A version of this piece appeared in Yiddish here. Sociolinguist, Yiddish scholar and advocate for endangered languages Joshua (Shikl) Fishman died March 1 in New York. He leaves behind his wife of more than 60 years Gella Schweid-Fishman, three sons, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is predeceased by his sister, the Yiddish poet Rukhl…
Getty Images Leonard Nimoy, best known for playing Mr. Spock on the original “Star Trek,” passed away on Friday at the age of 83. While Trekkies everywhere are holding up their hands in four-fingered salutes, celebrities have chosen Twitter as their mourning medium of choice. William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk alongside Nimoy’s Spock, wrote:…
Getty Images EDITOR’S NOTE: Leonard Nimoy, most famous for playing Mr. Spock on ‘Star Trek,’ has passed away at the age of 83. Here’s how he came up with the hand gesture that made him famous. Who could forget Mr. Spock’s trademark hand sign on “Star Trek”? It turns out that the distinctive salute was…
Readers who try to solve a crossword puzzle with the clue “One of the Marxes” (answer: KARL) or “Old Broadway title beau” (answer: ABIE) are enjoying the concise wit of Bernice Biberman Gordon, a constructor of crosswords or cruciverbalist, as puzzle writers like to be called nowadays, who died on January 29 at age 101….
In my many years of public service, the late New York Governor Mario Cuomo stands out as a powerful figure who made his mark with both his mind and his words. A distinguished leader of the state for 12 years, Cuomo was a moving progressive thinker and a brilliant orator. His intelligent and compelling speeches…
When 77-year-old Rabbi Richard Nolan recalls Ben Ammi ben Israel, the leader of the Hebrew Israelite community in Israel who died last weekend, their shared hometown of Chicago is wrapped up in that recollection. And the image is bleak. “There was degradation, segregation, discrimination, lack of education and opportunity,” Nolan said. “A people who had…
Rabbi Leonard Beerman, famed for his unremitting pacifism and fight against injustice, has died. Beerman, who grew the congregation of Leo Baeck Temple from a small community of 28 members when he arrived in 1949 into one of the most prominent synagogues in Los Angeles, died on Dec. 24 at the age of 93. “With…
(JTA) — As a pathbreaking thinker, innovator and activist, Rabbi Harold Schulweis’ role extended far beyond his base as the spiritual leader of his Los Angeles-area congregation. “Harold Schulweis was widely regarded as the most successful and influential synagogue leader in his generation, a public intellectual who redefined what it is to be a Jew, an…
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