Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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Culture Finding Rabbis and Wandering Jews
In the 19th century, realist authors like Emile Zola and Anatole France were widely worshipped, but literary Symbolism, with its rejection of everyday realism, and prizing of spirituality, also attracted many European Jewish writers. Particularly in France, there appeared a wave of Jewish Symbolists who had social and political activism that was allied with dreamlike…
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The Schmooze All His Races: Jewish Driving Superstar Sir Stirling Moss
Having recently, at the age of 80, survived a three-story fall down the lift shaft of his Mayfair home, Sir Stirling Moss will be around to publicize his new autobiography “All My Races.” The authorized biography of this legendary racing driver (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002) explains how Moss was born in London in 1929 to…
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Books The Apotheosis of Treyf
Although indisputably treyf, ham is sometimes addressed humorously, as in spoofs from the satirical “Onion” or “A Jew Touches Ham,” a new micro-short film by Jewish comedian Aaron Glaser. Then there is “faux ham” proffered by PETA or an ostensibly kosher “Christmas Ham-flavored soda” manufactured in Seattle a few seasons back. Decades ago, scientists unsuccessfully…
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The Schmooze Printing Early Yiddish Books: Jean Baumgarten Explains it All
The fascination with the early years of Yiddish literature continues apace. Historian Jean Baumgarten of France’s CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), author of an acclaimed Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature (Oxford University Press, 2005) has published a new study whose lengthy title — Le Peuple des livres: Les ouvrages populaires dans la société ashkénaze….
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The Schmooze Artur Schnabel: Great Pianist, Biting Wit
Artur Schnabel (1882 –1951) is universally recognized as the one of the finest 20th century musicians, expressing uncommon emotional depth and spirituality as a pianist. (One teacher famously told him: “You will never be a pianist. You are a musician.”) Born the son of a Jewish textile merchant in Lipnik, Moravia (then part of Austria),…
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The Schmooze Photographer Gerda Taro, Out of the Shadows at Last?
The German Jewish photographer Gerda Taro (born Gerta Pohorylle in Stuttgart, to a family of Polish Jewish origin) has long been overshadowed by her companion, the legendary photographer Robert Capa. However, that may soon change. Taro (1910- 1937) was the first female war photographer, capturing powerful images of the Spanish Civil War, and was sadly…
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The Schmooze Jewish Feminist Singer Lesley Gore: From the ‘60s to Today
Fans of feminist Jewish pop song will not want to miss Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein in 1946) at New York’s Joe’s Pub on April 22 or at one of her upcoming concerts around the country. From her earliest hits, like 1964’s defiant “You Don’t Own Me,” Gore was at once independent, self-assured, and…
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The Schmooze The Tragic Visions of Author Jakov Lind Re-Examined
The Austrian-British writer Jakov Lind, (born Heinz Landwirth to a Viennese Jewish family) led a wildly adventurous life of the kind which other authors, like Jerzy Kosinski, merely invented for themselves. After the 1938 Anschluss, Lind (1927-2007) was sent on a “kindertransport” (children’s train) to Holland. There, in 1943, he went underground, posing as a…
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