Boxing Champ Herman Donchin Stood Proud Like Barney Ross, my late father, Herman “Curley” Donchin, was a Jewish boxer and later a wrestler (“Elegy for a Fighter,” January 27). In 1927 he won a Golden Gloves medal from the New York Daily News. My father later went into professional wrestling, engaging in bouts all over…
Let No Topic Be Sacred Opinion writer Tariq Ramadan’s call for calm among Muslims is much needed and appreciated (“A Muslim Call From Europe For Faith in Civility,” February 10). However, in dismissing the notion of a clash between the values of the Enlightenment and those of religious zealotry, he ignores the fact that the…
Fighting the Good Fight Arts and culture writer Paul Buhle’s January 27 review of Douglas Century’s biography of my uncle, boxing champion Barney Ross, noted that Barney “supported the Irgun and reportedly served indirectly as a gunrunner in Israel’s War of Independence” (“Elegy for a Fighter”). I am not sure of Uncle Barney’s role in…
Trustees of Foundation Clearly Upheld Bylaws As a close friend of the late Leslie Keller and his wife, Vera, I read the January 20 article on the lawsuit being pursued by Menachem Kahn with surprise and anger (“Lawsuit Increases Scrutiny of World Jewish Congress”). My family and I had a particularly close relationship with the…
Memory Under Attack I am very disappointed in the Forward, as well as in many other recent news articles, that seem to take a derogatory tone in their discussions of Elie Wiesel’s intent or that place disproportionate stress on small nuances, changes and minor mistakes in his memoir, “Night” (“Six Million Little Pieces?” January 20)….
Group Opposes Alito Readers of a January 13 article about the Senate Judicial Committee hearings on the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court might be left with the impression that The Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring is not “mobilizing their membership” even though we do oppose Alito’s nomination (“Florida Democrat Chosen To Testify at Alito…
Group Opposes Alito Readers of a January 13 article about the Senate Judicial Committee hearings on the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court might be left with the impression that The Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring is not “mobilizing their membership” even though we do oppose Alito’s nomination (“Florida Democrat Chosen To Testify at Alito…
Russian Films Capture Complexity of Novels Arts and culture writer Thane Rosenbaum claims that the “dark psychological complexity is not particularly well suited to cinema, which is why Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels have not been successfully adapted” (“Yeah, but the Book Is Better,” December 23). I am originally from Russia, and I know of at least…
A Kvetching Culture Is Anchored in Reality I suspect that Michael Wex’s book “Born To Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods” hits too close to home for Philologos (“Et tu, Wex?” December 23). The columnist confuses individual temperament and social phenomena. Wex was talking about what Emile Durkheim called a “social…
Article on Young Israel Unfair to Eliot Spitzer A December 9 article airs complaints from a disgruntled former employee of the state attorney general’s office (“Probe of Shul Group Had N.Y. Crimebuster’s Office in Tangles”). The article was misleading and unfair. Here are the facts about this matter: In 1999, the National Council of Young…
Oldest Bat Mitzvah Girl In History Was 101 While Esther Eisner sounds absolutely wonderful and should be lauded for becoming bat mitzvah at the age of 99 (“Oldest Bat Mitzvah Girl in History! [Or So We Think]”, December 2), my co-author, Paula Wolfson, and I interviewed and photographed an older woman on her bat mitzvah…
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