Zog nit keyn mol

65 years ago, Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up in resistance against their impending deportation to the Nazi death camps.

Warsaw Ghetto Seder

Captured Ghetto Resisters

N.B. The title of this post comes from a famous song by Yiddish poet Hirsh Glick, who was part of the Jewish underground in the Vilna ghetto. The song was inspired [...]

Havana-nagilah

The Forward reports on the resurgent Jewish community in Cuba:
Today, Cuba’s Jewish community consists of about 1,500 members, most of them in the capital, Havana, which has three synagogues and a Jewish community center. During last week’s services at Beth Shalom, in the relatively affluent neighborhood of Vedado, there was a mixed crowd: older community [...]

Shana tovah u’metukah (May it be a good and sweet year)

Additions to my “to read” list

In an example of fortuitous timing, this week’s Forward features three books about Jewish life in the South, just as I’m about to embark on my own Dixie Diaspora.

Evidentiary, my dear Watson

Another interesting book review from the Forward. I’ve been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan since childhood, though my obsession has waxed and waned over the years. It has long been my peculiar and baseless pet theory that Holmes was Jewish and changed his name from Shlomo Hellerstein. (Perhaps Michael Chabon, who has already authored a [...]

My Yiddeshe Mama’s demise

In You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother, Brandeis University Professor Joyce Antler traces the life and demise of this beloved and bemoaned cultural figure. The Forward has an amusing review:
Known in some circles as a figure of generosity and deep warmth, in others as the skilled practitioner of toxic [...]

Judeo-Italian early music

Last evening I enjoyed a wonderful concert by Ensemble Lucidarium. They performed their La Istoria de Purim: Music and poetry of the Jews of Renaissance Italy, as part of the Bay Area Jewish Music Festival.
I learned about this event from my Italian-Jewish namesake, Enrico Fink, whose music I’d encountered while researching Italian Jews. Italian-Jewish culture [...]