Foiglman By Aharon Megged, translated by Marganit Weinberger-Rotman Toby Press, 277 pages, $19.95. * * *| For those readers acquainted with the torrent of novels, story collections, reportage and histories pouring out of Israel, it is hard not to be struck by the wrenching re-examination of the past that characterizes much of it. It is…
It’s hard to believe “Sesame Street” is turning 35. It still looks so dewy and youthful. Big Bird still peers out at the world with his big innocent unwrinkled birdie eyes; nerdy Bert still does his patented slow burn at Ernie’s goofball antics; Oscar still snarls when excessive sappiness and sentiment get too near his…
There are many reasons to celebrate The Turner Classic Movies restoration of Edward F. Cline’s charming 1925 ethnic comedy “The Rag Man.” Not least, it offers a chance for audiences to finally watch a full-scale, feature-length performance by the famed but mostly forgotten Jewish performer Max Davidson. He was exceedingly popular early in the 20th…
Just when you thought the issue had faded from view, Mel Gibson’s controversial film about the torture and death of Jesus again is causing conflict, this time in Arab Muslim countries. Again, the dispute revolves around the film’s depiction of Jews. As it did in the United States, Gibson’s bloody hit “The Passion of the…
Braving an unseasonable blizzard, 400 boosters of ELEM/Youth in Distress in Israel headed to Sotheby’s for the March 16 benefit, where they helped raise $500,000. Greetings by ELEM/America president Ann Bialkin were followed by an invocation by Rabbi Arthur Schneier of Park East Synagogue, anecdotes by emcee Jason Flom, president of Lava Records, and comments…
In a major victory for their advocates, twin congressional resolutions were introduced this week urging the president to raise the issue of the plight of some 900,000 Jews who left Arab countries 50 years ago in future Middle East peace talks. The parallel measures were introduced in the Senate by Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican,…
The weekly Torah portion of last week, Vayikra, and of this week, Tsav — the first eight chapters of Leviticus — present in great detail the various rituals and sacrifices performed by the priests in ancient Israel. Instead of concentrating on a particular aspect of the portion, this week’s column is devoted to a lesson…
Congressional conservatives are struggling to build support for a new bill that would limit the ability of judges to prohibit government acknowledgment of God. Known as “The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004,” the bill would prevent federal courts from ruling on issues such as the legality of the national motto “In God We Trust” or…
In the section of the Yiddish Forward devoted to “Pearls of Yiddish Poetry,” Isaac Katsenelson is featured on the occasion of his 60th yahrzeit. He perished, along with one of his sons, at Auschwitz, where he had been transported after losing his wife and two other sons in the mass murder in the Warsaw Ghetto….
The gloves came off in a long-simmering intra-Orthodox battle last week as the chairman of an upstart seminary castigated the leadership of Yeshiva University for a perceived rightward shift. Howard Jonas, the billionaire chairman of the fledgling Manhattan-based seminary, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, declared in a speech at the school’s first gala dinner that he had…
Pittsburgh may have been roundly beaten in a season-ending game of college basketball last week, but in the more hidebound world of Jewish organizational life, the city scored a stunning victory. Howard Rieger, 61, a longtime Jewish charity leader and top professional at the United Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, has been nominated to succeed…
