On April 15, I was one of the 27,000 runners of the Boston Marathon, and luckily was several blocks away from the tragedy on Boylston Street. Being a runner gives me some insight into the moral depth of those who finished the race and then sprinted back into the carnage. At the end of a…
The head of the security network for U.S. Jewish organizations said the community is “standing vigilant” following bombings at the Boston Marathon. Two people were killed and more than 30 injured in two blasts at the marathon on Monday, according to reports. One of the bombs exploded at the finish line. “We know that unfortunately…
Two bombs ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing three people, causing several amputations and injuring more than 100 in what a White House official said would be handled as an “act of terror.” It was the worst bombing on U.S. soil since security was tightened after…
The FBI believes it has identified the thieves who pulled off the 1990 theft of 13 artworks from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which stands as the costliest art theft in U.S. history. Officials, who did not identify the suspects, said on Monday they believed the artworks, which are valued at a total of $500…
Some synagogues have cancelled services ahead of a potentially historic blizzard. At least two synagogues in Providence, R.I., have called off Shabbat services this week in light of the expected severe weather. More than two feet are expected in Providence, one of the highest predicted snowfalls. “Due to the impending blizzard all worship services have…
Norman Corwin, the writer and radio producer who died on October 18 at age 101, was often dubbed the “poet laureate of radio” by journalists, but he was rather more than that. Born in an East Boston tenement to parents of Russian-Hungarian Jewish origin, Corwin inspired the following paean of praise from one of his…
Each week The Arty Semite connects the Torah reading — however tenuously — to a classic work of rock ‘n’ roll. In this week’s parsha, Vayera, three angels appear to Abraham and inform him that at 100 years old he will father a son. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are turned into rubble because…
Detail from ‘Moses and the Messengers from Canaan’ by Giovanni Lanfranco, 1621-1624. Each week The Arty Semite connects the Torah reading — however tenuously — with a classic work of rock and roll. This week’s parsha, Devarim, is the first in the fifth and final book of the Torah. Moshe begins his recap of the…
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