How proud Fran would have been right now, watching their daughter read the haftorah for… which Torah portion? Harry looks down at the open Hertz edition on his lap, reads “Shemini.” Fran would have known today’s Torah portion, he thinks. She knew them all. How she would have kvelled watching Shira up on the bima…
With the commemoration last week of the 10th anniversary of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, amid growing warnings of new atrocities in Sudan, human rights activists complain that the organized Jewish community has failed to act on its implied commitment to see that such tragedies “never again” be allowed to occur. Jewish organizations, with a…
When musician Scott Jacoby heard that his first single, “I Like You,” had hit the airwaves in Japan, the Manhattanite was incredulous. So he sat down at his computer to find out if he was indeed a rising star in the Land of the Rising Sun. To his astonishment, Jacoby discovered — with the help…
Hungary Uncovers Plot Hungarian police said Tuesday that they had detained a Hungarian citizen of Palestinian origin who planned to blow up a Jewish museum in Budapest, as well as two Syrian men suspected of links to the plot. But police said there was no connection between the arrests and the state visit by Israeli…
The gruesome events in Iraq on the day before April Fool’s Day are a painful confirmation of what the elder President Bush foretold would happen if Uncle Sam decided to go after Saddam Hussein and remove him from office. On March 31, four American civilians working for a security firm in Falluja, Iraq, were ambushed…
This month, Mercury House publishes Zosia Goldberg’s memoir, “Running Through Fire: How I Survived the Holocaust,” as told to Hilton Obenzinger. The full introduction, by novelist Paul Auster, is printed here with permission. ‘I thought fast. I was lucky and got an idea.” These two short sentences come toward the end of “Running Through Fire,”…
Journey Through the Inferno By Adam Boren Unites States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 200 pages, $15.95. * * *| Yesterday: My Story By Hadassah Rosensaft United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 207 pages, $15.95. * * *| A principal value of Holocaust survivor memoirs is that they focus on the victim as subject rather than object. They…
It was 7:58 p.m. on Thursday night, and 700 screaming fans were gathered inside EarthLink Live, a hip concert venue in Midtown Atlanta. Outside, another 300 eager ticketholders lined the street. A young 20-something shrieked into her cell phone, taunting a jealous friend as she sauntered through the throngs into the sold-out event. In the…
To regular readers of this column, the timely, lighthearted and clever poems by Stanley Siegelman in Yiddish and English are by now well-known. As might be expected, he was unable to pass over Passover. So, here’s his latest: Bay Dem Seyder Zingt Ayeder A gliklekher ovnt Pesakh nakht S’iz ven der seyder vert gemakht. M’fayert…
Embattled Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff is fighting back against his congressional critics, accusing them of “improper conduct” and demanding an ethics investigation into their activities. Abramoff, a top fund-raiser for President Bush’s reelection campaign and one of the capital’s leading Orthodox philanthropists, is being investigated by his former law firm regarding what congressional probers are…
As Xaviera Hollander spoke to an admiring crowd of fans, friends and former lovers at New York’s Museum of Sex recently, it was clear she hadn’t lost her ardor for spinning titillating tales of sexual dalliance and decadence. These days, however, the former Penthouse columnist and author of the best-selling tell-all book about her life…
