Nancy Drew and the Case of the Politically Incorrect Children’s Books

The young sleuth’s early mysteries were racist and anti-Semitic. Can problematic vintage texts still be valuable for kids?

By Marjorie Ingall for Tablet Magazine

When I was 10, I loved the The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries on TV. My first seditious Jewish act was playing hooky from a Holocaust memorial service, pretending to be sick so I could stay home and watch a rerun (a rerun!) of an episode in which Shaun Cassidy’s shirt was unbuttoned.

But I turned up my nose at the Hardy Boys books. I was a Nancy Drew girl, all the way. In print, when not being played by the floppy-haired 1970s equivalent of One Direction, the Hardy Boys were boring as Weetabix. They were upright Boy Scouts, doing what boys were supposed to do. Nancy, on the other hand, was singular. If Harry Potter was The Boy Who Lived, Nancy was The Girl Who Dared. She was brave, rash, fierce. She had a snazzy car. She solved crimes that flummoxed the cops, snuck around in old abandoned houses, got locked in closets by bad guys … and she always kept her cool. Her mom had died when she was little, but her dad adored and trusted her and gave her free rein to save others. She was in charge, not her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson. She was beautiful, but she wasn’t an object. She was a doer.

Little did I know Nancy Drew had such a troubled past.

***

More than 200 million Nancy Drew books have been sold in the United States since their debut in 1930. Nancy has starred in numerous movies and updated reboots, graphic novels, and electronic games. Earlier this year, when Ruth Bader Ginsberg was asked who her heroes were, she said, “I suppose mine was Nancy Drew, because she was a girl who was out there doing her work and dominating her boyfriend.” (Back in 2010, she said more seriously, “I think that most girls who grew up when I did were very fond of the Nancy Drew series. Not because they were well-written—they weren’t—but because this was a girl who was an adventurer, who could think for herself, who was the dominant person in her relationship with her young boyfriend. So, the Nancy Drew series made girls feel good, that they could be achievers and they didn’t have to take a back seat or be wallflowers.”)

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Britain’s refusal to defend Christians in the Middle East is shameful

Ed West for Mosaic Magazine

I have an ebook published called The Silence of Our Friends, on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the apathy of the West about this tragic and historic event. (A link will appear at the top of this page – in the meantime please spread the word.)

I say apathy, but lots of people are concerned, and in the past year and a half such books as Christianophobia, Persecuted and The Global War on Christians have tackled worldwide persecution; there has also been increasing awareness following violence in Syria and Egypt over the summer, and last month Baroness Warsi became the first minister to raise the subject.

Not that the British Government will actually do anything, as was made clear last week when Foreign Office Minister Mark Simmonds told MPs that Britain will not defend persecuted Christians. Responding to backbenchers who said that Christians were being singled out for attack, the minister said that all groups were suffering under intolerant regimes, a logic Alan Johnson of the Telegraph calls ‘universalise-to-minimise’. The less you specifically focus on an issue, the easier it is to ignore.

Simmonds stated that ‘our response to the persecution of Christians should not be sectarian. We should not be standing up for … Christians in particular, we should be supporting the right to freedom of religion.’

He also argued that ‘there is a risk of isolating them from the wider populations, identifying them as something of a fifth column and even exacerbating the persecution’, which has been the line used by Britain and America for many years.

Taking aside the issue of ‘freedom of religion’, which is interpreted very differently by the Foreign Office’s friends in the Organisation of the Islamic Conferences to how it is by westerners, this argument doesn’t really stand up.

Islamists see Christians as a fifth column, whatever the West does, because that’s their mindset. Anti-Islamist Muslims meanwhile have an active personal interest in preventing Christian persecution and expulsion, since it will make life worse for them too.

But Muslims of all shades, who see western Christian leaders abandoning Christian minorities before discriminatory laws and state-inspired violence, aren’t going to think ‘oh wonderful, the British don’t believe in discrimination’; they are going to think that these people have no faith, no courage and no decency – in short, they’re decadent. And they would not be wrong.

The British and Americans have been doing this ‘let’s not be seen to take sides’ act since the invasion of Iraq. When the bombing of churches escalated in 2004, and when the Baghdad government denied basic services to Christian villages, religious freedom advocates like Nina Shea pressed the Americans to do something.

As Shea told me, ‘A number of us tried to bring it to their attention, and basically Condi Rice told me that the US just did not want to appear sectarian… Yet of course they removed a Sunni government and helped the Shia, and then championed Sunni appointments because they didn’t want Sunnis left out. But they said nothing about smaller, less violent minority religions, they just didn’t count.’ That has been repeated with US policy towards Egypt.

What a ‘non-sectarian policy’ therefore entails is discrimination in favour of the strongest and most aggressive groups. Iraq’s pre-war Christian population of 1 million has now fallen to 150,000, many of them elderly; still, the Foreign Office tells us, this issue is being taken very seriously and the issue is raised through the appropriate channels etc etc.

There’s an old saying attributed to the Arabs – better to be the enemy of the English, for that way they will buy you, for if you are their friends they will most certainly sell you. In its foreign policy, Albion remains as perfidious as ever.

Sir Nicholas Winton

Nicholas Winton is known for organising the rescue of 669 Czech children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia during the 9 months before war broke out in
1939. The story became known to the public in 1988 when it featured on That’s Life, a BBC TV programme hosted by Esther Rantzen. In 2003 he was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for Services to Humanity for this work. There are many websites which tell this story in detail.

This site is maintained by the family of Sir Nicholas to give information about his recent activities and to facilitate contact.  Please visit and spread the word.

The EU is right about Western Sahara — which means it is wrong about Israel

Eugene Kontorovich for Mosaic

Commentary: The European Union makes up its own rules for engaging with occupied territories.

JERUSALEM — The European Union recently affirmed that there is no international legal problem in signing a deal with an occupying power that extends to the territory it occupies, or from foreign companies doing business in occupied territory.

It did so when it provisionally approved a fisheries agreement earlier this month with Morocco that extends into the territory of occupied Western Sahara, which is beyond Morocco’s recognized sovereign territory.

Moreover, the EU actually pays Morocco for European access to Western Saharan resources. On all these points, the agreement directly contradicts what the EU, in negotiations with Israel, calls fundamental principles of international law.

In recent years, Europe has contested Israel’s insistence that its EU agreements do not apply to Israel’s activities in the West Bank. The EU stance has been celebrated by some as an example of European commitment to international law. The EU’s new deal with Morocco appears to be contradicting those principles.

Moreover, the European Parliament’s legal advisor issued a formal opinion earlier this month making it clear that it is the EU’s treatment of Morocco, not Israel, that accords with international law.

By inventing rules of international law, the EU actually sends the message that Israel might never “comply” with international law, because where Israel is concerned, this “law” is a moving target, that can be concocted from thin air.

