I???ve always been Jewish, but I didn???t become Orthodox until I was in my twenties. I chose this way of living because I liked the way Orthodox husbands looked at their wives???with smoldering sensuality, hidden knowing, and reverence. They spoke sweetly and didn???t play games, and I never saw the flicker of distance in their eyes. After years of dating guys who didn???t pay for my dinner, much less pay attention to me, I was ready for a real connection. Hooking up wasn???t getting me what I wanted: love. It was time to try something else, and this looked like a world I could get into. There are many elements of Judaism that keep me religious, but the most compelling one is observant marriage. …
It???s not just the mikvah that makes Orthodox sex so great: The entire system creates over-the-top intensity. To start with, you???re shomer n???giyah, so you don???t touch anyone of the opposite sex???no handshaking, air-kissing, or friendly hugs. In my world, every touch is electric.
-Lynne Meredith Schreiber, “Sex as an Orthodox Jew,” Tango magazine
You know Christopher Hitchens from his regular diatribes in Vanity Fair and Slate. You probably don’t know Christopher Hitchens from his work in Tango magazine. Yes, “the magazine about relationships.”
But in the April/May issue – on newsstands April 11 (that’s Tuesday) – the guy who’s “been married twice, and a father three times” takes a break from bouncing around the Middle East, finishing next year’s iconoclastic God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion, and family therapy with younger bro Peter to lament on his biggest fault: his inability to lose an argument.
Arguing is my life. It just happens to be what I do for a living. Being up to speed with a quick riposte, or a very long, slow, measured, patient explanation, is everything to me, and more. This has not always been delightful (to my partners, I mean), though it has been good practice. Looking back, I can sometimes see where another man might have decided to give way gracefully, or at least quickly. Not moi. For what do you take me? I have a posiition to maintain here.
Now, this type of reasoning sounds perfectly suited for, say, debating energy policy or that new immigration bill. But keep in mind Tango is a relationship magazine. Hitchens is talking about his approach to relationships. Which begs the question: The Brit is only on wife number two?
(NB: Christopher turns 57 on April 13, so be sure to send him some birthday wishes.)