Renee Ghert-Zand
By Renee Ghert-Zand
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Life Gaza’s Surfer Girls
In Gaza, where it is illegal under Sharia law for women even to ride bicycles, four young girls are boldly learning to surf. With the help of the American non-profit organization, Explore Corps, they are riding the waves and gaining a measure of freedom, confidence and independence. This past summer, Rawan Abo Ghanem, 12, and…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Ruth Gerson’s Home Songs
Not many pop-rock artists are inspired by Franz Rosenzweig’s “Star of Redemption” or “Totality and Infinity” by Emmanuel Levinas, but then again, Ruth Gerson is not your usual singer-songwriter. “Most often, I start writing a song because of something I am reading,” Gerson said. Given her academic background (she studied Jewish existentialism at Princeton), she…
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Culture Writer and Actress Diane Flacks on How ‘It Gets Better’
Diane Flacks, a Jewish actress and writer, appears in the “It Gets Better Canada,” the country’s LGBT community’s artistic contribution to the anti-bullying campaign. Flacks can be seen in the popular, 12-minute video saying, “In my son’s class, a lot of the kids say, ‘I have two moms!’ and they don’t. But they wish they…
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Life Remembering the Artist Behind Ms. Magazine’s First Cover
“In her art she was a perfectionist and in her life she was a realist,” wrote Sheila Balshine Romalis, of the illustrator and multimedia artist Miraim Wosk, in a letter to Wosk’s son. The letter was one of condolence, following Wosk’s recent death from breast cancer at the age of 63. Romalis knew Wosk from…
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The Schmooze Internet Draws Support for Boys Busted for Bake Sale
Some nice Jewish boys were busted last week for doing something that would make almost any parent proud: They were being entrepreneurial. Andrew DeMarchis and Kevin Graff of Chappaqua, N.Y., were ratted out to the police by local Councilman Michael Wolfensohn, who was unhappy the boys were selling their home-baked goodies in a neighborhood park…
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The Schmooze Will Circumcision Become Illegal in San Francisco?
There are some Jews who say that in the 21st century, performing a brit milah (ritual circumcision) on a baby boy is neither desirable nor necessary. For San Francisco residents, however, there is a chance that it may also become illegal. In the city known for being on the cutting edge of many trends, a…
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The Schmooze Bringing Cantorial Music Back to Its Birthplace
“For me, this was not about a film. This was about our using our gifts as cantors to create dialogue,” said Cantor Nathan Lam of “100 Voices: A Journey Home,” which will be shown in a one-night event in over 75 theaters nationwide on November 11. The feature-length documentary chronicles the journey in June 2009…
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Life New Curriculum Highlights Work of Jewish, Female Civil Rights Activists
When we think of Jews who played a role in the Civil Rights Movement, names like Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel immediately come to mind. Few of us would name Judith Frieze Wright, Heather Tobis Booth or Beatrice “Buddy” Mayer. A free, new online curriculum called “Living the Legacy,” written by…
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