Morocco invaded Western Sahara in 1975 and has occupied it since, claiming it as its own territory. The Security Council has condemned Morocco’s presence and demanded a complete withdrawal.

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The Mousy Museum Lady Who Documented Nazi Crimes

Last month, Bavarian authorities confirmed that in 2012 a German art dealer's son was found with 1400 art works confiscated during World War II. The pieces, including some by Chagall and Matisse, are valued at over $1 billion.

Wondering how so much artwork could be lost for so long?

The 2006 documentary The Rape of Europa did, too. The film, which details the Nazi plundering of Europe's fine art and the Allies' concurrent efforts to save what they could, contains incredible footage and stirring, memorable stories. In one sequence, volunteers pack up the entire contents of the Louvre and send it off to be hidden in castles and bunkers. Most striking, is the story of Rose Valland, a seemingly unassuming museum employee who secretly documented nearly every piece of pillaged artwork in Paris, and its provenance, risking her life in the process.

The Rape of Europa illustrates the extreme lengths Nazis went to hide the stolen art and the various efforts to salvage them, from the US army unit devoted to saving antiquities, to partisans sheltering works in their homes.

Many suspect that Nazi art storehouses remain. This week's news suggests they could appear at any time.

- Tamar Fox for Jewniverse

Leonard Bernstien, Eternal Truths Of A Megastar

Norman Lebrecht for Mosaic

The next time you suffer overspill on your bookshelves, take down the Bernstein section and send it for recycling. The Leonard Bernstein Letters, out this month from Yale University Press, contains so much that is startling and unknown that all past books, including his own, become instantly inadequate. Don't take my word for it. On the jacket, Bernstein's official biographer, Humphrey Burton, declares that, with this book in hand, "I want to start all over again."

The letters, preserved by Bernstein's early piano teacher and lifelong secretary Helen Coates, are housed at the Library of Congress, tens of thousands of them, so many that only an amazingly knowledgeable or presumptuous scholar would dare to sift wheat from chaff. The man who dared is Nigel Simeone, an English expert on Messiaen and West Side Story; his curation is confident, comprehensive, beyond criticism.

Simeone opens with a 1932 letter to Miss Coates: "I have decided to study with you, taking one lesson every two weeks." He is 14 years old and his authority verges on effrontery. That assurance never wavers through his life.

Bernstein writes letters as I remember him speaking: in a stream of consciousness that burbles with wit, malice, truth, flashes of human insight, an omnivorous curiosity and a profound understanding of failure. His voice is irresistible, his interests boundless and his position on any important issue magnificently ambivalent.

"Which of us worth his salt is not a paradoxnick," he demands, late in life. "There's something in the Bible we all believe, even if not literally; and there's something also in Darwin and Freud that grabs us equally. Wm. Blake vs. Martin Gardner, X vs Y and on down the list of all the antitheses that engender free inquiry and democracy. I like to think of myself, and you, as primarily
rational humanists, but then there I go inhaling cosmic energies . . ."

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‘Sesame Street’ Explains ‘Homeland’ Best

“She’s crying wolf again, Sauuuul”

By Stephanie Butnick for Tablet Magazine

Homeland has been a bit of a roller coaster lately, with Season 3 devolving quickly into a hard-to-believe narrative that seems to taunt even the most loyal of viewers. But there is hope yet—though from a surprising source. Sesame Street, which has long been making delightful parody videos—from Monsterpiece Theater to the more recent Sons of Poetry (aw)—has given Homeland the puppet treatment it so desperately needed.

Homelamb is a spot-on parody, as Hilary Busis noted over at EW.com, and the best part is, naturally, puppet Saul Berenson, played in real life by human Mandy Patinkin. Puppet Saul couldn’t be any more Upper West Side Jewish man (“Such a worrier that one!”) if he said the Shehecheyanu on-screen.

No spoilers, bahh:

Loving Us to Death

Jonathan S. Tobin in Mosaic

In the first half of the 20th century, the political and social perspective of the American Jewish community was defined by its collective experience of anti-Semitism—both in the countries from which Jews had emigrated and, in far more muted form, inside the United States. Four percent of Americans were estimated to be Jewish at mid-century, twice as many as at present. But the Jews of that time were insecure about their place in American society and often unwilling to make a show of their background and faith. They felt themselves a people apart, and they were. It was difficult if not completely impossible for them to live as American Jews entirely on their own terms.

Now the situation is reversed. As an explosive new survey of 3,400 American Jews reveals, 94 percent say they are proud of being Jewish. That data point dovetails neatly with the current place of Jews in American society—a society in which they make up 2 percent of the population but in which there are virtually no barriers to full Jewish participation. American Jews can live entirely on their own terms, and they do. But the stunning finding of Pew’s A Portrait of Jewish Americans—the most comprehensive portrait of the community in 20 years and, in the richness of its detail, perhaps of all time—is the degree to which American Jews are now choosing not to live as Jews in any real sense. Secularism has always been a potent tradition in American Jewry, but the study’s analysis of what being Jewish means to its respondents reveals just how much irreligion has taken center stage in American Jewish life.

There has been a startling increase over the past quarter century of Jews who say they regard themselves as having “no religion.” Intermarriage rates in that group are now at 70 percent. And the proportion of families raising their children as Jews by religion is 59 percent, while only 47 percent are giving them a Jewish education. Jews are not being driven from Judaism due to social difficulties. Fewer than 20 percent claimed to have experienced even a snub in a social setting, let alone an anti-Semitic epithet, in the last year. Such numbers are not only without precedent in American history; they are without precedent in the millennia-long history of the Jewish people. The Pew survey paints a portrait of a group that feels none of the shame or fear that once played a major role in defining Jewish attitudes toward other Americans. But this loss of shame, and the concomitant growth of pride when it comes to having a Jewish heritage—these have come at a heavy cost, it appears. It is now inarguable that American Jewry, or at least the 90 percent that does not hew to Orthodox practice, is rapidly shrinking, and the demographic trend lines are stark.

The same American Jewish community that is bursting with pride also now regards Jewish identity as a matter of ancestry and culture almost exclusively. Forty-two percent think a good sense of humor is essential to being Jewish; almost exactly the same number, 43 percent, think it means supporting the State of Israel. When asked about the fundaments of Judaism itself, Jews speak of values and qualities that apply equally to other faiths and are followed just as readily by those who have no faith at all. After all, there is nothing distinctively Jewish about believing one should lead an ethical and moral life or about working for justice. And yet these are the defining characteristics of Judaism for American Jews. Only 28 percent think being Jewish has something to do with being part of a Jewish community. Only 19 percent think it means abiding by Jewish religious law.Continue reading.

Is Antisemitism Back in Europe?

