Culture

Viva Las (Oscar) Goodman

There is a box of candy on Oscar Goodman’s desk. Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews. His face lights up at their mention. They’re from Philadelphia, he says. “I love them. I have at least one a day.” Goodman — former mob lawyer, former Las Vegas mayor, current Sin City spokesman — is happily ensconced behind his desk…

When Dylan Does It Better Than Sinatra (Assuming You Don’t Care For Sinatra)

So you know where I’m coming from, I never got the whole Frank Sinatra thing. “On the Town?” Yeah, I liked that. “From Here to Eternity?” Sure, that too. But the whole tough guy “I’ll sock you in the jaw” persona has always been a turn-off. When Apple put him on its “Think Different” posters,…

Why European NGO’s and the Red Cross Are Real Enemies in Israel

My real name, to those of you who know me by other names, is Tuvia. I was born into an extreme anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel known as the “Hazon-Ishnikes,” among people who are certain that they are the people closest to God and that they are his only representatives on earth. Simply put,…

How To Leave the Neo-Nazis in Two Easy Lessons — and One Hard One

Four years ago, when he was the leader of a neo-Nazi group in Thuringia, a federal state in central Germany, Steven Hartung organized demonstrations and other political actions that promoted extreme right-wing ideology. He believed that ethno-pluralism — a view supporting ethnic or racial separation and opposing cultural diversity — was the only way to…

Of Sammy Davis, Sheldon Adelson, Blue Jeans and 9 Other Facts About (Jewish) Nevada

1) The first Jewish synagogue in Nevada was founded in 1921 in Reno. Temple Emanu-El still serves the city’s Jewish residents. 2) Jacob W. Davis, a Jewish immigrant and tailor, invented jeans at his shop in Reno in 1871 when a customer paid $3 to commission a pair of sturdy work pants for her husband….

Why ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’ Is Quintessential Jewish Mother Story

The 1989 movie “New York Stories” is composed of three short films about New York City. In Woody Allen’s segment, “Oedipus Wrecks,” his character’s overbearing Jewish mother disappears as part of a magic show — but rather than reappearing after the trick is finished instead is transformed into a celestial presence hovering over Manhattan, continually…

Jo Milgrom’s Torah Mantles Are Definitely Art. But Are They Kosher?

Among some of her fans, Jo Milgrom is known as “the archeologist.” She rescues precious artifacts from the obscurity of Jerusalem’s dumpsters and secondhand shops, while also providing them a home and new levels of meaning, they say. “When I see things on the street, they have their own realities,” the 86-year-old artist tells me…

My Magical Mystery Travelogue