Jewish region. Birobidzhan, an area in Russia established more than 60 years ago as the Jewish Autonomous Region, today epitomizes the paradox of renewed Jewish life in the former Soviet Union. Along with the freedom to practice Judaism openly has come a sharp increase in the number of Jews making aliyah to Israel. “Now that… More ▸
In a small room in the Copley Plaza Hotel here, llya Dvorkin held forth in Russian-accented Hebrew on Nachman Krochmal. Dvorkin, rector of the Petersburg Jewish University in St. Petersburg, broke little new ground in understanding the work of Krochmal, the 19th century Jewish philosopher and a father of modern Jewish studies. But his central… More ▸
An Israeli film made in Yiddish has won the special jury award at the seventh international Documentary Film Festival, held here last week. The Israeli entry, “Choice and Destiny,” made by Tsipi Reibenbach of Tel Aviv, focuses on the lives of a couple who are Polish-born Holocaust survivors. The film, in which Yiddish is the… More ▸
Not long ago, reading and receiving Jewish books in the Soviet Union required an elaborate exercise in espionage. Refuseniks would make clandestine contacts overseas, visitors would smuggle in the prohibited texts, and finally, in a secret spot, the dangerous and precious literature would be handed over. Today, all that is required is a quick trip… More ▸
Amid stepped-up security at Jewish organizations worldwide, a memorial service held here Wednesday for those killed last week in Buenos Aires was transformed into a forum for voicing fear and concern for Israeli and Jewish targets around the world. The service, which was organized by the World Jewish Congress, the Conference of Presidents of Major… More ▸
A Yiddish summer language institute had to turn away applicants for lack of space. National Public Radio will broadcast Yiddish stories narrated by Hollywood actors such as Leonard Nimoy and Carol Kane. And thanks to actor Mike Meyers’ Barbra Streisand-worshiping character Linda Richmond on “Saturday Night Live,” thousands of gentiles can express themselves as feeling… More ▸
A Yiddish summer language institute had to turn away applicants for lack of space. National Public Radio will broadcast Yiddish stories narrated by Hollywood actors such as Leonard Nimoy and Carol Kane. And thanks to actor Mike Meyers’ Barbra Streisand-worshiping character Linda Richmond on “Saturday Night Live,” thousands can express themselves as feeling “farklempt” (choked-up)…. More ▸
Maynard Wishner remembers the days when a cacophony of Jewish opinions rang out from the street corners of Chicago, when every point on the ideological spectrum had its own Yiddish newspaper, its own anthem and a spokesman on a soapbox. He remembers as well what followed those days, how little all the ideologies helped in… More ▸
An Israeli film made in Yiddish has won the Silver Medal at a documentary film festival held last week in Nyon, Switzerland. The Israeli entry, “Choice and Destiny,” made by Tsipi Reibenbach of Tel Aviv, focuses on the lives of a couple who are Polish-born Holocaust survivors. The film follows the daily lives of the… More ▸
Throughout Warsaw there are constant reminders of the Holocaust and the mass killing of the Jews of Poland: the Memorial to the Ghetto Fighters; Umschlagplatz, from where thousands of Jews were deported to concentration camps; and the Monument to the Children of the Ghetto. Earlier this year, thousands of Jews, along with Israeli Prime Minister… More ▸