John Allen Gay, The Buzz for Mosaic

The status of Jews in Europe remains a delicate one. At least that is what a new survey by the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights suggests. The survey, to be released in full in November, found that nearly one quarter of European Jews avoid doing things or wearing symbols that could allow others to identify them as Jewish. And the numbers are worse in some places: Forty-nine percent of the Swedish utopia’s Jews avoid recognizably Jewish clothing and symbols in public. Eighty-eight percent of French Jews said antisemitism has become worse in the last five years. Thirty percent of Hungarian Jews have experienced an antisemitic incident in the past twelve months. And around Europe, two-thirds said reporting assaults and other antisemitic incidents to the police wasn’t worth it, or wouldn’t make a difference.

Surveys like this cast doubt on the belief that the history of the West has been one of steady progress. Sure, the Europeans seem to have finally been civilized, with their bloody, multicentury stream of wars and revolutions supplanted by social democracy and multinational union. But in 2012, reports Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center, France led the world in violent antisemitic incidents.

Who is to blame? The media would have you believe it’s the far right—Greece swarming with Golden Dawn blackshirts and cryptofascists flexing their muscles almost everywhere east of the Elbe. And the Kantor Center documents plenty of far-right violence. But participants in the EU survey, many drawn from Western Europe, saw it differently—just 19 percent pinned it on the extreme right. Twenty-two percent faulted the extreme left. But Europe’s Muslims are cited by 27 percent.

This brand of antisemite has imported the hatred of Jews to countries where it was historically less severe, such as Denmark. Tablet, a Jewish online magazine, relates the tale of Martin Krasnik, a journalist and a liberal Jewish Dane who decided to take a long walk through the immigrant neighborhood of Nørrebro with a yarmulke perched atop his head. He’s quickly harassed—flipped off, told to “go to hell, Jew,” told to his remove his cap, and so forth. There were plenty of threats—men tell him that “we have a right to kick your ass,” that his religion may tell him to wear the yarmulke but that it doesn’t tell him to get killed, that “my cousin killed a guy for wearing a ‘Jewish hat.’” Krasnik was extremely uncomfortable, telling Tablet’s Michael Moynihan that he thought, “If I keep doing this for an hour or two, something will happen. And if I did this everyday, I would get my ass kicked around.”

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J.R.R. Tolkien: Not A Jew

In 1938 J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit was achieving great publishing success in English, and a German publishing company subsequently sought the rights to translate it into German. But before they could go ahead with the translation and publication, they asked Tolkien to affirm that he was ofAryan descent, i.e. not a Jew.

Tolkien, a linguist and philo-Semite, was disgusted, and wrote an angry letter to the publishing company decrying their request: "If I am to understand that you are enquiring whetherI am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people." He also cautioned that, "if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride."

Tolkien was actually such a fan of the Jewish people that he even based his depiction of dwarves in The Lord of the Rings trilogy on the Jews. The Nazis should have known better than to mess with a guy who had a Gollum at his disposal.

- Tamar Fox for Jewniverse

Rebooting The Bible To A Hip Beat

The Jewish Week

When Roger Bennett offered 54 accomplished young writers and artists a chance to comment on a portion of the Torah, each of them “leaped at the opportunity, like Michelangelo painting the Sistine chapel.” It all began at a networking event for Reboot, a Jewish outreach organization Bennett co-founded in 2002.

One evening, Reboot’s networkers discussed the Binding of Isaac, a story Bennett describes as “conversational catnip” for the cutting-edge crowd. He explains, “Everyone had lots to say about a demanding God, responsible parenting and a critical choice.” But in a moment of truth, Bennett asked, “Who among us has actually read the text?” In fact, few had, a situation that called for a proactive remedy.

This conversation was the catalyst for “Unscrolled: 54 Writers and Artists Wrestle with the Torah” (Workman), a handsomely packaged, eclectic volume in which contributors each reimagine one of the 54 sections of the Torah. The larger goal is encouraging others to do the same. “Unscrolled,” sagely edited by Bennett, has an insider’s cool, while its website offers interactive activities to a wide public.

At the Sept. 24 book launch, the overflow crowd at the Tribeca Film Center lent a hip, if somewhat incongruous, buzz to a reconsideration of archetypal themes. An open bar and dance party were punctuated by a panel discussion during which Bennett acknowledged that he had been expelled from Hebrew school and turned off by the Bible early on, seeming to assume that others had analogous memories. “So then, why are we still talking about it?” Bennett prodded his trend-conscious audience. (No one ventured a reply.)

With the latest findings of the Pew Research Center sounding an alarm about the increasing non-affiliation of “Millennials” (Jews who came of age around the year 2000) Reboot’s mission — encouraging this demographic to explore “theology, ritual, culture, values, philosophy without constraints” — is timely.

“Unscrolled” is user-friendly, color-coded, pleasing to thumb through and rewarding of closer reads. Each chapter is headlined with the phrases that inspired the contributor’s interpretation, followed by an editorially balanced synopsis of the biblical text. Bennett explains that, however unorthodox, contributors are doing “what Jews have always done,” that is, “making our own links” as we “confront the text and come to our own conclusions.”

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Glimpses of the 'Old' American Jewish West

Vignettes from the Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly

Published by the Southern California Jewish Historical Society

Collated by Jerry Klinger for The Jewish Magazine

 They sleep in the past, gentle forgetfulness, resting under stones gray.

Names recognized no more. Even gone are those who loved them once.

Yet, from distant yesterday, they shaped our today.
J. Rice

JEWISH DOGCATCHER, SAN FRANCISCO - 1887

You have never heard of a Jewish dogcatcher, have you? We have a Jew here whose name is Jake Lindo - no matter about his father being known as Leibush Labershinsky - who has the contract of taking in everything in sight, in the shape of canine corporosity, and he, the same Jake Lindo, is at the lead of the dispatching wagons, and his Spanish-Americans snake every dog they see, tag or no tag, and take it to the pound. Jake makes $500 a month by the operation. What his boss, blind Buckley, gets out of the racket is none of your business - certainly none of mine.

"The American Israelite," Cincinnati, Sept. 30, 1887. Jacob Lindo had been an auctioneer prior to his dog catching activities, his warehouse being at 609-611 California St., San Francisco. His brother Joseph, a horse-drawn hack operator lived at 636 Sacramento St. WSJH Jan 1985

A JEWISH ESKIMO IN THE MOVIES -1936

Unique among Hollywood's film folk is Mala, handsome screen star who has the leading role in MGM's "Last of the Pagans," which opened last night at the Filmarte Theatre. Mala is an Eskimo-Jew, son of a Jewish fur trader whose business earned him to the far north, where he fell in love with and married a beautiful Eskimo girl.

