Currently Browsing: Jews 37 articles
Jews & Sex
In 2008, my book, Jews & Sex was published. It reflected on the relationship between Jews and issues of sex and sexuality, opening up what Keith Kahn-Harris called ‘the hidden worlds of Jews and sex’. This included essays on lesbian Yiddish poetry, Jews in the porn industry, representations of Jews and sex in the work […]
Jews, Money and Globalisation
Nathan Abrams reviews two new books which tell us surprisingly little about the links between Jews and global capital. Jews might be considered the archetypes of globalist capitalists. And with the figure of Sir Philip Green looming large in the press over the weekend, the negative connections between Jews, globalisation, capitalism and finance once again […]
Jews & Chess
Tim Cowen asks if chess is a Jewish game. Beth Harmon, a 9-year-old orphan chess prodigy, walks into a high school. She beats all 12 of the school’s best players simultaneously. The Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit is entirely fictional, but it reveals the reality of the ancient game. An orphan girl can succeed against the […]
The Top Ten Jewish Chess Movies
The Queen’s Gambit, a novel that has been adapted for and is currently streaming on Netflix (read a review here), has caused an uptake in the game of chess. Jews, as we know, excel at the sport, perhaps because it requires no physical contact, is played indoors and takes brains to master. In fact, the […]
The Crown’s Jew(el)s*
Nathan Abrams looks forward to finding more Jews in The Crown‘s new season. Season Four of the Netflix drama The Crown is about to drop. ‘This drama’, as its official website states, ‘follows the political rivalries and romance of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and the events that shaped the second half of the 20th century.’ Seemingly, […]
A Golden Age of Jewish Television?
Nathan Abrams reflects on current Jewish television, wondering if we are now enjoying a golden age of Jews on the box. ‘When Did TV Get So Jewish?’ proclaimed Vanity Fair recently. On almost every channel, we find Jews on television, both factual and fictional. We have also seen more and more Jews both as central and incidental characters and […]
Jews and Cheese: An Ambivalent Relationship
As we celebrate Shavuot, Nathan Abrams explores the curious relationship between Jews and cheese. The issue of Stilton cheese, which held up any potential UK trade deal with Japan, got me thinking about the relationship between Jews and cheese. But as it’s Shavuot, it’s a good time to be thinking about it again. Despite the modern Israeli’s love of all things to […]