Masha Leon
By Masha Leon
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News Tramp Art and Jewish History
AMERICAN SAMPLERS, TRAMP ART AND A BIT OF JEWISH IMMIGRANT HISTORY AT AMERICAN ANTIQUE SHOW In keeping with the Texas theme of the January 20 opening-night preview of the American Antique Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion, the party’s grand chairman was Lynda Johnson Robb, daughter of former president Lyndon B. Johnson. Also in the photographers’…
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News Timeless and Timely Lyrics
CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY HONORS ISRAELI-BORN PHILANTHROPIST TOVA LEIDESDORF AND REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE Setting the tone for the January 18 Silver Anniversary Gala of the Congress of Racial Equality, Rabbi Shea Hecht, chairman of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education, stated, “[This evening] is a partial fulfillment of Dr. Martin…
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News When Putsch Came to Shove
“SAVIORS IN THE NIGHT”: WHEN HITLER’S PUTSCH CAME TO SHOVE, SOME GERMANS PROVED TO BE RIGHTEOUS MENTSHN “How do you hide a Jewish family in full view?” posited 97-year-old Marga Spiegel, whose memoir, “Saviors in the Night/Unter Bauern: Retter in der Nacht,” is the basis for the film of the same name, which launched January…
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News Remembering Mina Bern, Star of the Yiddish Stage
The Mina Bern that I knew could always rise to the occasion and stop a show — without even trying. I remember seeing her at the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene gala in December 2007 in Manhattan. The benefit was held to honor lyricist Sheldon Harnick, TV star Bebe Neuwirth and songwriter-activist Peter Yarrow. Bern wasn’t feeling…
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News A ‘Mikado’ for the 21st Century
A KIMONO-WEARING CANTOR IN NEW YORK GILBERT & SULLIVAN’S PLAYERS’ MIKADO When the operetta “The Mikado” made its 1885 London debut at the Savoy Theatre, its creators — lyricist William Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan — could not have imagined that in 2010, in New York City, the cast would include a Jewish cantor (a…
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News Mina Bern, Yiddish Theater Doyenne, Dead at 98
Mina Bern, the doyenne of Yiddish theater who performed for audiences around the globe and acted in 12 films, died January 10 in New York City. She was 98. She spoke five languages, but said she was proud that Yiddish was her “best.” “Yiddish is such a rich language. As an actress I can convey…
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News Remembering "Shep" Zitler
REMEMBERING MAREK EDELMAN, LEADER OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING The last time I saw Marek Edelman, who died October 2 at 90, was at the October 5, 1997, “100 Years Bund” celebration, which was held at New York’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. We chatted in Yiddish. He remembered my father, Matvey Bernsztejn, and reminded me that as…
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News Maimonidies And Menorahs
FRENCH CONSUL GENERAL LIGHTS L’ HANOUKA CANDLES AND QUOTES THE RAMBAM “I could pass for a Santa,” a jolly, white-bearded Rabbi Mikhael Cohen, of the Centre Communautaire Juif Francophone de New York, joshed as we chatted at the December 17 Hanukkah reception held at the French Consulate. With a yarmulke atop his head, France’s consul…
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