In "Last of the Pagans" he plays the role of a young Polynesian, who is betrayed by a white man and torn from his loved ones and his peaceful existence on an idyllic island in the South Pacific, to work in the phosphate mines in Pallia. Philip. Goldstone produced the picture, which was suggested by Herman Melville's novel Typee.

B'nai B'rith Messenger, Los Angeles, March 6, 1936. The Filmarte Theatre was at 1228 Vine Street, Hollywood.  WSJH April 1985

KILLED BY THE APACHES - 1886

Benson, Arizona Territory - M. Goldbaum, a merchant of this city, who left here two weeks ago to prospect in Whetstone Mountain, was found murdered by Apaches sixteen miles south of here yesterday.

The American Israelite, Cincinnati, June 11, 1886, Marcus Goldbaum had settled in Arizona in the mid-1850s. He 'had a son, Abraham, his nephew, David Goldbaum, was a longtime resident of Ensenada in Baja California, and from 1927-1930 served as Mayor of that city.

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Denmark Forced by History To Revisit Heroic Tale of Jewish Rescue From Nazis

Cracks Emerge in Baltic Nation's Feel-Good Holocaust Story

By Paul Berger for The Jewish Daily Forward

Few nations have been so lauded for their stance during the Holocaust as tiny Denmark.

As October approaches, marking the 70th anniversary of the rescue of Danish Jewry, numerous events in Denmark and overseas commemorate the mass effort in which hundreds, possibly thousands, of Danes helped smuggle almost the entire Danish-Jewish community to coastal towns and villages and then across the Øresund strait to Sweden.

Because of their effort almost all of Denmark’s approximately 8,000 Jews survived Nazi Germany’s occupation of their country.

But something has happened in recent years to Denmark’s rosy view of itself. During the past decade, Danes have learned about harsher, previously little known aspects of the Jewish rescue as the last generation of survivors have revealed their wartime experiences, many for the first time.

No one disputes the key historical truth: Thanks to the Danes’ mass rescue of most of the Jews as well as to the Danish government’s effort to monitor the almost 500 Danish Jews sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, only about 100 Danish Jews — about 1% of the country’s Jewish population — perished during World War II.

But the Danish Jews’ recently emerging tales of trauma, loss and despair have made for a more nuanced picture. Their stories have added to criticisms raised by historians, journalists and others about what has been largely, up to now, a simple, feel-good morality tale.

Some survivors believe that for the first time, the more difficult stories of the 5% of Danish Jews who were left behind in Denmark or sent to Theresienstadt have appeared from beneath the shadow of the rescue of the 95%.

“Maybe the story about the Danish people supporting the Jews to escape is a bigger story than the people who were deported to Theresienstadt,” said Steen Metz, whose father, Axel Mogens Metz, died in the camp. “But my feeling is that it has been underpublicized to a great extent.”

One of the most surprising of the newly emergent aspects of the Nazi occupation is the tale of the Jewish children who were left behind with Christian families in Denmark during the war’s last years.

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Reconciling Modern Biblical Scholarship With Traditional Orthodox Belief

Who wrote the Torah? An unlikely group of Orthodox scholars has launched a website that gets to the heart of Jewish tenets.

By Yair Rosenberg for Tablet

“Virtually all of the stories in the Torah are ahistorical,” declares a manifesto posted in July on TheTorah.com. “Given the data to which modern historians have access,” the essay explains, “it is impossible to regard the accounts of mass Exodus from Egypt, the wilderness experience or the coordinated, swift, and complete conquest of the entire land of Canaan under Joshua as historical.” Not only did the events in the Garden of Eden and the Flood of Noah never transpire, readers are informed, but “Abraham and Sarah are folkloristic characters; factually speaking, they are not my ancestors or anyone else’s.”

Such sweeping sentiments might be expected from an academic scholar, or perhaps a critic of fundamentalist religion. But the author of this manifesto is an Orthodox rabbi named Zev Farber. The essay, and much of the work of TheTorah.com, is an attempt by dissident Orthodox rabbis and professors to reconcile the findings of modern biblical scholarship with traditional Jewish belief.

This project is not new, but it has bedeviled American Jewry in different ways. Within liberal denominations, while some intellectuals and theologians have grappled with the questions posed by the field of biblical criticism—which sees the Torah as a man-made, composite work produced over time, rather than simply revealed to Moses by God at Sinai—the results have rarely filtered down to synagogue congregants and day-school pupils. Within Orthodoxy, meanwhile, the findings of academia have often met with outright rejection.

By launching TheTorah.com, Rabbi David Steinberg—a former outreach rabbi for the ultra-Orthodox organization Aish HaTorah—and Brandeis Bible professor Marc Brettler, also an Orthodox Jew, set out to challenge this state of affairs, provoking significant controversy within their own community.

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Alan Berliner’s Newest Cinematic Poem Reflects on a Relative With Alzheimer’s

‘First Cousin Once Removed’ shows the complexity of a man at the end of his life and the ravages—and blessings—of memory loss

By Vox Tablet

For nearly 30 years, the filmmaker Alan Berliner has made uniquely personal documentaries that mine his life and the lives of his relatives, chipping away at seemingly routine stories to find a more precise, poetic, and nuanced narrative. His films display a relentless curiosity about the people closest to him—territory fraught with pitfalls.

Berliner’s 1996 film Nobody’s Business examined his father, a lonely, divorced, retired salesman. Throughout the documentary, we hear the senior Berliner barking his objections with “my life is nothing!” and “you’re boring the shit out of me!” But as details of his past are revealed, Berliner’s father becomes a complex, lively figure in history, while, at every turn, the audience is compelled to adjust their perception of him.

In Berliner’s newest film, First Cousin Once Removed, the filmmaker again focuses on family: in this case Edwin Honig, a relative, poet, friend, and mentor with Alzheimer’s Disease. Because of—and despite—his illness, Edwin remains a surprisingly deep and thoughtful person whose views of the world color his interactions with Alan. Sometimes, Edwin is unable even to speak. The film is painful, beautiful, and, as with Berliner’s previous works, makes us consider again and again what we think of this man, and of the value of memory.

First Cousin Once Removed will have its broadcast premiere on Monday, Sept. 23, on HBO. Berliner joins Tablet arts and culture editor Matthew Fishbane to discuss how Edwin Honig viewed his loss of memory, how forgetting can sometimes be a blessing, and how Berliner understands his own work as a way to stave off a similar fate.

Listen.

A perfect time to holiday, but Syria jitters put chill on Sukkot travel plans

Sukkot comes early this year and vacation reservations have been heavy. But worries about a U.S. attack are deterring some travelers.

By Rina Rozenberg for Haaretz

The children are barely back in school and another holiday season is already upon us. For many families, whether they vacation abroad over Sukkot, which begins on the evening of September 18, depends on what happens in Washington.

