((JR)) — Paul Kling was 14 when he played violin for a newly written opera, surrounded by sickness and death, in the Czech concentration camp of Theresienstadt. He was rehearsing his part in “Der Kaiser von Atlantis” (“The Emperor of Atlantis”), written by the Czech-Jewish composer Viktor Ullman in 1943. Theresienstadt, about 30 miles north […]
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A postwar epic about a Holocaust survivor, a contemporary comedy about Holocaust tourism and a biopic of a Jewish musical legend helped lend a formidable Jewish presence to Thursday’s Oscar nominations. Meanwhile, nominations for a documentary about the West Bank and a docudrama about the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes also kept Israel […]
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Photographs and postcards. A children’s calendar, filled with games, poems and stories. A partially darned sock, remnants of a project that was never finished. Such workaday items can be found inside just about any apartment in New York City. But the ones on display at the Center for Jewish History near Union Square are special […]
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Israeli journalist Lee Yaron’s account of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and their aftermath was named the book of the year at the 74th National Jewish Book Awards, making her the youngest author ever to win the honor. The Jewish Book Council, which sponsors the awards, said that “10/7: 100 Human Stories,” provides “a […]
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Within hours of her release from captivity in Gaza, Emily Damari’s hand had become a new Israeli icon. Damari was injured on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists shot her and took her hostage. It became clear after she was released on the first day of a ceasefire on Sunday that she had lost the […]
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Of the 150 psalms in the book known in Hebrew as “Tehillim,” the 23rd may be the best known: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The late rabbi Adin Steinsaltz explained that the verse compares the speaker to a lamb, and that God the shepherd “will lead him on a secure path […]
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Hosting “Saturday Night Live” in its final broadcast before the inauguration of Donald Trump, comedian Dave Chappelle concluded with advice for the new president. “Do not forget your humanity,” Chappelle said. “And please, have empathy for displaced people, whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine.” The line represented Chappelle’s signature mix of humor and serious […]
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Like many people during the pandemic, Asher Lovy became addicted to TikTok. After watching numerous videos on the social media platform, he asked his organization’s social media manager to start an account of their own. Today Lovy’s group, Za’akah, has around 9,000 followers on the platform — a paltry amount compared to its most popular […]
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Jewish stand-up comedian Gary Gulman is trying a new approach in his new, one-man off-Broadway show, “Grandiloquent.” Between the usual moments of hilarity, Gulman, 54 — a “Last Comic Standing” finalist whose most recent comedy special, “Born on Third Base,” was released on Max in 2023 — takes a more serious, vulnerable approach to storytelling […]
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For six years, singer and actor Ari Axelrod has been performing a one-man musical show about Jews and Broadway in front of sold-out audiences around the country. It is a remarkable accomplishment, especially considering that Axelrod — who grew up in a Conservative Jewish home and has fostered a deep love of musicals since high […]
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