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Rebel, Rebel: A New Book Plumbs the Life of Chasidic Girls
Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls By Stephanie Wellen Levine New York University Press, 239 pages, $26.95. * * *| Alone among the chasidic groups, Lubavitch is always willing to give access to writers who are irresistibly attracted to the idea of reporting on an apparently impenetrable, exotic sect. Most of…
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In This Week’s Yiddish Forward
• B. Nadel continues his series on Josephus Flavius and his world. • Mikhail Krutikov writes on the Jewish voice in Austrian literature. • Morkhe Dunitz reports on an international poetry festival that took place in Jerusalem in October. • Alexander Cohen-Zedek writes on a new book in Yiddish by his mother, Elisheva Cohen-Zedek. In…
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Authorities Investigate Incidents at Jewish Sites
Law-enforcement authorities have opened investigations into two incidents in the Washington area involving suspicious surveillance of Jewish institutions, the Forward has learned. The investigations began last month, but has gained new urgency in the wake of the November 15 terrorist bombings of two synagogues in Turkey, and amid new warnings from Israel about threats against…
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Arts & Letters; Worth Thousands of Words
This fall has brought a sumptuous bounty for lovers of photography and Jewish culture. Several blockbuster exhibitions are on view, including “The Jewish Journey: Frédéric Brenner’s Photographic Odyssey” (at the Brooklyn Museum of Art); “As Seen By…,” images from Life magazine by distinguished American Jewish photographers (at Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History); and “Diane Arbus…
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Swallowing Hard, Sharon Mulls A New Palestinian Cease-Fire
JERUSALEM — Faced with growing internal discontent and increasing international criticism of his policies, Prime Minister Sharon is reluctantly moving ahead with efforts to achieve a new Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire and revive the moribund peace process. Sharon is expected to meet within the next few days with the newly appointed Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, to…
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Losing ‘Hope’
Harold J. White of Gloucester, Mass. writes: “Recently, friends asked me about the Hebrew word for ‘hope,’ tikvah, which they wanted to use in some announcement. Out of curiosity, I checked the concordance to the Bible and [the biblical dictionary of Wilhelm] Gesenius. The word tikvah does not occur there. And yet Hatikvah, ‘The Hope,’…
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Rabbi Urges Review of Orthodox Ban on Interfaith Talks
A prominent leader of interfaith dialogue is calling for a reexamination of the decades-old Orthodox ban on theological discussions between Christians and Jews. In proposing a reassessment of the ban, Eugene Korn, an Orthodox rabbi who recently resigned as the Anti-Defamation League’s director of interfaith affairs, is taking on no less a figure than the…
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Aaiieee!
The sound of whiskey-voiced singers and the sight of soulful women with snaking arms and electrifying footwork epitomize the fiery Gypsy art of flamenco. But few people realize that flamenco emerged not only from Gypsy passion, but also from Sephardic Jewish roots. In fact, the word “flamenco” means “Flemish” in Spanish, probably because Jews and…
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Hearing Slated for Opera Mooner
This past August, following a performance of Richard Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” in Rio de Janeiro’s opera house, the production’s eccentric Jewish director made sure the audience received a view of the full moon — and it was not to confirm the arrival of Rosh Chodesh. Brazilian prosecutors have charged the German-born, American-raised director, Gerald…
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Finding Entire Universes in the Gnarled Recesses of the Psyche
Desire and Delusion: Three Novellas By Arthur Schnitzler Ivan R. Dee, 264 pages, $28.50. * * *| Thomas Pynchon once noted that when reference is made to the notion of seriousness in the context of a work of art, what is invariably under discussion is its attitude toward death. Obviously, death has been a primary…
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Comics Take Sides in Rift Over Anne Frank Jokes
LOS ANGELES — For the past two years, the Comedy Central-sponsored “Sit ’n’ Spin” nights have provided a supportive setting for local comedy writers to try out new material on an audience of their peers. The humor is usually profane and often sexually explicit, and the writers who gather twice a month at Hollywood’s Hudson…
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