"Everything now depends on whether or not the U.S. attacks Syria,"says Eyal Kashdan, CEO of the Flying Carpet travel agency. “The proximity of the holidays to the summer, with the weather perfect and the fact that some people put off their vacation to Sukkot, means a very good holiday – on condition that the uncertainty dissipates.”

Reservations began falling as Washington put on the heat at the end of August, Kashdan says, and many families are still waiting to see what happens.

Arkia Deputy CEO David Mahlev says his airline has added four flights to Rhodes on the intermediate days of Sukkot, with families typically travelling for five nights on average. That is up from three last year, because the holiday falls in the middle of September, which promises better weather than last year, when it came at the beginning of October. On the other hand, strong demand means that prices on packages are higher by several percent than last year.

As for vacationing in Israel, as of last week there were still plenty of hotel rooms available throughout the country and family suites weren't hard to find. But this situation isn't expected to last, according to industry sources.

"That's how it always is: It's only when we get close to Sukkot that Israelis start thinking about it and begin booking, especially in Eilat," says Yael Tamir, vice president at Gulliver Tourism. "Even more so this year, because the holidays are close to August and many people still haven't absorbed the fact that the they are already upon us. I'm sure that after Rosh Hashanah things will start to wake up."

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JTA 5773: It was a good year for some

By Ami Eden for JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Here’s a list of folks who had plenty of people shepping nachos this past year:

Yityish Aynaw became the first black winner of the Miss Israel competition entitling her to compete for the title of Miss World in September in Indonesia. Aynaw, who came with her family from Ethiopia at age 12, cited Martin Luther King, Jr. as one of her heroes.

Jack Antonoff, who attended Solomon Schechter as a kid, won two Grammy Awards. Lena Dunham, who gave us a Camp Ramah reference on “Girls,” took home two Golden Globes. It gets better: They’re an item.

It’s official: Maria Chudnovsky is a genius.

Drake, we always loved you. But it’s nice to have the Grammy too.

Rachel Kohl Finegold, Ruth Balinsky Friedman, and Abby Brown Scheier sparked headlines in May, becoming the first graduates of Yeshivat Maharat. While the decision to ordain women as spiritual and halachic authorities is still generating a great deal of controversy and criticism, it also underscored the gains that women scholars are making in many parts of the Orthodox world.

As far as we can tell, in the storied history of kosher diner owners, brothers Ken and Daniel Hechtman are the only ones to have saved several people from a fiery wreck.

Aly Raisman had us with Hava Nagila and her gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. But she took our devotion to new heights with her agreeing to light the torch at this summer’s Maccabiah Games.

What would this list be without new additions to the list of Jewish Nobel laureates — welcome to the club Serge Haroche, Robert Lefkowitz and Alvin Roth.

Many of the 70% of American Jews who voted for President Obama would have experienced a meltdown long before Election Day without Nate Silver’s unwavering insistence that the incumbent had it in the bag. In the end, the numbers-crunching guru ran the table, accurately predicting the winner in all 50 states — and scoring a victory for math over political spin, blow-hard punditry and partisan wishful thinking.

In an era when paranoia and conspiracy theories often hold sway in the anti-Obama camp, Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens offered up a refreshingly coherent and rational critique of the administration’s policies. The former Jerusalem Post editor was rewarded with a Pulitzer Prize for his efforts.

Upstart Israeli News Channel i24 Takes Aim at CNN, the BBC—and Al Jazeera

Executives say they’re reaching 350 million viewers worldwide, and none of them in Hebrew

By Debra Kamin for Tablet Magazine

The headquarters of i24news, Israel’s first international news channel, is still unfinished. Outside, the glass building in Tel Aviv’s newly redeveloped Jaffa port sparkles, but inside the cavernous blue-lit newsroom, where broadcasts launched in mid-July, wires and beams are still exposed. But the ongoing construction doesn’t seem to bother the 150 journalists working around the clock to produce simultaneous newscasts in English, French, and Arabic.

It’s a mix that, by leaving out Hebrew, immediately signals i24’s ambition to speak to viewers beyond Israel’s borders. While English and French were obvious choices, the network’s founders say the decision to broadcast in Arabic was taken consciously to build an audience in parts of the world most hostile to Israel. “People will watch us because they hate us, and they will watch us through curiosity,” said Frank Melloul, the network’s Swiss-born 39-year-old CEO, who says he believes he can eventually compete with CNN, the BBC, and Al Jazeera for viewers. “They will see how we cover the 70 percent of international news, and if they can trust that, then they will also trust how we cover Israeli news.”

The goal, Melloul says, is not so much to promote Israel’s interests, but to shift the media narrative by adding to the mix of stories available on television. “I want to change the story a bit,” Melloul said. Last week, when 26 prisoners were sent back to the West Bank and Gaza in the first stage of that release, the i24 website carried a detailed list of their exact names and crimes, as well as the names of their victims, many of whom were murdered civilians. “When we are talking about an incursion in Gaza, all channels start broadcasting when the IDF is going into Gaza,” Melloul said. “Nobody starts broadcasting when Israel is under attack and getting rockets. There is always a fact before an invasion in Gaza.”

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A Jewish Pathbreaker Inspired by Her Countryman Mandela

By Samuel G. Freedman for the NY Times

On the Sunday in mid-June when a yeshiva in Manhattan ordained three women as Orthodox Jewish religious leaders, Nelson Mandela lay in a Pretoria hospital for the second week with a life-threatening lung infection. Six time zones and 8,000 miles separated these two events. One golden thread, however, bound them together.

That connection was Sara Hurwitz, the dean of Yeshivat Maharat, which had educated the women. She was the first woman ever to have been designated a maharat — an acronym from the Hebrew words for a teacher of Jewish law and spirituality — and to subsequently receive the title of “rabba” from the maverick Orthodox rabbi who had trained her, Avi Weiss. For Ms. Hurwitz, born and raised in South Africa during the turbulent years of apartheid, Mr. Mandela had long served as the inspiration for her journey to breaking the gender barrier in the Orthodox Jewish rabbinate.

“I looked at this person as someone who could have been so angry and so disappointed at the land that incarcerated him for so many years for civil disobedience,” Rabba Hurwitz, 36, said in a recent interview. “And he walked out of prison and formed a peaceful government. He could have focused on the injustice of it all, the time he had lost. But instead he saw this newfound freedom as a chance to make change and do what was right. Marching forward, one step after the other, toward justice, without anger.”

At one level, the story of Mr. Mandela and the maharat is idiosyncratic and unlikely. At another, it is richly, complexly suggestive of the Jewish experience in South Africa.

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When Borscht Belt Comedy Went to School

"The birth of modern stand-up comedy begins in the Catskills Mountains," so says When Comedy Went To School, a new film that traces the evolution of comedy as we know it. Narrated by Robert Klein, it's peppered with reflections from comedy greats like Larry King, as well as footage of a younger Jerry Seinfeld and Woody Allen, among others.

