Los Angeles — With “The Reader” garnering five Oscar nominations, and just as many Holocaust-related films playing this winter, Hollywood’s long-simmering romance with one of the greatest tragedies in human history is reaching a fever pitch. Even a former official of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a certain fatigue. “I find myself wanting…
International Jewish groups expressed concern after an attack on a Caracas synagogue, blaming President Hugo Chavez for creating an atmosphere of hate in Venezuela. Up to 15 people attacked the Tiferet Israel Sephardic synagogue the night of January 30, throwing Torah scrolls on the floor and damaging some of them, according to reports. They also…
I hate Valentine’s Day. When I have a girlfriend, the day carries the weight of obligation: What to do? Are candy, flowers, a card and a nice dinner enough? Does my girl want something wildly elaborate, elegantly tasteful, or imaginative and innovative? If I’m going to make all that effort, what should I expect in…
Tu B’Shevat, also known as “the New Year for the trees,” starts at sundown on February 9. (So soon? Why, it seems like it was just the 10th of Tevet!) Like a Rorschach inkblot, this holiday can reveal a lot about who’s celebrating it. Originally it was merely the agrarian equivalent of April 15 for…
ELEANOR REISSA A HIT AT AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR JEWISH MUSIC CELEBRATION Sporting stiletto heels and tight black-satin pants, singer-actress Eleanor Reissa wowed the audience at the December 28, 2008, Hanukkah concert at the Center for Jewish History, held jointly by the American Society for Jewish Music and the American Jewish Historical Society. With her Galizianer…
Haifa, Israel — In a reversal of the usual fight over border crossings — with Gaza’s rulers demanding they be opened and Israel refusing — Hamas has stopped a group of children crossing to Israel for a therapeutic vacation. On the evening of January 28, a group of 47 Gaza children age four to 13…
Los Angeles — A little more than a year ago, George Haroonian, an Iranian-Jewish rug dealer, invested his family’s savings — totaling more than $400,000 — with Ezri Namvar, a trusted member of Los Angeles’s tight-knit Iranian-Jewish community, who for years has taken loans from community members and given them high returns in exchange. Today, Haroonian…
Haifa, Israel — Hadas Balas is an unlikely rescue worker for Gaza. The 25-year-old Israeli student studies at Sapir Academic College in Sderot, an institution where classes are often interrupted by stints in bomb shelters. She has no experience in politics or nongovernmental organizations. And she has never been at all interested in the welfare…
Washington — Judging by the headlines in Israel’s daily tabloids, the first task of President Obama’s new Middle East envoy is earning the trust of the Israelis. “Before the elections: Mitchell is coming to pressure,” blared the lead front-page headline in Ma’ariv, referring to former Democratic Sen. George Mitchell, who arrived in Israel from Cairo January…
London — He is one of the most infamous antisemitic caricatures of all time, a devious hook-nosed villain rivaled in stereotypical notoriety by only Shakespeare’s Shylock. Fagin, the Jewish street thief immortalized in print by Charles Dickens, has once again made a triumphant return to the stage in a new production of “Oliver!” the musical…
There is perhaps no man in America as reviled and scrutinized as Bernard Madoff, the investor who has reportedly confessed to bilking investors out of some $50 billion. Hoards of photographers have made a habit of amassing outside his Upper East Side apartment building and the federal courthouse for his brief and occasional appearances. But…
