Michael Kaminer
By Michael Kaminer
-
The Schmooze Maeve Binchy’s Career Started on a Kibbutz
Maeve Binchy, the mega-selling Irish author who died this week, set most of her stories in her native land. But the author, who sold more than 40 million books worldwide, may have owed her career to a stay on a kibbutz. Acording to an obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Dalkey-born Binchy graduated from University…
-
Books Quebecois Chronicler of Continent’s First Jews
A French-language tome by a hard-line Quebec separatist doesn’t seem like a typical candidate for a Canadian Jewish Book Award. But in June, Denis Vaugeois’s “Les Premiers Juifs d’Amérique” won the 2012 prize for history, crowning what the Montreal Gazette called the historian’s ”55-year quest” to rescue the story of Quebec’s pioneering Hart family ”from…
-
The Schmooze Harvey Weinstein Calls for Film Violence Summit
Is Harvey Weinstein planning to spend the rest of his career making romantic comedies? The legendary movie mogul behind “some of the most violent movies ever made” is apparently feeling contrite after the Colorado massacre of filmgoers attending a midnight screening of the latest “Batman” installment, the New York Daily News reports. “I think as…
-
Food New York’s Bagel Wars Continue
Updated Wednesday at 1:45pm When the Forward reported in January that H&H Bagels was evicted from its iconic West 46th Street bakery — a move that followed the closing of its Upper West Side storefront — it looked like curtains for the beloved purveyor of doughy discs. New York bagel lovers mourned the closing like…
-
Life The Woman Behind the Strip Club ‘Pole Tax’
Winking headlines about “pole taxes” followed June’s enactment of a Houston ordinance that taxes strip club patrons $5 apiece. But the intent behind the law couldn’t be more serious; proceeds will fund the processing of more than 6,000 rape kits backlogged in police refrigerators. For the legislator behind the law, Houston City Council member Ellen…
-
Food Marky’s Deli in Toronto Closes After 43 Years
With artisanal spins on traditional staples, delis like Caplansky’s in Toronto and Mile End in New York have proven there’s an appetite for traditional Jewish food. But the old guard, apparently, isn’t faring as well. Marky’s, the last kosher deli in Canada’s largest city, closed last week after 43 years. Marky’s location in a faceless…
-
The Schmooze Behind the Scenes With James Deen
“Doc Johnson” doesn’t sound Jewish. But the nation’s biggest manufacturer of sex toys is owned and run by the father-and-son team of Ron and Chad Braverman, and July’s Los Angeles magazine delivers a behind-the-scenes look at their “empire of rubber” — and the Jewish porn star they’ve enlisted to make it even bigger. Fly-on-the-wall style,…
-
The Schmooze Matisyahu ‘Loosens the Knots’ of Judaism
The clean-shaven singer in a loose white t-shirt barely resembles a 2006 snapshot of a bearded Hasid dancing merrily in a suit and shtramel. And indeed, Matisyahu today bears little likeness to his longtime “Chassidic reggae superstar” persona. While his transformation sparked much speculation in the blogosphere — Matisyahu dropped the bomb by posting a…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear
- 2
News That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?
- 3
Film & TV How Jon Stewart evolved on Israel — at least on ‘The Daily Show’
- 4
Opinion I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion A beloved peace activist was killed in the West Bank. Can his death finally teach us empathy?
-
Opinion As an Israeli political scientist, I resisted thinking this war was a genocide. Here’s what changed my mind
-
Opinion Israelis want out of the Gaza war. But all the exit routes feel like traps
-
Fast Forward Antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein are proliferating — and entering the mainstream
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
