Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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Culture Was Ethel Rosenberg really a tragic figure?
The sad case of Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg exemplifies the claim that on occasion, there are no more merciless judges of Jews than their coreligionists. Rosenberg, who with her husband Julius was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and executed by the U.S. federal government in 1953 at Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York,…
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Culture Does something Jewish flow through the ‘Spoon River Anthology?’
“Spoon River Anthology” (1915) by Edgar Lee Masters, a collection of autobiographical verse monologues in epitaph form, was named by Eliot Weinberger as the “century’s most influential book of American poetry” alongside T.S. Eliot’s “Waste Land.” A new book on Masters from University of Illinois Press is a good occasion for examining the neglected subject…
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Culture The secret Jewish history of ‘The Love Boat’
In light of the May 29 death of actor Gavin MacLeod, celebrated for portraying Captain Merrill Stubing on ABC-TV’s “The Love Boat,” it seems like a good time to take a deeper look into the Jewish elements in the hit show, which ran from 1977 to 1986, followed by further special episodes until 1990. Executive…
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Culture Remembering Walter Kissinger — Henry’s menschy and self-effacing brother
News of the demise of Walter Kissinger, who died May 3 at age 96, was made public discreetly and belatedly, matching the relatively reserved persona with which he went through life as the less attention-grabbing younger brother of the American Jewish politician Henry Kissinger. Despite his own achievements in business and philanthropy as what Fortune…
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Culture The secret Jewish history of ‘The Goon Show’
May 28 marks the 70th anniversary of the influential British radio comedy program “The Goon Show,” which inspired fans from the Monty Python group to John Lennon. The Jewish content of The Goons, comprising comedians Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers as well as the Welsh singer Harry Secombe, is usually overlooked amid the show’s comedic…
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Culture Norman Lloyd, who acted for Hitchcock, Welles, Chaplin & ‘St. Elsewhere’ dies at 106
The American Jewish actor, director and producer Norman Nathan Lloyd, who died May 10 at age 106, proved over a long career how in show business, it’s who you know as well as what you know that counts. In his 1990 memoir “Stages,” Lloyd explained how he was born in Jersey City to Conservative Jewish…
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Culture God Bless Irving Berlin!
Editor’s Note; This article was originally published in the Forward on September 20, 2012. To some lovers of classical American song, it may seem paradoxical that the Tin Pan Alley genius who created such goyish holiday classics as “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade” was born Israel Isidore Beilin in Belarus, Russia, the son of a…
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Culture Does focusing on Van Morrison’s alleged antisemitism ignore a much bigger problem?
When does hypersensitivity about potential antisemitic slights promote or unnecessarily highlight Jew-hating tropes? If a septuagenarian Irish pop singer wrote a song claiming that “They are all rich” and “They are all stingy,” what sensible Jewish listeners would raise their hands and admit that the tune must be about Jews because, over the years, imbeciles…
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