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DER YIDDISH-VINKL February 20, 2004
Shmerke Kaczerginski was a Jewish poet who died 50 years ago. To commemorate the anniversary, the Yiddish Forward devoted one of its columns last month, “Pearls of Yiddish Poetry” to his life and his works. What follows are fragments of his work cited in the Yiddish Forward. The transliteration is by Goldie Gold. The English…
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Rabbi Who Converted Mexican Jews Dies at 89
Rabbi Samuel Lerer, who some say converted more people to Judaism than anyone in the past two centuries, died February 5 at age 89. Lerer, who had retired to San Antonio, Texas, lived in Mexico City from 1968 to 1999 while leading English-language Beth Israel Community Center in the capital. During that time, the Conservative…
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The Many Guises of Keeping Up Appearances
My wife and I have been married for 28 years, and we have three teenagers. We are both in our late 40s. My wife could make herself look much more attractive and 10 years younger if she would color and style her gray hair and start wearing makeup and nail polish — like she did…
The Latest
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Skepticism Greets Bush’s Mideast Plan
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s new Greater Middle East Initiative, touted by officials as a major push to promote democracy across the Arab and Muslim world, is receiving mixed reviews from Middle East experts, diplomats and even some administration officials. Critics said that the initiative, disclosed February 9 by the Washington Post and partially confirmed…
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JTS Chief Opposes Policy Change
JERUSALEM — Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, told the Forward that he opposes any change to the Conservative movement’s prohibition against ordaining gay rabbis or sanctioning same-sex commitment ceremonies. Schorsch outlined his position this week while attending the annual convention of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly in Jerusalem. It appeared to…
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Annan Eyes Judge For Rights Position
UNITED NATIONS — United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked a prominent Canadian judge to assume the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Forward has learned. Louise Arbour, a justice on the Supreme Court of Canada and former chief prosecutor on the United Nations international tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia,…
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Klezmerania
It’s a great time to be a Jewish music fan. Creative work is being done in a variety of styles and genres, ranging from neo-traditional klezmer to cutting-edge Jewish jams, from new liturgical sounds to old-time Yiddish folk and theater tunes. Sometimes all these different styles show up on one recording — or even in…
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CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL
Baker Botch: A top New York supporter of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is saying that the candidate told him he made a “mistake” when he named former president Jimmy Carter or former secretary of state James Baker as possible Middle East envoys in a December speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. New York Assembly…
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The Man Behind the Boss
PHILADELPHIA — More than 650 mourners recently gathered at Goldstein’s Funeral Home to say goodbye to an old friend, legendary radio personality Ed Sciaky. Sciaky, who dropped dead January 30 on a New York street corner at age 55, was more than just a disc jockey. He was as passionate about the music he played…
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Oy!fruf
Bill Morris writes from San Diego: This last weekend I heard someone talking about an “ufruf” (“oof-roof”). In English contexts, I’ve always seen this word given the German spelling of “aufruf,” which should be pronounced “owf-roof,” while in Yiddish it is spelled sextie`, which should be pronounced “oyf-roof.” Are there Yiddish dialects in which the…
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LIVING HISTORY
Yossi Vassa is an Ethiopian-Israeli stand-up comic who has been confronted with hardships and tragedy that most 29-year-old Americans would struggle to imagine. At age 9, he and his family were among thousands of Ethiopian Jews resettled in Israel thanks to Operation Moses. They journeyed on foot for 440 miles to a Sudanese transit camp,…
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