AMSTERDAM — A son of Holocaust survivors with deep roots in the Socialist movement was poised to become the Netherlands’ first-ever Jewish prime minister in this week’s too-close-to-call parliamentary elections. Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, 55, emerged as the top name on the surprisingly strong Labor ticket following an announcement Sunday by Labor leader Wouter Bos….
When is an in-law not just an in-law? Henny Youngman jokes aside, there are times when a mother-in-law or father-in-law takes on the role of guide, mentor, comforter, surrogate parent. It’s a role not exclusive to in-laws, of course. Haven’t we all had times when a teacher or a youth leader or a friend’s mother…
WASHINGTON — Arab governments are planning a service that would translate favorable news and commentary from the Arab media, in an effort to counterbalance the Middle East Media Research Institute and what detractors say is its distribution of typically critical material from the Arab press. The idea is being discussed by Arab information ministers, who…
Poverty! How does one sing a lullaby to an infant born in poverty, living in poverty and growing up in poverty? The answer, according to some Yiddish lullabies, is to enlist the powers of love. One such fireside song at dusk is “In an Orem Shtibele,” a work popular during the 1930s with words by…
JERUSALEM — Ariel Sharon will be reelected prime minister, the Likud will be the largest party and the right-wing bloc will hold an absolute majority in the next Knesset. This is the collective prognosis of all major public opinion polls in advance of Tuesday’s elections in Israel. At this point, any other result will constitute…
More than 30 Israeli artists perform back-to-back in an afternoon celebration of contemporary Israeli song and dance, “Israel Non-Stop: A Marathon of Music and Dance.” For the event, the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan presents a lineup that includes the Vertigo Dance Company’s “The Power of Balance,” Lea Avraham and Ensemble’s take on the biblical…
Last month, a crash sent waves of dread and sadness throughout the world. It wasn’t the stock market, or the downing of a plane, but it nevertheless prompted a groundswell of communal reaction. On December 29, 2002, the lights at OnlySimchas.com went out. As it turned out, the darkness was only temporary. Within a week,…
JERUSALEM — In 1977, the Israeli press revealed that then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and his wife Leah held a Washington bank account in their own names. The sum involved was under $10,000, but the money was clearly earmarked for private purposes, and Israelis were not permitted to hold foreign bank accounts at the time. Rabin…
Lectures and Discussions The Shoah on Screen: Annette Insdorf, director of undergraduate film studies at Columbia University, discusses the third edition of her filmography of “Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust” (Cambridge), focusing on several of the book’s new additions. To complement her talk, Insdorf screens clips from “Life Is Beautiful” and “Schindler’s List.” The…
More than two years of violence in Israel and the territories have hardened American Jews’ attitudes toward the Palestinians, a new survey shows. The survey also found strong majorities backing the Sharon government’s tough anti-terrorist measures and opposing American pressure to moderate Israeli actions. Fully two-thirds of respondents say Washington should allow Israel a “free…
Already angry at the Jewish Agency for Israel for deep budget cuts to non-Orthodox streams in Israel, Conservative movement leaders are protesting a $250,000 agency grant to an Orthodox school in Jerusalem. Top leaders of Conservative Judaism are calling for a reevaluation of the funding to Beit Morasha of Jerusalem: The Academic Center for Jewish…
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