsibility.”  Although cast as a chronicle of the bubonic plague in the Algerian city of Oran in the year 194X, from its publication in June 1947, readers have read the novel as an allegory for the Nazi Occupation...

MOVIE REVIEW: Love, War, and Feathers
by Gabriel Ferstendig

Finding a new film of high caliber at this time of year is no mean feat.  After all, immediately after the summer movie season has come to a close, the studios release all the cinematic rubbish they deemed unfit for a coveted summer release.  That’s why the arrival of “The Four Feathers,” based on the A.E.W. Mason novel of 1902, comes as such a pleasant surprise.

Chinese Food for Thought
by Jesse Mandell

Shanghai Ghetto
Directed and Produced by Dana Janklowicz-Mann and Amir Mann
Not Rated, 95 Minutes

 “See this movie if you have a soul,” Andre Saris of the New York Observer remarked. After seeing this movie, I am pleased to heartily reaffirm his declaration...

New Light on Kafka Shone at the Jewish Museum
by Zach Mainzer

Since his death in 1924, Franz Kafka has emerged as one of the most complex and enigmatic authors of the twentieth century; the dark, existential pontifications that his works evince have troubled both scholars and laymen alike for decades.  So, what inspired the matchless eccentricities characterizing his writing?  How did his life compel him to write such dreary, multifaceted, and abstruse stories?  

MUSEUM REVIEW

Head With Horns: Self – Portrait of a Human Imp
by Menachem Wecker

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In a fashion very much akin to the Greek Philosopher in Rembrandt van Rijn’s Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer, I stood in a rotunda of the Metropolitan Museum of Art gawking at Paul Gauguin’s Head With Horns (ca. 1895-7). This sculpture was the culmination of my two hour stay at the museum, serving as a wonderful symbol to epitomize and synthesize the two exhibits I saw: Richard Avedon: Portraits and Gauguin in New York Collections: The Lure of the Exotic.

The Barricades Are Fallen: Les Misérables to Close March 15^th
by Jessica Russak

“I have realized that I can't have a crack at the Tony for best revival until I close the first production,” producer Cameron Mackintosh exclaimed about “Les Misérables.” The award-winning Broadway musical is finally calling it quits on its “first Broadway reign,” as Mackintosh refers to the 16-year run of 6,612 performances, with its finale at the Imperial Theatre on Saturday evening, March 15^th of next year.

Poetry

Feelings
By David Wildman

Just left the restaurant,
Having a rough day.
My girlfriend left me,
With no delay.

Poetry by Theodore Kluszewski
Blind and Helpless Gropes My Pen
An Iberian Sonnet of Self-Hate
A Poem of Pretensions

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