Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Culture Was Francois Mitterrand an Anti-Semite? It’s Complicated.
Was François Mitterrand, who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, anti-Semitic? October 26 marks Mitterrand’s centenary but already earlier this year on a Gallic TV chat show, Prime Minister Manuel Valls reopened the debate by citing Mitterrand as an example of anti-Semitism in France. Authoritative biographies by historian Michel Winock and journalist…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History of Shirley Jackson and ‘The Lottery’
The centenary of Shirley Jackson (1916 –1965), noted for her horror stories such as “The Lottery” (1948), and the novel “The Haunting of Hill House” (1959), will be celebrated in December. New publications and reprints commemorate this writer who has chilled millions. Claimed by Stephen King, among others, as a major influence, Jackson was married…
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Culture Did Radical Politics Undercut the Work of This Brilliant Photographer?
Louis Stettner, the American Jewish photographer who died on October 13 at age 93, produced images governed by Socialist ideals to the point where a full understanding of his creative personality requires looking at his works in other media. After early inspiration to take up photography by encounters with such talents as Alfred Steiglitz and…
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Fast Forward Jack Greenberg, the Lawyer Who Used Law as a Weapon To Desegregate America’s Schools
Jack Greenberg, who died on October 12 at age 91, was more than just a fearless civil rights attorney who famously argued Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court; he was also an admirer of Franz Kafka who applied his writings to historical experience of racial prejudice in America. The 1954 case,…
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Culture How Poland’s Great Filmmaker Confronted His Country’s Holocaust History
In his films, the Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who died on October 9 at age 90, relentlessly investigated history, particularly his homeland’s treatment of Jews. In Wajda’s films such as “Samson” (1961), “Landscape After Battle,” (1970), “Wedding” (1972), “Promised Land,” (1975), “Korczak,” (1990) “Holy Week” (1995) and “Pan Tadeusz” (1999), Jews are included as main…
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