Masha Leon
By Masha Leon
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The Schmooze A Chat With the Writers/Directors of ‘Gett’
I don’t recall ever feeling as angry as I was after seeing “The Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem,” the blistering gut-wrenching must-see film by writer/directors Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz. Warmly ensconced at The Regency Hotel during one of New York’s recent snow-ins, the Elkabetz siblings alternated in answering my questions about the film’s heroine…
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The Schmooze Ziggy Gruber — A ‘Deli Man’ for All Seasonings
After spending an hour at Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen with young Forward reader, Galitzianer Yiddish-speaking third generation deli man Ziggy Gruber — a featured deli owner in the must see “Deli Man” — I was ready to jet to Houston, Texas where he and partner Kenny Friedman reign over a deli called Kenny and Ziggy’s and the…
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The Schmooze Remembering Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill and Holocaust Scholar
I had been corresponding with Winston Churchill chronicler and historian Sir Martin Gilbert for three years before meeting him on February 19, 2003 at Anti Defamation League’s headquarters for the launch of his opus “The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust” (Henry Holt & Co.) In our correspondence, Sir Martin, who died in London…
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The Schmooze Pastrami Talk With ‘Deli Man’ Director Erik Greenberg Anjou
With platters of pastrami sandwiches, pickles and coleslaw beckoning nearby, Ben’s 38th Street Delicatessen was the ideal setting for my interview with Erik Greenberg Anjou producer-director of the soon to open film “Deli Man.” “I was born outside of Pittsburgh. My mother’s family emigrated from Russian-Romanian border,” said Anjou. “Briefly in France, the family changed…
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The Schmooze ‘Night Will Fall’: A Documentary Within a Documentary
“Not only have I seen the film but I am in the film!” said Menachem Rosensaft following the [January 15] pre-screening of HBO’s Concentration Camp Liberation documentary “Night Will Fall” held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust which debuted on HBO on January 26 with an encore on January…
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The Schmooze I.B. Singer’s Wife Alma Dishes About His Women
After a screening of “The Muses of Isaac Bashevis Singer,” I replied to a chutzpedik questioner: “Isaac never hit on me!” A frequent visitor in the 1930s to my parents’ Leszno 6 one-room home in Warsaw when I was toddler, I reconnected with him in New York in the 1960s when he and my father…
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The Schmooze Mina Bern (And Her Chicken Soup) Celebrated
When Eleanor Reissa — performer, director and co-organizer of the January 11th Tribute to Yiddish theater diva Mina Bern — asked me to participate in “A Celebration of Her Life On Her 5th Yahrzeit” at The Center for Jewish History, I was thrilled. Mina, whose over-the top performances I had reviewed for decades, was the closest…
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The Schmooze YIVO Vilna Project: Archives Go Digital
“YIVO is not only for the Jews,” declared Fiana Kukliansky recipient of the YIVO’s Community Service Award, at its 89th Annual Benefit held at the Center for Jewish History. Chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and advisor to the Lithuanian government on Jewish matters, a feisty Kukliansky joshed: “English is not my native language, therefore…
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