Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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Art What Jews Might Have Lost In the Fire at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral
As flames devastated Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on April 15, more than just a worldwide center of Catholic worship and an architectural masterpiece was threatened. Jewish history is also reflected in the cathedral, for better and for worse. When its massive construction began almost one thousand years ago, Notre-Dame de Paris reflected theological messages that…
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Film & TV The Secret Jewish History Of ‘Dumbo’
Tim Burton’s remake for Disney of “Dumbo” about an elephant whose oversized ears enable him to fly, has received mixed reviews. Some filmgoers prefer the classic 1941 version, also from Disney. Yet indisputably, the story for both originated in a book published in 1939 by Helen Aberson (1907-1999), a Syracuse-born writer of Ukrainian Jewish origin….
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Culture Remembering Avram Lyon’s Holistic Approach to Jewish Life
Avram “Avi” Lyon, who died on April 1 at age 76, was more than just a labor activist defending the rights of downtrodden workers. He epitomized a holistic approach to Jewish ethics and culture. With crystalline clarity, he linked Jewish ethics as an indissociable element of Jewish ritual. As former head of Jewish Labor Committee,…
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Culture Meet America’s Most Outspoken Film Critic — On Elaine May, Steven Spielberg & Yiddishkeit
At 75, one of America’s most influential film critics, Jonathan Rosenbaum, is being celebrated with a collection of his articles from University of Illinois Press and with a second volume planned for May. His international reputation is based on previous books on political films, the vagaries of film culture, the cinema of Orson Welles, the…
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Music Remembering Andre Previn — Who Transcended Nebbish-Hood As A Master Musician
In recent years, the musicianship of André Previn — the conductor, pianist, and composer of German Jewish origin who has died at the age of 89 — has finally been celebrated more than his once-hectic personal life. Previn was formerly married to the songwriter Dory Previn, actress Mia Farrow, and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, among his…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History Of Peter Tork
Peter Tork, who died on February 21 at age 77, proved that enduring pop stardom was less meaningful than the quest to understand oneself and the world. Tork won international acclaim as the keyboardist and bass guitarist of the Monkees. His mother Virginia Straus had German Jewish roots, and Tork would include Yiddish phrases in…
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Culture Yaron Ezrahi: How Music Helped an Optimist Refrain from Pessimism
A leitmotif of music as social inspiration ran through the life of the Israeli political scientist Yaron Ezrahi, who died on January 29 at age 78. Author of “Imagined Democracies,” “The Descent of Icarus,” and “Rubber Bullets,” Ezrahi also coedited a collection of essays, “Technology, Pessimism, and Postmodernism,” while personally eschewing any such pessimism. In…
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Culture How Nathan Glazer Dared To Change His Mind (And Ours)
The sociologist Nathan Glazer, who died on January 19 at age 95, proved that thinking is an exercise in modification. Unlike pundits who calcify ideas and opinions to better give readers what they expect, Glazer was constantly reformulating his notions, even after publishing classic books such as “American Judaism,” and “Beyond the Melting Pot.” In…
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