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September 15, 2020

Pop Culture Embraces Tradition, While Tradition Embraces Pop Culture—but Only One Succeeds

American Pickle and Young Rechnitz

In American Pickle­—the latest vehicle for the actor Seth Rogen—a Brooklyn Jewish slacker encounters his shtetl-born great-grandfather Herschel through a plot twist reminiscent of Rip van Winkle or Woody Allen’s Sleeper. The younger character eventually comes to appreciate the wisdom and power of Herschel’s traditional religiosity. “In theory,” writes Liel Leibovitz, such a plot “should delight anyone hankering for a movie that takes faith seriously.” In practice, however, it falls flat:

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September 15, 2020

  1. Why Bahrain’s Move to Make Peace Is Especially Courageous

    Defying Iran.

  2. When British Socialists Supported Israel as an Anti-Imperialist Project

    Even when Labor tried to nip it in the bud.

  3. The Legacy of the Munich Massacre and Israel’s Response

    Golda Meir’s moment.

  4. Martin Buber’s Thought Is Not Likely to Experience a Resurgence

    That’s not a bad thing, but a sensitive new biography is still worth reading.

  5. Pop Culture Embraces Tradition, While Tradition Embraces Pop Culture—but Only One Succeeds

    American Pickle and Young Rechnitz