What is Jewish humor? the film asks. "You had to have a sense of humor—that's what got the Jews through it," Jerry Lewis suggests on why Jews tend toward laughter in the face of adversity. Klein says Jews have "jokes in the genes," and historian Joseph Dorinson suggests that Jews' survival is due to psychological alertness, and that that same alertness makes for great comedy.

Wherever humor comes from, it seems to have ended up in the Borscht Belt. As Joe Franklin says of the 1920s through 1960s, "The Catskills were the American Idol of that period," creating a comedy boot-camp, while serving as a haven for the general Jewish public—a place to be together, and a place to eat.

When Comedy Went to School is informational, it's nostalgic, and we're glad to report that it's very, very funny.

- Jessica Young

Pop-Up Museum pops up in small Portuguese town

For the past month, residents of Cabanas de Viriato, a small town in central Portugal have been greeted by a strange site outside a dilapidated old mansion: white tent-like structures with 30,000 embossed signatures of Aristedes de Sousa Mendes, one of the mansion's former residents.

Who exactly was Sousa Mendes, and what's up with his signature? Eric Moed, the young New York-based architect who dreamed up the pop-up museum, would like you to know.

In the 1940s, Sousa Mendes was Portugal's consul-general in Bordeaux, France. Though Portugal prohibited citizens from fleeing Hitler, Sousa Mendes granted visas anyway, even subsidizing those who could not afford the journey. He ultimately saved 30,000 people—10,000 of them Jews, 2 of them Moed's ancestors. His feat is considered "the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust."

Sousa Mendes paid dearly for his deeds, but though he would die in obscurity and poverty, he stood by his actions, saying: “If thousands of Jews are suffering because of one Christian [Hitler], surely one Christian may suffer for so many Jews."

Book your ticket to Portugal and check it out today!

- Jessica Young
 

The diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who is the subject of a new biography by French author Eric Lebreton (Le Cherche Midi Editions), was the only Portuguese citizen ever recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

The Mad Jews Behind Mad Magazine

 From Hillel and Shammai to Jagger and Richards, some of the greatest art in history emerged from collaboration. The partnership between illustrator and comic artist Will Elder and Harvey Kurtzman, the creative genius behind Mad magazine is one such example.

Born Wolf Eisenberg to a Bronx family that called him "Meshugganah Villy," Elder was, according to Mad publisher William M. Gaines, the "funniest artist." ("Much funnier than me," Kurtzman affirmed).

Some Mad artists chaffed under Kurtzman's tight editorial grip, but Elder transcended order via what he dubbed "chicken fat"—that is, comedic schtickery unrelated to storylines. Mad disciple Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame explained chicken fat as "jokes on jokes on jokes." Larding Kurtzman's scripts with layers of seemingly unrelated gags, Elder's dollops of schmaltz also reflected the New York Jewish milieu of his upbringing. Cartoonist Daniel Clowes put it best when he called Elder a "descendant of Bosch and Bruegel." Elder, he wrote, offered a "crystal-clear vision of a world gone mad"—a world that must be seen to be believed.

- Daniel M. Bronstein

Can the ‘Jerusalem’ Cookbook Bring About Peace?

From the looks of it, yes 

By Adam Chandler for Tablet Magazine

Back in October, Carol Ungar profiled Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, two men who grew up in different halves of Jerusalem, met in London, and eventually co-authored Jerusalem: A Cookbook, a book that has become something of a holy text for kohanim of the kitchen. Ungar described their chance encounter thusly:

The 1990s found Tamimi in London, cooking at Baker and Spice, a gourmet food shop run by Tel Avivi Yael Mejiya. One day, Ottolenghi came by the store looking for a job. In a 2009 Gourmet magazine interview, Ottolenghi recalled that their initial conversation took place in English and was about the horrors of English food—especially mince pie. “We couldn’t get over it,” said Ottolenghi. Realizing that they were both Israeli, they soon switched to Hebrew. Since Tamimi has no Arabic accent in Hebrew, Ottolenghi initially mistook him for a Jewish Israeli. To this day, the two still use both languages to communicate.

Let this be a lesson: The makings of any Arab-Israeli love story should immediately begin with mutual disdain for the British. Here this applies to the culinary realm, but could also apply to the historical one.

In the months following the book’s publication, a cardamom-scented fog of love descended upon the masses, making Jerusalem not only the “it” cookbook, but something of a roadmap for peace.

You think I’m overreaching? This morning I finally stumbled cautiously into a New York Times forum about the cookbook, which is still on the Times homepage after two days.

Now apparently there is no such thing as sparse, measured praise for Jerusalem: A Cookbook; its fans are actually fanatics. But as I read through the comments thread, I was bowled over by the effusiveness of the love:

“I just can’t help picking up an extra copy of this to give away any time I’m in a bookstore.”

Say what, MB from Vermont?

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Israeli Public Bus Transformed Into Luxury Home

BY Aya Ephrati for  NOCAMELS.com

Two women living in Even Yehuda have come up with a creative solution to the Israeli housing crisis: they transformed an out-of-use public bus into a luxury living space.

Tali Shaul, a psychotherapist and Hagit Morevski, an ecological pond water treatment specialist, in an interview with Xnet.co.il, explained that they became friends when their sons befriended each other. For a long time the pair looked for a creative project and joint business idea – and they found their inspiration in the pages of a women’s magazine.

“I read an article about alternative housing solutions, such as containers and tents,” explained Shaul, “and suggested Hagit and I turn an old bus into a living space.”

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GINNIFER GOODWIN RE-DISCOVERS HER FAITH

Actress Ginnifer Goodwin re-discovers her faith: makes speech at synagogue





JewishWorldReview.com | GINNIFER GOODWIN, 35, has compiled quite a list of credits in the last decade: she has been the co-star of two hit TV series ("Big Love" and the still-airing "Once Upon a Time") and she has co-starred in several hit films, including "Walk the Line" and "He's Just Not that Into You". Next November, she will co-star as Jackie Kennedy in a National Geographic original film about the last years of JFK and Jackie.

Born and raised in Memphis, TN, Goodwin was active in BBYO and took her bat mitzvah seriously enough that she delayed it until her 15th birthday, when she felt she had really studied enough for the ceremony.

On May 17thth, she stood before the congregation of her hometown synagogue, with her family in the audience, and sadly noted that she had long fallen away from Judaism. She said, "For 10 years, there was nothing. No ritual. No tradition. No community. I was this new alone thing, a nomad in the world. I was homeless." However, as the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports, "In recent months, Goodwin has been reclaiming old patches of ritual, tradition and community, and receiving new ones. She wants to live in a Jewish home with a mezuzah in every doorway. She wants to raise her 'completely hypothetical future children' to be Jewish. She hosted a Hanukkah party. She's made brisket and matzo ball soup. She realized that a lot of her friends are Jewish. 'We've been shul shopping' [in Los Angeles]..'I am a Jew,' she said, beaming on the bimah. 'It took me 10 years to come back around to that self-definition. I was a Jew by birth, and now I'm a Jew by choice.'"

