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THE 15TH OF AV: A DAY FOR LOVE AND WHITE DRESSES
Just six days after Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av — the day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples — comes the often-overlooked joyous holiday of Tu B’Av, the 15th of Av, which falls this year on the eve of August 12 and the day of August 13. On this…
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Hawks Circle Israeli PM as Scandals Widen
JERUSALEM — Israeli politicians have begun gearing up for a battle of succession as Prime Minister Sharon struggles against a mounting wave of legal investigations and charges of corruption that could potentially drown his political career, perhaps in the coming months. During the last two weeks, hardly a day has gone by without another serious…
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More Arab Than the Arabs: Iraqi Writers Join Israel’s Literary Canon
For many Americans, Sami Michael’s novel “A Trumpet in the Wadi,” released this month for the first time in English, will serve as an entrée into literature written by Iraqi-born Jews living in Israel. But Michael’s work, which has become increasingly popular in the West, is only part of a rich array of an Iraqi-Israeli…
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A CROWN FIT FOR A KING
A reproduction of a 15th-century Torah crown from Arles, France, is on view at the Yeshiva University Museum. Bernard Bernstein, a silversmith from New York who reproduced the crown, first became interested in the crown in 1963, after stumbling upon the catalog of the 1878 “Exposition Universelle” (“World Exhibition”) in Paris, which made reference to…
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Austrian MP Calls for Inquiry Into Sharon’s Vienna Dealings
An Austrian lawmaker is calling for a formal inquiry into charges that Vienna is blocking an Israeli investigation of alleged campaign finance violations by Prime Minister Sharon — purportedly in exchange for Jerusalem’s agreement to restore diplomatic ties with the alpine nation. The lawmaker, Peter Pilz of the Green Party, formally requested a parliamentary investigation…
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A Marriage that Means More in Fiction Than in Fact;
My wedding took place just before the current intifada started. While I know this is a meaningless coincidence, I’ve often thought that if I were a literary character, there might be some odd symbolism lurking between my peaceful marriage and the agony in Israel over the past three years. This literary character, of course, would…
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METROPOLITAN N.Y.
Lectures and Discussions One on One: Rabbi William Berkowitz, host of the Dialogue Forum Series, interviews Avi Hoffman about his career in television, stage and music. Hoffman has performed in several off-Broadway productions — including his one-man shows “Too Jewish?” and “Too Jewish Two!” — and in both Israeli and American television and film. He…
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Task Force Faults Bush Budget Cuts For Rising Poverty
WASHINGTON — A national task force on poverty, set up in June by a coalition of major Jewish groups, is calling for community action to “raise public awareness” of how federal budget cuts are affecting health and social service programs “and the people they serve” — but stops short of proposing a plan to lobby…
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Enter the Critics
With this issue, Arts & Letters initiates a criticism section, which will rotate weekly between film, music, dance and art. We are proud to introduce our columnists, eight incisive cultural observers, with unique voices and singular perspectives. FILM Daphne Merkin, the author of the novel “Enchantment” and “Dreaming of Hitler,” an essay collection, is a…
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THE LATEST IN RADICAL MUSICAL CULTURE
Rashanim, an ensemble dedicated to the exploration of Jewish, Middle Eastern and improvised music, performs as part of Makor’s “Beyond Jazz” evening. Founded in 2000 by guitarist Jon Madof, the trio — Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz on bass and Mathias Kunzli on drums and percussion — released its debut CD in April on John Zorn’s Tzadik…
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Co-op Murals Face Plastering
Faded and unkempt, the Hugo Gellert murals in the Seward Park Houses on the Lower East Side of Manhattan are once again at the heart of a budding controversy. This week the co-op’s shareholders are voting — ballots were due Friday — on whether they will be plastered over as part of a modernization of…
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