July/August — 2008

Volume LIV No. 4

July/August — 2008 Volume LIV No. 4 ISRAEL AT SIXTY 2 Reminiscences and Reflections: Part Two Kalman Sultanik, Menachem Rosensaft, Seymour Mayne, Rochelle Mass 8 Israel and the Holocaust: Some Reflections on Israel’s 60th Anniversary • Michael Berenbaum 12 “A Nation Without Vision Cannot Survive”—Memories of David Ben-Gurion • Arthur Cohn 14 Menahem Begin and Israel’s Independence • Michael Zimmerman 20 Saving Ramat Rachel in the War of Independence—A Personal Memoir • Eliezer Ayal 22 “Swifter than Eagles, Stronger than Lions”: A Visit to the Israel Air and Space Force • David Rodman JEWISH HISTORY AND ZIONISM 25 A Tisha b’Av Meditation: Jewish Power in the Shadow of the Holocaust • Eli Kavon YIDDISH (ASHKENAZI), LADINO (SEPHARDI), AND OTHER JEWISH DIASPORA CULTURES 30 Wonderful Tales of The Golem, in English (a review essay on Curt Leviant’s translation of a book by Yudl Rosenberg) • Moshe Moskowitz 32 Yiddish? Why Don’t We Speak Judeo-French? • George Jochnowitz 35 Religious Tradition and Secular Radicalism: David Bergelson in Berlin, 1922 • Joseph Sherman FICTION 39 The Beginning of the Month of Kislev 5679 [November/December 1918] (translated from the Yiddish by Joseph Sherman) • David Bergelson MEMOIR 41 Isaac Babel and Mordche Yaffe • Jacob Jaffe REVIEW ESSAY 44 Opening Our Eyes to Spinoza • Harold Ticktin ISRAELI, LADINO, AND OTHER POEMS 7 From the Kitchen Window • Rochelle Mass 11 Homecoming (translated from the Hebrew by Eddie Levenston) • Elisha Porat 13 For My Son • Dina Yehuda 24 Driving to Haifa • Charles Adés Fishman 31 Jacob Parefsky • I. Century 38 Ladino Unlocked • Yehuda Khaver 43 A Prose Poem: Red Stars • Davi Walders 45 Azul Mavi (original Ladino and English translation by the author herself) • Rebecca Scherer BOOKS AND AUTHORS 46 The Prisoner, the Guard, and the Middle East Divide (a review of a book by Jeffrey Goldberg) • Jack Riemer 29 Honor Roll of Contributors to Midstream