Over decades, together with her husband, Serge Klarsfeld, Beate Klarsfeld has forged a name for herself as a fearless Nazi hunter, one whose achievements include bringing to justice Klaus Barbie, the so-called “Butcher of Lyon.” During this time, she has also been a staunch defender of Israel. But today, Klarsfeld is engaged in quite a…
In this week’s podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis talks with Forward fellow Naomi Zeveloff about her profile of Ali Abunimah, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist who advocates for the boycott of Israel. Then, Forward Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman calls in to discuss the fallout from last week’s AIPAC conference and Netanyahu’s victory in changing the dialogue from…
“I’ve come to the point in my life when I never refuse honors,” quipped Baron David de Rothschild, honorary chair of the Jewish Museum’s 26th annual Purim Ball, held on February 29 at the Waldorf-Astoria. After congratulating the museum’s director, Claudia Gould, de Rothschild said: “I’ve seen the museum in New York, and it ranks…
As delegates headed home from the annual conference of Washington’s major pro-Israel lobby, a perceived gap between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama on how to handle Iran looked set to become a partisan chasm between Republicans and Democrats. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s gathering, which took place in early March, featured…
On the face of it, a hawkish pro-Israel group’s campaign against Jewish charities it accuses of funding anti-Israel organizations looked like a failure. Several people quoted in the Emergency Committee for Israel’s New York Times advertisement quickly distanced themselves from the ad. And the Jewish groups it targeted reported hardly any change in their support….
Alan Gross’ family is appealing to Pope Benedict XVI to plea for Alan Gross’ release when he visits Cuba. “We believe this is a special opportunity,” Peter Kahn, Gross’ American lawyer told JTA this week. “Given the significance of the Pope’s visit to Cuba and where we are in this process, it would be very…
A Florida state bill targeting a supposed threat from Islamic law may instead end up preventing Orthodox couples from using Jewish religious courts, or batei din, to arbitrate their divorces, according to legal specialists and some Jewish groups. The Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases bill is considered likely to pass the Senate before…
They say geography is destiny. The hills of Greece, according to some historians, encouraged the locals to carve them into city-states. England, “bound in with the triumphant sea,” as Shakespeare put it, inherited the oceans. The Jews were born to a desert land besieged by mortal enemies and afflicted with drought and famine, and then…
Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland By Harvey Pekar and Joseph Remnant Top Shelf Productions, 128 pages, $21.99 Toward the end of the graphic novel “Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland,” the author (Harvey Pekar) reflects on aging. Shown looking in a bathroom mirror, inspecting his hair and face, he muses, “Y’know, it’s funny for me now. I look in the…
At first, when your father-in-law tells you he is taking you to the schvitz, you are not quite sure you heard him correctly. “The what?” you say. “The schvitz!” he repeats. “What’s a schvitz?” you ask. “A schvitz is a schvitz!” he says, as if the meaning of the word were contained, matryoshka doll-like, inside…
If you’re a Cleveland Jewish man and have never been to The Schvitz, you are a disgrace. Real Cleveland Jewish men will regularly malign you, impugning your Jewish bona fides. The Schvitz is at East 116 Street and Luke, off Kinsman Road (a lousy neighborhood). The Schvitz has no sign. The Schvitz’s official name is…
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