The American Virtuosos Breathing Life into Old-Fashioned Cantorial Music

Aug. 17 2022

During the last 50 years, the elaborate, operatic style of early 20th-century cantors lost much of its popularity in favor of folksier or pop-inflected tunes, better suited to participatory singing. Yet some young ḥasidic ḥazanim have been keeping the art alive—although whether their activities constitute a revival or, as one cantor put it, “a dying gasp” remains to be seen. Jon Kalish reports. (Audio, 4 minutes. A full text and additional musical recordings are available at the link below.)

Read more at NPR

More about: Hasidism, Jewish music, Liturgical music

Expand Gaza into Sinai

Feb. 11 2025

Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.

Read more at RealClear Politics

More about: Donald Trump, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula