Erika Dreifus
By Erika Dreifus
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Life The Woman Who Rescued Jewish Books From The Vilna Ghetto
Some 75 years ago, a group of Jews under German occupation in Vilna was assigned to assist Nazi authorities in curating books and other cultural items destined for shipment to Germany. There, the selection of Judaica materials was to be conserved as a collection of artifacts from an extinct people. Some items were indeed shipped…
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Life Why I’m Going Back To Hebrew School — 40 Years Later
The textbook for the intensive Hebrew class that I enrolled in this past summer was called “Hebrew from Scratch”. Which didn’t technically apply to my situation, at age 48, in the Beginner Aleph classroom. Forty years earlier, living in Brooklyn and attending my neighborhood public school there, I had begun Hebrew School in Sheepshead Bay’s…
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Life POEM: A Single Woman Argues with Ecclesiastes
Two are better than one proclaimed the ancient preacher. Because, essentially, together they produce more income. But what if one cannot work? And even if both are skilled and able-bodied and employable, who will watch the children? Two are better than one said the son of David. Because they can lie together for warmth, and…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History of ‘The Little Prince’
As a longtime fan of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book “The Little Prince,” I was thrilled to learn, late last year, of a forthcoming animated film version — and crushed when Paramount abruptly canceled its U.S. release this past March. My spirits soared anew when Netflix announced that it was stepping in; the film, directed by…
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Life The Book of Ruth, or Notes on Serendipity
The Book of Ruth, or Notes on Serendipity And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. —The Book of Ruth, 2:3 As luck would have it, the first…
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The Schmooze POEM: ‘September 1, 1946’
Seven years after Auden sat uncertain and afraid in one of the dives on 52nd Street, my great-grandmother arrives, finally, in New York. She was lucky, everyone will say, to have left Germany in time, and to have waited out the war with her husband in Brazil. But on September 1, 1946, she does not…
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The Schmooze POEM: ‘Mount Zion’
My mom can tell you stories about all her mother’s sisters. Except for two. One was stillborn. Nameless. The other was Shirley. Shirley, the second to arrive once the family reunited in New York, my great-grandfather having immigrated first. Shirley, who died, the certificate says, on May 7, 1924. Aged thirteen months. Cause of death:…
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The Schmooze Why I’m Going to See an ‘Anti-Israel’ Play
A few months ago, thanks in part to The Forward, I became aware of a controversy at Theater J. An organization housed within the Washington DC Jewish Community Center (DCJCC), the theater had announced its 2013-2014 season, which was to include a production of “The Admission” by Israeli playwright Motti Lerner. Key to this play…
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