A moving story in the NYT about a Palestinian girl and an Israeli boy, severely injured in the ongoing conflict, who have forged a friendship in hospital:

When Orel arrived here a year ago, he could not hear, see, talk or walk. Now he does them all haltingly. Half his brain is gone. Doctors were deeply pessimistic about his survival. Today they are amazed at his progress although unclear how much more can be made.

Marya’s spinal cord was broken at the neck and she can move only her head. Smart, sunny and strong-willed, she moves her wheelchair by pushing a button with her chin. Nothing escapes her gaze. She knows that Orel is starting to prefer boys as playmates and she makes room. But their bond remains strong.

In a way, a friendship between two wounded children from opposing backgrounds is not that surprising. Neither understands the prolonged fight over land and identity that so divides people here. They are kids. They play.

But for those who have spent time in their presence at Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem, it is almost more powerful to observe their parents, who do understand. They have developed a kinship that defies national struggle.

“The wounds of our children, their pain, our pain, have connected us,” noted Angela Elizarov, Orel’s mother, one recent day as she sat on a bed in the room she shares with her son. Next door is Marya, her 6-year-old brother, Momen, and their father, Hamdi Aman. “Does it matter that he is from Gaza and I am from Beersheba, that he is an Arab and I am a Jew? It has no meaning to me. He sees my child and I see his child.”

A Mideast Bond, Stitched of Pain and Healing (NYT)

Apparently there is now an academic field dedicated to the Coen brothers’ cult creation The Big Lewbowski:

Reading “The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies,” it’s hard not to recall some of the profound and not-so-goofy things the novelist Umberto Eco had to say about cult movies in his 1984 essay “ ‘Casablanca’: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage.”

“What are the requirements for transforming a book or movie into a cult object?” Mr. Eco asked. “The work must be loved, obviously, but this is not enough. It must provide a completely furnished world so that its fans can quote characters and episodes as if they were aspects of the fan’s private sectarian world, a world about which one can make up quizzes and play trivia games so that the adepts of the sect recognize through each other a shared expertise.”

(If the phrases “Nice marmot,” or “You’re entering a world of pain,” or “I can get you a toe” mean anything to you, then “Lebowski” has entered your private sectarian world.)

Mr. Eco certainly seemed to presage the existence of “The Big Lebowski” when he wrote in his essay about “Casablanca” that a cult movie must be “ramshackle, rickety, unhinged in itself.” He explained: “Only an unhinged movie survives as a disconnected series of images, of peaks, of visual icebergs. It should display not one central idea but many. It should not reveal a coherent philosophy of composition. It must live on, and because of, its glorious ricketiness.”

Which reminds me of another cult classic, Withnail & I, that has twice as many one-liners as the Big Lebowski, but which is, sadly, little-known this side of the Atlantic.

Dissertations on His Dudeness (NYT)

From the RSS feed of The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg:

Apologies for the loss of service lately. My Web host was hacked over Christmas. Everything seems to be functioning normally again. I hope you are all having a pleasant holiday.

Today is the official release date of Secrets of The Lost Symbol. (If you have an e-reader, you could have downloaded a copy three weeks ago. What have you been waiting for?)

I’ve been blogging about the book on the SOLS blog for the past few months. And I’m particularly pleased with our recent Lost Symbol photo tour of DC that is currently about halfway done. (The photos, by the way, were taken by Julie O’Connor, wife of Secrets co-editor Dan Burstein.)

If you’re a Lost Symbol fan and want to know more about Freemasonry, noetics, Washington or, perhaps, just want to dig a little deeper into the novel and its ideas, you can’t go wrong.

My favorite essays in Secrets of The Lost Symbol range from Amir Aczel’s tales of the Jesuit priest Pierre de Chardin and the author Umberto Eco to Ron Hogan’s fantastically speculative theories about the structure and allegorical qualities of The Lost Symbol.

I contributed a number of interviews to the book, exploring the Masonic (and British) connections to the Smithsonian Institution with architectural historian Heather Ewing, and discussing conspiracy theories and real-life secret societies with Jeff Sharlet.

On a personal note, Secrets of the Lost Symbol represents the seventh book I have worked on since arriving in America in 2003. I really cannot believe how lucky I am to have been able to contribute to so many varied and interesting projects in such a short space of time. Long may it continue.

I can’t imagine the type of person who would get a kick out of this Valentine’s Day suggestion from San Diego North Convention & Visitors Bureau:

Night Moves – take an animal-courtship-centered caravan tour at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park and see how rhinos, giraffes and other animals handle mate selection. Guests ride in an open-air safari truck through the park’s field enclosures, while learning about the mating behaviors of the animal residents. The guide shares tales of animals’ courtship escapades, while participants feed the rhinos or giraffes. At the secluded Amani Point, desserts and specialty beverages are served while listening to more tales of the birds and the bees.

To find out why, read on. (Video very NSFW.)

NYT columnist Roger Cohen

Jewish journalists have spent a good part of this year criticizing Cohen’s articles on Iran and Israel.

Cohen believes that the widely-held view of Iran as a pariah state, ready to launch a nuclear missile at Israel the first chance it gets, is mistaken. He also regularly lays blame for the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Israel’s door.

Though I had plenty of space for the interview, there was still much that had to be left out. Among those edited comments, he told me:

I don’t buy the view that the Israelis just want peace and we just don’t have an interlocutor. I think there’s plenty of blame to go around and I don’t see reasonable Israel on one side and unreasonable Palestinians on the other.

I think there’s been a tremendous daily humiliation of the Palestinians from the Israeli side and there’s been the absolute prioritization of security over any risk for peace.

And on Iran:

I don’t believe in the victory of the West and Liberalism over political Islam. I don’t think political Islam is going to disappear. I think one reason Iran is so important is they have lived [inaud] for 30 years and they are not dreaming of a Caliphate in Iran. They are not dreaming of what the Al Qaeda cronies are dreaming of. They know it is give and take. It’s compromise. That’s the reality of the Middle East.

You can read the interview here.

My other story this week is a juicy tale concerning the unexpected resignation of a leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi from a powerful US organization called Eternal Jewish Family. It seems that posters have been popping up around Jerusalem threatening Rabbi Leib Tropper to step down from the group he founded or have “his disgrace” revealed. You can read my story here. The more salacious version doing the blog rounds can be found here.

Finally, I will be taking part in a panel discussion about Jewish Heroes at the 92Y Tribeca on Saturday evening. I’d love to see you there.