Last Century of a Sephardic Community: The Jews of Monastir, 1839-1943 By Mark Cohen Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture, 432 pages, $34.95. * * *| Last month, I saw a Jewish homeless man near my apartment. He was wearing a yarmulke and muttering Hebrew words, and I think I saw a…
JERUSALEM — Israel’s summer of calm was on the verge of collapsing into new warfare this week, after a pair of deadly Palestinian terrorist attacks left tempers near the boiling point. The back-to-back suicide bombings, the worst spate of terrorism since the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire began six weeks ago, left two Israelis dead and several more…
Of the friends I have made in my Balkan travels, there is nobody alive who is dearer to me, in certain respects, than professor Muhamed Nezirovic´ of the University of Sarajevo. Born in Sarajevo in 1934, in the mixed Muslim and Serb mahala, or neighborhood, of Nadmlini, Hamo — as he is universally known —…
Israel is stepping up its effort to gather international support to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program. The intensified diplomatic effort is based on the assumption — reportedly adopted this month for the first time as part of Israel’s official political-military strategic planning — that Iran will have a nuclear weapon and the means…
Sarah Aroeste is a woman on a mission. The 27-year-old singer, who mixes rock and pop influences with the Ladino music of her ancestors, isn’t just out to entertain. She wants to redefine the term “Jewish music.” “When people think of Jewish music, I don’t think they think of sexy, necessarily,” said Aroeste, who has…
With 12 million Americans tuning in daily, controversial syndicated radio-show host Laura Schlessinger — known to all as “Dr. Laura” — is arguably the best-known Orthodox Jew in the United States. Rather, she was. In a shocking if little-noticed revelation, Schlessinger — who very publicly converted to Judaism five years ago — opened “The Dr….
There are about 10 of us female tenors in the Collegiate Chorale, and I am one of the shortest. We wear tuxedos for the concert. And at this performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, we are standing behind an enormous percussion section on the stage at Carnegie Hall. The performance of the Mass, which took place…
Several of the world’s most prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis are urging parents not to allow their children to participate in Birthright Israel, a multimillion-dollar program that offers free trips to Israel for young Jews. Rabbis in the United States and Israel signed separate statements condemning Birthright, which is funded by Jewish philanthropists, Jewish charitable federations and…
Yuri Foreman is white and Jewish, and that makes him a rarity in the New York boxing scene. The 23-year-old Foreman, a promising junior middleweight from Brooklyn by way of Belarus and Israel, is one of the few prominent Jewish boxers in the past 50 years, on a short list that includes “Dangerous” Dana Rosenblatt…
Prison Confab Protested The state of Ohio is being accused by Jewish groups of violating the separation of church and state. At issue is an August 12 conference, sponsored by Promise Keepers, an Evangelical Christian men’s ministry, which took place at Ohio’s Marion Correctional Institution and was broadcast to prisons across the country. Reverend Gary…
I knew becoming a mother would change my life. I was ready for the sleeplessness, the proliferation of tacky stuffed animals, the Old Faithful-esque lactating unpleasantness. What I was not prepared for was the way my entire outlook, even on non-baby-related things, changed. Suddenly, my cultural filter was fogged with babyness. I viewed the world…
