VIENNA — For those banking on democratization to reduce Arab hostility toward Israel, the recent public uprising in Lebanon and the Iraqi and Palestinian elections signaled a societal shift. Freedom is on the march in the Arab street, in this view; greater acceptance of the Jewish state would not be long in coming. But those…
Josh Dolgin thinks the Yiddish revival is over. “Enough talk of this f—-ing revival,” the 28-year-old musician bellowed during a recent phone interview from his home in Montreal. “It’s not a revival anymore — because it’s alive.” And he would know. Dolgin, aka DJ So Called, has pushed Yiddish closer to what is cool and…
WASHINGTON — Defying the wishes of the Bush administration, Congress approved a foreign-aid package this week forbidding any direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority and, in a rare snub, denying the president the authority to waive restrictions in the interest of national security. The legislation was approved 388-to-44 in the House of Representatives and is…
Six thousand miles from Ashkenazic Jewry’s ancestral home, and a continent’s width from the home it adopted a century ago, Yiddish culture has taken root in Northern California, and — perhaps nourished by Sonoma wines, organic produce and sourdough bread — it is thriving. Headquartered in Berkeley and fueled by an unusual mix of intellectual,…
Embarrassed leaders of American Jewish organizations were absorbing the news this week that an international body under their control was at the center of a tangled Israeli scheme, detailed in a bombshell government report, to build illegal settlement outposts in violation of Israeli law, policy and international commitments. The international body, the World Zionist Organization,…
Chatzkel Lemchen died in 2001, but the legendary Jewish lexicographer has been given a new lease on life in Lithuania’s schools. Starting this month, children across Lithuania will begin watching and discussing “Uncle Chatzkel,” a film about Lemchen’s life story that serves as the centerpiece of a new curriculum about the country’s rich Jewish heritage….
A prominent Orthodox rabbi and medical ethicist says he is the target of a harassment campaign following his calls to abandon a circumcision-related ritual that may have resulted in an infant’s death. Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a bioethics expert and Talmud instructor at Yeshiva University, was criticized by ultra-Orthodox leaders and newspapers after he was quoted…
Mention karaoke, and most people think about tacky bars where alcohol-impaired customers mumble forgettable renditions of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” or maybe something more contemporary from the songbook of Britney Spears. But a father and son in California are following the bouncing ball online with a more sober mission, using karaoke as a way…
Seven top officials have been fired from United Jewish Communities, the national roof body of local Jewish charitable federations, the Forward has learned. Insiders say the dismissals are part of a dramatic reorientation taking place under the organization’s recently installed president and chief executive officer, Howard Rieger. Most of the layoffs involve two departments central…
When the Pripetshik Singers take the stage, a certain buzz surrounds them. The oldest member of the all-Yiddish singing group is only 16 years old, making the singers the youngest Yiddish ensemble around — by decades. Pripetshik is so unusual, in fact, that last year, filmmaker Josh Waletzky and the group’s musical director, Binyumen Schaechter,…
They are among the most popular children’s books on the market today, inspired by the evangelical Christian “Left Behind” book series, which features gory depictions of the annihilation of Jews and other nonbelievers at Armageddon. “Left Behind: The Kids,” an ongoing series aimed at evangelical Christian children ages 10 to 14, revolves around the adventures…
