In the first of a two-part series, Lisa Traiger traces the growth of Israeli folk dancing from one dance — “Hora Agadati” in 1924 — to 4,678 in 2005. Jordana Horn surveys the career of the remarkable Moroccan-Israel actress Ronit Elkabetz, who was recently honored by the New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival. Philologos is,…
The 19th century New Orleans-born entertainer and sex symbol Adah Isaacs Menken is still shivering timbers long after her premature death in 1868. Back in 2003, Renée M. Sentilles, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University, published an enjoyable scholarly analysis with Cambridge University Press, “Performing Menken: Adah Isaacs Menken and the Birth of…
Even as she made her final exit, Elizabeth Taylor knew how to make an entrance. At the star’s request, Taylor’s funeral began 15 minutes past schedule yesterday in California, London’s Daily Mail reported. “She even wanted to be late to her own funeral,” the paper quoted her publicist as saying. Presided over by a rabbi,…
Crossposted from TMZ Liz Taylor’s funeral will be officiated by a man with plenty of celebrity experience — because he’s helped bury dozens of them. Taylor is having a traditional Jewish burial ceremony at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, Calif., right now — and the man doing the service is Rabbi Jerry Cutler. Cutler has…
The San Francisco Bay Guardian profiles Rabbi Michael Lerner on the 25th anniversary of Tikkun Magaine. Watch a selection of Elizabeth Taylor’s best roles. How Jewish playwrights adapted Shakespeare for the Yiddish stage. “The Jump Artist,” the debut novel by Austin Ratner, has won the $100,000 Sami Rohr prize. Read the Forward’s review here and…
Elizabeth Taylor died this morning of congestive heart failure at age 79. The last of a generation of great screen goddesses, Taylor was most famous for her roles in “Cleopatra” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” — the latter for which she won her second Oscar. Married eight times (twice to co-star Richard Burton), Taylor…
As far as celebrity marriages go, perhaps none have been as tumultuous as the 12-year-long saga between Hollywood Golden Age starlet (and Jewish convert) Elizabeth Taylor and Welsh actor Richard Burton. After beginning an illicit affair on the set of “Cleopatra,” Taylor and Burton were married in 1964 and called it quits in 1976, though…
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