Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
-
Culture Paul Krassner Celebrates Abbie Hoffman’s 80th and Remembers Dropping Acid With Groucho
On November 30, fans of 1960s counterculture commemorate what would have been the 80th birthday of the American Jewish activist and anarchist Abbie Hoffman, who died in 1989. Hoffman was a cofounder of the Youth International Party, whose adherents were called Yippies, alongside Jerry Rubin (1938 –1994), Nancy Kurshan (born 1944), and Paul Krassner (born…
-
Culture How Jewish Writers Learned To Loathe Fidel Castro
In February 1961, the Newark-born socialist, anti-Communist poet Louis Ginsberg wrote a fretful letter to his son. The poet Allen Ginsberg, among his many other vagaries, seemed over-optimistic about the Castro regime in Cuba, as his father cautioned: “Visitors tell of being in manipulated throngs chanting pro-Soviet and anti-American slogans in whose frenetic atmosphere it…
-
Culture So, Why Were The Rothschilds So Generous?
The Rothschilds: a Dynasty of Art Patrons in France Edited by Pauline Prevost-Marcilhacy Published by Somogy Éditions d’Art, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and Musée du Louvre Éditions. To paraphrase the old Yiddish joke, “If I were Rothschild, I’d be richer than Rothschild; I’d donate some art on the side.” This new three-volume study explains more…
-
Culture Remembering Ruth Gruber — Photographer, Journalist and Symbol of Courage
The American Jewish journalist and photographer Ruth Gruber, who died on Thursday, November 17 at age 105, had the knack of being at the right place at the right time to change history. As an eyewitness when the Exodus 1947 ship entered Haifa harbor after being attacked by England’s Royal Navy, Gruber followed the path…
-
Culture Some of William F. Buckley Jr.’s Best Friends Were Jewish — Really
The degree to which the conservative editor and commentator William F. Buckley Jr., founder of National Review magazine and TV’s “Firing Line,” was inspired by contacts with Jewish contemporaries may not be fully known to those outside his circle of friends and political foes. Buckley, who died in 2008, is honored with “A Torch Kept…
-
Culture The World’s Oldest Jewish Actor Dies at 101
The Russian Jewish actor Vladimir Zeldin, who died at age 101 on October 31, proved that if a performing career is long enough, it can stretch from one dictatorship to another. A mainstay of Moscow’s Red Army Theatre, now known as the Russian Army Theatre, Zeldin’s powerful presence and resonant voice filled this vast, crushingly…
-
Culture America’s Orchestras Are At War — Could More Jewish Musicians Help?
In September, when a last-minute negotiation effort failed, the Philadelphia Orchestra went on strike after an audience had already gathered for its seasonal opening-night gala. Hackles were raised. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported: “‘Shame on you!’ shouted a couple of philanthropists as players walked through the Kimmel Center lobby and out onto a Broad Street picket…
-
Culture Farewell to Hirohito’s Brother — Japan’s Most Jewish Prince
Takahito, Prince Mikasa, who died on October 27 at age 100, was doubtless the member of Japan’s Imperial family with the most Yiddishkeit. He was the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito and uncle of Akihito, the reigning Emperor of Japan. Prince Mikasa was, as Ben-Ami Shillony’s “The Jews and the Japanese” explains, a prominent scholar…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins — like me
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Though sworn enemies, Hamas and Donald Trump seem to share a common language
-
Culture The woman who saved stolen Jewish art — and the writer who is finally telling her story
-
Fast Forward Israel’s Eurovision contestant, Yuval Raphael, says she’s focused on the music, not the protests
-
Fast Forward Trump’s Qatari jet gift sparks rare Jewish MAGA backlash
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
