And the Lord said unto Moses: ‘Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water, and say unto him…. — Exodus 8:16 The banks of the Nile. Pharaoh raises his hands in benediction to bless the Nile. Moses steps from the rushes. Moses: ’Morning. Pharaoh:Crikey, you scared…
STAMFORD, Conn. — Breaking a longstanding taboo, a leading Orthodox Jewish advocacy group held an open discussion at its national convention here last week that touched on the question of whether Orthodox communities might themselves be partly to blame when civic conflicts arise with their non-Jewish or non-Orthodox neighbors. The December 27 roundtable discussion at…
Eliezer Steinbarg (1880-1932) was a Yiddish Aesop in poetic form. And, as in the case of Aesop’s fables, the meaning of his allegories is as much dependent on the reader as on the writer. His contemporaries thought highly of him. One of them, the famous Hayyim Nahman Bialik, wrote: “Each fable has its own charm…
When I embarked upon writing the first edition of “Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust” in 1979, there were only a few dozen films on the subject to warrant critical attention. Ten years later, about 50 more had to be added to the second edition. By 2001, the number of Holocaust-related films had grown to…
JERUSALEM — Although all the major public opinion polls continue to predict an overwhelming Likud victory in the elections January 28, the party’s leadership, as well as its rank and file, are more preoccupied with the daily dose of sordid revelations emanating from the police investigation of the corruption scandal. Instead of feverish preparation for…
The Boston Jewish Film Festival and the Museum of Fine Arts come together again to screen “You Shouldn’t Worry” (“La vérité si je mens 2,” 2002), the sequel to the French hit “Would I Lie to You?” With plenty of laughs and loves, the film follows a clothing war waged by a Jewish family in…
Call it early-bird politics. The possible entrance of Florida Senator Bob Graham into the race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination already is prompting speculation that he would split the vote and funds of the Sunshine State’s Jewish community, complicating the expected presidential bid of Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman. Neither man has declared his candidacy,…
A left-leaning Jewish charity that funds two organizations supporting Israeli soldiers refusing to serve in the territories is fending off accusations from Israeli rightists that its contributions “finance desertion” from the Israeli army. The charity, the Philadelphia-based Shefa Fund, allows donors to earmark tax-deductible donations to two Israeli groups that back soldiers who refuse orders…
Lectures and Discussions Notes from the Russian Empire: Tamar Kaplan of the University of Pennsylvania presents the “Professor Bernard Choseed Memorial Lecture” on “Rabbis and Reform in Late Imperial Russia.” YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Center for Jewish History; Jan. 7, 7 p.m.; free. (917-606-8200 or www.cjh.org) It Happened in Brooklyn: Did you know that…
Swaddled in a gray angora scarf and smiling brightly through a mouthful of gold-capped teeth, Miriam Baybatshiava welcomes visitors to what is known as “School Number 36” and the only Hebrew class in the dying Jewish community of Bukhara. The 67-year-old former mathematician is the last teacher of Hebrew in a once-thriving Jewish community, now…
Rena Costa, a philanthropist who lent her name and support to the Center of Yiddish Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, died in her hometown of New York City at the age of 84 on December 5 after a three-month battle with cancer. A refugee from Hitler’s Europe who could scarcely speak a…
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