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Shakespeare Expert Puzzled By Shylock Crossword Flap

Talking about ‘Merchant of Venice’ and the ADL with Barry Edelstein

By Adam Chandler for Tablet Magazine

On Friday, the Tribune Media Services published a crossword puzzle with the clue “Shylock, e.g.” in several of its newspapers. The corresponding three-letter answer: J-E-W. Jew. Within hours, Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League had written a letter in protest calling the clue “insensitive,” demanding an apology, and frustrating crossword enthusiasts who hadn’t yet done their puzzles.

Perhaps the puzzle authors were unaware of the use of Shakespeare’s Shylock character throughout the years as a vehicle for anti-Semitism. Selecting Shylock to elicit the answer ‘Jew’ demonstrates cultural ignorance and an extreme lack of sensitivity. Even if done inadvertently, such a linkage perpetuates classic anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews as evil and money-hungry.”

For its part, the Tribune Media Services quickly apologized, ran an apology in a number of its papers, and swore to never use the clue ever again. The ADL commended them for their “swift action” and the dance was complete.

But was this clue actually offensive? After all, is Shylock–one of the more polarizing characters in all of literature–not a Jew? To help gain some clarity, I sought out Barry Edelstein, the Artistic Director of the Old Globe in San Diego, who took a break from preparing for the Old Globe’s major production of The Merchant of Venice to speak with me.

The Old Globe is Edelstein’s third major production of the Shakespeare play, including a previous production that starred Al Pacino as Shylock. “The only person who has Shylock on his mind more than me right now,” Edelstein confessed, “is Antonio.” Edelstein’s been too busy to hear about the crossword controversy, but when I told him about it, he was a little bit confused:

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Digitizing the Ghetto

For one year, between the time they were rounded up and their final transport to concentration camps, all the Jews in the city of Vilna lived in a ghetto—a tiny, squalid neighborhood blocked off from the rest of the city. But contrary to what we tend to think about ghetto life, the area was bustling, as residents learned how to live in terrible conditions, support themselves and each other, and create some culture and hope as they did so.

Seventy-two years after the ghetto's liquidation, Menachem Kaiser and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are creating reVilna, a virtual map of the area. Complete with photos, stories, markers of shops and synagogues, and a timeline showing the history of its population and depopulation, the map attempts to recreate that tragic time—and that fascinating culture—in a virtual world.

The map is online now, though its functionality is still limited. reVilna recently ended a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to complete the project. 

- Matthue Roth

Rick Moranis Is Ready to Return to the World

By Zach Dionne for Vulture.com

Rick Moranis. Rick ... Moranis. He starred in your childhood, then disappeared from your life. You looked him up a few years ago to verify that the absence you felt was real; Google suggested results for "Rick Moranis dead," "Rick Moranis death," and "Rick Moranis retired." Only the latter was true, as you discovered in posts like "Where'd Rick Moranis Go?" and "What the Hell Happened to Rick Moranis?" You learned that Moranis's wife died of liver cancer in 1991 and he retired from the screen in 1997. Sometime later, he said, "I’m a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn’t miss it." You mourned, as if Google's rumormongering had been right all along.

Now you can put all that in the past, because Rick Moranis has an album coming out. It's called My Mother's Brisket & Other Love Songs. This is the cover art. This is the beginning of Rick Moranis's reentry into the culture, the birth of a one-day sentiment that goes something like, "My Mother's Brisket was to Moranis what Hatfields & McCoys was to Costner." You hope.

Moranis also released a record eight years ago, The Agoraphobic Cowboy (here's a Spotify link). It fell closer to Jeff Bridges's country album than a Weird Al LP, but the silliness was there. It was nominated for a Best Comedy Album Grammy, but it was also something you could just put on for twangy background tunes. (There was a lot of banjo.) Moranis did an interview with CMT about the album and said, "Up until this, I've always sung in character. This is the first time I'm sort of singing as myself, oddly." The project was a one-off; it did not signal a comeback. Honey, I Shrunk Your Hopes.

And yet: My Mother's Brisket will arrive in 2013, a time when roughly 19 million media outlets both niche and huge will request an interview with any former Ghostbuster without missing a tweet. They'll all ask if Moranis plans to ever act again. He'll get to thinking about it, thinking about how his kids are older now and how he really did have some good times with Harold Ramis and Mel Brooks and even doing that Flintstones movie. Judd Apatow will write a part for him, or your favorite indie auteur will. Wayne Szalinski shall return.

 

Gatsby’s Jewish Gangster

By Leah Falk

Who ran New York’s underbelly in the 1920s? Nope, not Michael Corleone, but a Jewish gangster and racketeer named Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein, who inspired The Great Gatsby‘s uncomfortably stereotypical Jewish bootlegger, Meyer Wolfsheim, was renowned for some unseemly feats: rigging the results of the 1919 World Series and orchestrating a network of fraud that contributed to the crash of ’29.

Nicknamed “the Brain,” and known as “the J.P. Morgan of the underworld,” Rothstein also fixed horse races, organized the infamous “Black Sox Scandal,” capitalized on Prohibition, and became a millionaire—all by the age of 30.

But like Gatsby, Rothstein’s lush life didn’t last long: in 1928, he was murdered for refusing to pay a $320,000 poker loss.  The exact circumstances of his death remain something of a mystery, though Rothstein must have known more than he led on.  When, on his deathbed, a detective questioned him about his assailant, Rothstein allegedly replied: “You stick to your trade, I’ll stick to mine.”

The Boy in the Orthodox Bubble

Growing up religious, I missed out on a lot that other kids enjoyed. But looking back, I wouldn’t change it.

By Ari Margolies for Tablet Magazine

My bar mitzvah sucked. I’m 19, and I still haven’t quite gotten over it.

A standard Orthodox affair, it ran about three hours and was attended by a multitude of suited adults whom I had never really met. I got up on a pew in front of a few hundred people and drably finished a mesechta of Gemara, which was followed by a few speeches by rabbis talking about what a tzadik I was. I refused to don a black hat, unlike many of my friends, and abstained from participating in the dancing until I was overpowered and dragged into the hora by a several overeager rabbis. No girls, no games, no fun.

So, when I was recently invited to my friend’s brother’s Conservative bar mitzvah, I eagerly accepted. I had never been to one, and I wanted to see how the other side celebrated.

