Urban Kvetch: “Un-PC”
"Un-PC"
Invoking this phrase somehow lends a veneer of heroism to even the most un-heroic of expressions. Say, "Maybe this is un-PC, but the problem with this country is too many immigrants," and your listener...
Urban Kvetch: Madeleine
Madeleine
Would everybody please shut up about Marcel Proust's madeleine? Honestly, you'd think his entire kaleidoscopic epic was about baked goods. The cookie passage takes up less than one page of the seven-...
Urban Kvetch: Shelley Goldberg
Shelley Goldberg
Cable station NY1's "parenting consultant" begins each of her insufferable segments by condescending to her audience. "I'm sort of like a helper for mom and dad," she says in a tone that would...
Urban Kvetch: “The Rebbe’s Court”
The Rebbe's Court
The world's first ultra-orthodox soap opera, The Rebbe's Court, which premiered on Jerusalem TV this past fall, offers a new twist on the traditional daytime drama. According to cast member O...
Urban Kvetch: Aleph-Bet Yoga
Aleph-Bet Yoga
The latest mishigas from New Age Jews prescribes embodying individual Hebrew letters in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment. According to its creators, bending over backwards into a "mem" (...
Urban Kvetch: Fur Coats
Fur Coats
Fur coats are really sexy to furry animals like bears, Sasquatch, and middle-aged Israeli men. Lady, if you're trying to be attractive in that thing, you're only attracting foxes, rodents and seals w...
Urban Kvetch
Public Nail Clipping
There can't be anything more emblematic of the erosion of civic virtue in this nation than the disturbing development of public nail clipping. It's so acceptable to do your nails in public...
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, SANDY KOUFAX?
It's been 30 years since Sandy Koufax inspired Jewish pride among sports fans when he refused to pitch in the World Series on Yom Kippur. Since then, however, only a few athletes have been publicly celebrated as the heroes of a group better know for its doctors and lawyers. Allen Salkin takes a close look at a culture straining to beat back a stereotype that may be all too true.
Crimes of Passion
Are you mad, Max? Or just following in your father's footsteps? Tai Power Seeff photographs _Heeb_'s version of the Passion Play.
Where Have You Gone, Sandy Koufax
Allen Salkin explores a subculture obsessed with dragging big-time athletes out of the Jewish closet.
