A decade ago, a customer visiting Rainbo’s Fish in Manhattan’s Essex Street Market could pick a live carp from Rainbo’s tank and see it slaughtered on the spot. “You take a mallet and you hit the carp over the head,” said owner Ira Stolzenberg, a grizzled cigarette smoker with a shaved head. The mallet didn’t…
For several dozen Americans who say they were sexually abused as children, news from Israel on January 14 ripped the scab off a still unhealed wound. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that Avrohom Mondrowitz, their alleged abuser, will not be extradited to stand trial in America. But that is not the only recent decision regarding Mondrowitz….
Avrom Sutzkever, who died January 20 at the age of 96, was not only a great Yiddish poet but is acknowledged as being one of the great poets of the 20th century. For several years he had been ailing and living in a nursing home in Tel Aviv. It was a city upon which he’d…
Each year on Yom Kippur, Rudolph Dana locks himself in his Pétionville, Haiti, home — protected by guard dogs and security personnel — and passes the Day of Atonement fasting, praying and reciting the traditional liturgy of repentance and forgiveness. Up until about 10 years ago, Haiti’s tiny Jewish community would gather in a home…
People love to cook for intimate gatherings, but they also have a fascination with mass-producing food. I, for one, am guilty of an obsession with the Food Network show Unwrapped and immediately join the line for any tour of a cheese-, chocolate-, or bourbon-making operation. I’ll also tune into any show that gives chefs a…
Israel’s first lady is a Queen of Mean, according to a new lawsuit. In Tel Aviv court papers made public January 15, a former housekeeper claims that Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “mistreated and abused” her during five years of service, paying her less than minimum wage and subjecting her to…
The past and future of the new Jewish spirituality may be found at the intersection of two charmingly shrubby side streets in Berkeley, Calif. Here, at least two Fridays a month, more than 150 young people — bearded, kaftaned, decked in home-made tallitot, Bukharan kippot, chunky necklaces and dancing shoes — gather at Chochmat HaLev…
“Tell me please, what day is it? Is it Wednesday?” whispered Franz Gilles, laying in his bed at the field hospital. “No, it is Saturday,” the Israeli doctor standing next to him replied. Gilles seemed baffled. He turned around and mumbled, “Saturday, oh my God.” The 59-year-old administrative director of the Haitian tax authority spent…
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…
The other day, while sitting on my lap, my 2-year old daughter Hannah asked,“What’s your name, Mommy?” “Ilana,” I answered. She looked surprised and said, “My teacher’s name is Ilana.” I had to reassure my daughter that my name really was Ilana, and that her preschool teacher and I have simply have the same name….
American college students who want to study the poetry of Yehuda Amichai or the films of Amos Gitai are in luck. The number of Israel studies courses being offered on American college campuses has ballooned over the past few years, according to a new study commissioned by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, a…
געוויסע עקספּערטן האַלטן, אַז מע דאַרף באַטראַכטן ל״ג־בעומר ווי אַ פֿרילינגדיקן מײַ־פֿעסטיוואַל