It was the epitome of joy and accomplishment. The bar mitzvah boy was the center of attention, multicolored lights shining all around, pubescent boys and girls flirting and dancing, party favors being handed out, and the latest pop music shaking everyone’s eardrums. I was leaning tentatively against a wall in the back, shaking my head in disbelief, jealousy, and sorrow, watching the kids raucously dancing and participating a variety of games. Seeing what I missed out on because of my rigid childhood depressed me immensely. Since I began to distance myself from the Orthodox world in the past couple of years, I have spent much time bitterly believing that I was robbed of a childhood, that I would rather have grown up like everyone else instead. This Conservative bar mitzvah was only confirming what I’d been feeling.

But then the party ended. And upon careful reflection, I realized that I was not cheated out of anything. Yes, the Orthodox aspect of my upbringing was unconventional, suffocating, and sometimes rather awful, but the things that seemed paramount to me at the time were, in the end, of no real importance. There is no denying that I missed out on much, but there was no void; normal childhood experiences were simply replaced with alternative ones. And looking back now at the ripe old age of 19, I can honestly say that I would not have wanted a “typical” childhood.

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Renee Zellweger's Favorite Laundry Lady

Not everyone has Zack Galifianakis renting an apartment for them, or Renee Zellweger paying to furnish it. But then again, not everyone is Mimi.

Mimi is an 88-year-old woman who, until very recently, lived in a laundromat on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, Calif. She is the subject of a film being made by Israeli actor and director Yaniv Rokah. Now entering post-production thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, “Queen Mimi” tells the story of how this feisty octogenarian, who was once a San Fernando Valley housewife, ended up living on the streets of Los Angeles for almost a decade before taking up permanent residence at Fox Laundry 18 years ago.

“When I first came to L.A. seven years ago, I would be heading every morning to work at Caffe Luxxe on Santa Monica Avenue. It was 5 a.m. and the street would be dark and empty, but I would always notice Mimi waking up in the laundromat,” Rokah recalled in a phone conversation with The Arty Semite.

“I started talking to her, and we became friends. She is such an interesting person, and I decided I’d better capture this before she’s no longer with us.”
Preferring that audiences wait to learn about Mimi’s life story from his film once it begins screening, Rokah was reluctant to share many details about how exactly an elderly woman became homeless and managed to survive — and seemingly thrive — for so many years. He did share that she chose to roam West L.A. because she figured it was a relatively safe area, and how one night, the Jewish owner of Fox Laundry, not wanting her to be out in a heavy rainstorm, allowed her to stay.

One night turned into 18 years, with Mimi not only living at the laundromat, but also working there seven days a week. Her main responsibilities are cleaning the machines, fluffing laundry, and shmoozing with customers. “She’s become the mascot of Fox Laundry,” Rokah said.

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Offspring of SS Officers Dance for Holocaust Survivors

Ceremony in Jerusalem Conjures Up Mixed Feelings

By: David Shear for Shalomlife.com

A number of Holocaust survivors took part in a unique dance ceremony held at the Jerusalem International Convention Centre on Wednesday, but the event was about much more than just dance.

The dance group that performed was the German troupe known as the YC Dance group, of which a number of its dancers happen to be the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the notorious Nazi group, the SS, which, under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–45). The SS, along with the Nazi Party, was banned in Germany as a criminal organization after 1945.
"We are not to blame for what our fathers did, but as long as there are survivors still alive, we have a responsibility to talk to them, ask forgiveness and try to relieve the terrible pain they are in," said one member of the dance group.
"Being in contact with us isn't easy for the survivors, but when we meet with them they always greet us with open arms," said Paul Davis Peter, another dance member whose grandfather served as an officer in the German Armed Forces during World War II.

"Usually they are willing to accept our forgiveness, and we know that what they went through cannot be described or explained in words, and they are entitled to treat us however they please. Our role as Germans and dancers performing in front of Holocaust survivors is to say there is a new generation in Germany that will make sure that what happened then will not happen again."

"This evening is very difficult and very emotional,” said 80-year-old survivor Sarah Goldfinger. “It brings back memories and it will be hard to sleep tonight. I receive the group with mixed feelings. I appreciate them coming here, because I understand how difficult it must have been for them."

Oy vey: How animated films draw on Jewish stereotypes

In lending their voice to animated movies like 'Madagascar' and 'Antz,' Jewish actors play into the long-held stereotype of the urbanized Jew who is unable to survive the wild.

With the re-release of the movie "Finding Nemo" (2003), which made prominent use of Jewish actors, and the recent announcement of its sequel, "Finding Dory" (2015), it is perhaps timely to consider how animated films feature Jews and Jewishness.

Little to nothing has been written about the representation of Jews in animated films. Yet these films, which generally feature anthropomorphic animals, very often make use of Jewish actors. The result, consciously or otherwise, is that they also often make use of Jewish stereotypes.

This is particularly interesting given what film scholars call the "metamorphic condition": the fact that in animation literally anything can happen. The laws of physics – gravity, for example – can be flouted at any time, as can filmic conventions. Doors can bend, people can fly, liquids can turn into solids, solids back into liquids – all in the blink of an eye.

Yet despite this "anything-is-possible" rule of animation, which allows for endless feats of creativity, the genre still sticks to age-old stereotypes of Jews.

There are numerous examples of this, from the "An American Tail" films (1986-1999) to "Antz" (1998). But perhaps the best example is Dreamworks' "Madagascar" (2005), in which four zoo animals – Alex, a lion; Marty, a zebra; Melman Mankiewicz III, a giraffe; and Gloria, a hippopotamus – escape from Central Park Zoo, where they lead pampered lives, to see the world beyond the zoo.

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Israeli company looks to U.S. to advance hummus science

Sabra Dipping Company, the joint venture between Israel’s Strauss and the U.S. food and drinks maker PepsiCo, opens a R & D center in Virginia devoted to the science, production, engineering, packaging and delivery of the chickpea-based spread.

The next scientific breakthrough in the hummus world isn’t likely to happen in Tel Aviv or Beirut but in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia. At least that is what Strauss Group is counting on as it dedicated on Tuesday a research and development center devoted to the science, production, engineering, packaging and delivery of the chickpea-based spread.

Dubbed the Center of Excellence, the facility is being operated by Sabra Dipping Company, the joint venture between Israel’s Strauss and the U.S. food and drinks maker PepsiCo, and is adjacent to a manufacturing plant that has operated on the site since 2012.

While hummus is Sabra’s flagship dip, the center’s staff won’t be dedicating all their time to research on chickpeas but on all the other ingredients that go into Sabra’s line of prepared salads. The center will cooperate with local universities and agricultural research centers and will include a culinary center as well as laboratories.

“Opening the research and development center, the first of its kind in the world, is an important milestone for the Strauss Group in its partnership with Pepsico worldwide,” said Strauss CEO Gadi Lesin Tuesday. “It enhances our transformation into a leading international player both in the salads segment and in dips.”

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