Penny Schwartz
By Penny Schwartz
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News Irena Veisaite, 92, Holocaust Survivor Turned Human Rights Advocate
(JTA) — Even in the most challenging circumstances, Irena Veisaite never missed a chance to foster tolerance and understanding. One of the few Jews to survive the Holocaust in Lithuania, Veisaite’s passion for reconciliation helped defuse a tense moment during an exchange between Poles and Lithuanians at the White Synagogue in Sejney, a Polish town…
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News Hryhoriy Arshynov, Restorer Of Jewish Cemeteries Across Ukraine
(JTA) — Five years ago, a plea to rescue a centuries-old synagogue in Ostroh, Ukraine, struck a chord with Hryhoriy Arshynov, a lifelong Jewish resident of the city four hours west of Kyiv. Damaged during the Holocaust, the magnificent 17th-century Maharsha synagogue was used as a warehouse under Soviet rule and endured decades of neglect….
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News Florence Barat, 90, Was Preparing For Her Second Adult Bat Mitzvah
BOSTON (JTA) – Just a few months after she turned 90 last year, Florence Barat joined a bat mitzvah class with a group of other women at the Jack Satter House, a Jewish senior residence near Boston where she had lived for some two decades. Barat had already had an adult bat mitzvah 30 years…
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News Bradley Fields, 68, Renowned Magician Who Studied Talmud And Taught Math To Kids
(JTA) — Bradley Fields once performed a memorable magic show for the kids at his synagogue in which he levitated the rabbi’s school-aged daughter in the sanctuary. The audience was spellbound. “Everyone was in awe,” said Shmuel Herzfeld, the rabbi at Ohev Sholom in Washington, D.C., where Fields was a regular at the daily prayer…
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News Rabbi Ezekiel Musleah, 92, Captivating Reader Of Torah
(JTA) — When it came to chanting Torah, Rabbi Ezekiel Musleah was in a class by himself. As a child of ten, Musleah lost his mother. Two years later, partly as a way to console himself, Musleah dedicated himself to a meticulous three-year undertaking to learn to chant the entire Torah. There was no turning…
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News Sidney Forman, 95, Lived Out A Dream With Performance Of Musical Comedy He Wrote In The 1950s
BOSTON (JTA) – Sidney Forman performed before many audiences over the course of his life. He sang in barbershop quartets, in synagogue choirs and for the ordination of a cardinal. At Boston’s Hatch Shell concert venue, he sang for the legendary Boston Pops maestro Arthur Fiedler. But a year ago, when Forman packed the house…
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News Rievan Slavkin, 85, Beloved Rabbi And Champion Shofar Blower
BOSTON (JTA) – Long before he joined the rabbinate, Rievan Slavkin had an ear for music. Born into a musical family and gifted with perfect pitch, Slavkin led the choir at the Pittsburgh synagogue where he grew up and later became the organist for services during his rabbinic studies at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati….
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News Eva Konrad Hawkins, 90, Holocaust Survivor Who Designed Underwater Museum Exhibits
(JTA) – Against daunting odds, both historical and political, Eva Konrad Hawkins fulfilled her dream of becoming a scientist. At age 26, Konrad Hawkins fled her native Hungary with only the pack on her back, leaving her parents and brother behind to pursue her studies beyond what was available to her under the constraints of…
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