Israeli officials and most Jewish communal leaders would agree with the following: Kofi Annan took unprecedented steps to make Israel a full member of the United Nations, combat antisemitism and make sure that the Holocaust was paid proper respect within the world body. They would, however, also subscribe to the point of view that Annan…
Lima, Peru – She fought with all her might. Myriam Fefer even broke her red, acrylic fingernails trying to fend off her attacker. But in the early morning hours of August 15, 2006, the assailant succeeded in wrapping a computer cord around Fefer’s neck and strangling her to death in the bedroom of her home…
Jerusalem – A few weeks ago, Rachel Iscove, a 27-year-old lawyer in Tel Aviv, joined the other female workers in her office and approached her employer with what normally would be an unacceptable request. “We asked our boss if we could leave early every day so we could get home before sunset,” said Iscove, a…
Security officers were assaulted this week by dozens of Orthodox Jews as they attempted to enter a Hasidic-owned hotel in the Tel Aviv suburb of B’nai Brak to track down a Jerusalem man under house arrest there, after the homing device on his court-ordered electronic bracelet went dead, according to a report in the daily…
Washington – A controversy over the Bush administration’s censorship of an article on Iran has helped trigger a public spat between two leading Middle East scholars. Flynt Leverett, a former employee of the CIA and the National Security Council who is a harsh critic of President Bush’s foreign policy, has been accusing the White House…
As Kofi Annan exits the scene, his successor, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, has been making his first set of public appearances and speeches. In addition, he has held private meetings with a variety of interlocutors, including Jewish groups. Jewish communal officials who recently have met Ban noted his underwhelming personality and his lack of…
Kiryat Shmona, Israel – In the months since last summer’s war in Lebanon, an eerie quiet has taken hold in the north of Israel. The wail of sirens warning of Katyusha rocket attacks has long since ceased, and the loud din of explosions no longer pierces the fresh air of the Galilee. Just beneath the…
Everyone active in the world of Yiddish culture has to have shoulders broad enough to carry the weight of history, but Itche Goldberg, who died December 27 at age 102, had the broadest shoulders of all. As editor of the journal Yiddishe Kultur, Goldberg found the energy, even in his 80s and 90s, to maintain…
For the attendees of Kosherfest, the kosher food industry’s largest annual trade show-cum-feeding frenzy in New York, sampling from the hundreds of booths demands more than a healthy appetite; it requires strategy. With a sizable number of observant Jews among the 7,000 attendees at the recent convention — which marked Kosherfest’s 18th anniversary — the…
Even scientists need to get their groove on sometimes. So, after presenting a lecture titled “Fearful Brains in an Anxious World,” renowned neuroscientist and New York University professor Joseph LeDoux doffed his scholarly persona and strapped on a guitar. It was time for some Brain Rock. LeDoux’s band, The Amygdaloids, is named for the part…
A photographer, journalist, activist and former American government official, Ruth Gruber has worn many hats. But regardless of the role she assumes, one factor never varies: Her humanitarian spirit inevitably informs everything she does. Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Gruber recorded and participated in numerous significant events in Jewish history during the 20th century. She…
