BEGINNINGS
In last month's moment, Irving Howe suggested that this magazine should be more controversial. I'm not sure that I agree with Mr. Howe's assessment, but this issue should make him happier. Without...
...an exchange between Harold Schulweis and those who took issue with his article on the Holocaust (February...
...Some we win, some we lose...
...Other things to be looking for in our next issue include an unauthorized — and very surprising — piece on the life of Yasir Arafat, based on interviews with his childhood friends, among others...
...That liberation is both a memory and a hope...
...And there's more on the way...
...He insisted that it would defeat his primary purpose to go on record in favor of a specific candidate, and he argued as well that moment should not be in the business of endorsing political candidates...
...The issue is not controversy, but candor...
...May it soon become a reality, for each of us, for all of us...
...That's not an easy task, since most of our dirty linen is so well hidden that it's difficult to locate responsibly, hence difficult to stuff it into the washing machine where it properly belongs...
...One of our hopes for this magazine is that it can contribute to increased frankness in our community...
...In this particular case, we deferred to the author's own sense of priorities and proprieties, recognizing that there was an inherent conflict of interest problem involved...
...Without planning it that way, we have managed to criticize the leadership of the Soviet Jewry movement (Decter), Israeli bureaucrats (Fishman), and American sports writers (Cottle), as well as to provoke the puritans in our midst (Halberstam), the Chassidim (Epstein), and supporters of diverse political candidates (Fein...
...But we're working at it, and this month, our washing machine runneth over...
...I argued with him for a bit, trying to persuade him that his cryptic conclusion showed a lack of courage...
...You may enjoy reading "The First Hamburger" out loud to youngsters...
...It is the season of Pesach, zman cheruteinu — the time of our liberation...
...a variety of suggestions regarding how we — ranging from the scholars and poets in our midst to the Judaically illiterate — can relate to the Bible...
...None of this is controversy for its own sake, which is something we don't believe in, the world being too loud already...
...L.F...
...And much more...
...Instead, he meant it as an illustration of the ways in which we need to go about making up our political minds...
...I do not entirely accept his argument, which is about par for the course...
...The author, however, informs me that he did not intend the article as a rejection or an endorsement of any particular candidate...
...Actually, it is not at all uncommon for us to debate such issues with our authors...
...This piece is the first of a series, some for adults and some for children, all a form of modern midrash — the application of the contemporary imagination to ancient texts...
...Readers will, I suppose, wonder exactly in whose corner the author of our article on Henry Jackson and the Jews stands...
...Gut yom tov and chag sameach...
...But he was adamant...
...We've had such arguments before...
...In any case, we pass along to our readers the author's stricture that there are no hidden meanings in his words...
Vol. 1 • April 1976 • No. 9
