The Arts

‘Veep’ star Julia Louis-Dreyfus says she has breast cancer

LOS ANGELES — Julia Louis-Dreyfus says she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The star of “Veep” and “Seinfeld” posted news of her illness Thursday on social media. A spokeswoman for Louis-Dreyfus confirmed the posts were authentic. Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up […]

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Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Is ‘Merchant anti-Semitic? ‘Compared to what?’

Ruth Bader Ginsburg talks ‘Merchant of Venice’ at Montclair State Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participated in a roundtable discussion with Shakespearean scholars David Scott Kastan of Yale University, at right, and James Shapiro of Columbia University. Photos by Mike Peters Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Montclair State University on Sept. 23. Even distinguished Shakespearean scholars

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickova dies aged 90

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickova, the world’s first soloist to record Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete works for keyboard instruments, died aged 90 on Wednesday, Czech media said. Ruzickova, who recorded Bach’s complete work on 35 records between 1965 and 1975, died in a Prague hospital after a short illness. Get The Times

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International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

#Parasha like a one-to-one discussion

#Parasha: Weekly Insights from a Leading Israeli Journalist by Sivan Rahav-Meir, Menorah Books, Jerusalem, © 2017, ISBN 978-1-59264-480-3, p. 321, plus glossary of Names, $24.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Sivan Rahav-Meir, the author of #Parasha, is an anchorwoman on Israeli Channel 2, a columnist for Yediot Aḥaronot, Israel’s largest newspaper, and a weekly radio

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

Former Warsaw Ghetto fighter wins lawsuit over published love letters

WARSAW, Poland — Former Warsaw Ghetto fighter, Simcha Rotem, known in Poland as Kazik Ratajzer, won his case against the PWN publishing house which published his letters to his former romantic partner Irena Gelblum. The letters were published in Remigiusz Grzela’s book “Irena’s choice.” PWN was ordered to apologize to Rotem and donate $5,900 to

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Middle East

Einstein, the pacifist, urged an atom bomb

Einstein’s Pacifism and World War I by Virginia Iris Holmes.  Syracuse University Press, 2017, 332pp. By David Strom SAN DIEGO — “Where have all the idiots gone? Gone to government,  every one.” (This verse is a parody on the anti-war song “Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?”). If Einstein was alive today, I am certain he

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History

Unique calendar can tell yahrzeits far into the future

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Former high school physics teacher Fred Reiss has liked series of numbers since he was a little boy.  He recalls that he was approximately six years old when he would stand on the front porch of his aunt’s house in South Philadelphia and count the number of students

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

An Evening with the Author of  ‘Woman in Gold’

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — When I heard that Anne-Marie O’Connor would be speaking at the Tower of David Museum in a dialogue with fellow-author Ora Ahimeir I jumped at the opportunity to see and hear the author of the monumental book Woman in Gold in person. As readers are doubtless aware, the book relates the saga

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

This comedy legend goes to bat against “stupidly politically correct society”

Mel Brooks is fed up with society’s “stupidly politically correct” sensibilities and warns that they will lead to the “death of comedy.” Brooks, the creator of acclaimed comedy films like “Blazing Saddles,” “History of the World, Part I” and “Young Frankenstein” and one of only 12 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Shimon Peres’s memoir reveals lifelong optimism for peace

In many parts of the world, Jewish custom holds that a tombstone be placed on the one-year anniversary of one’s death. For the late Israeli politician Shimon Peres, that anniversary is being marked by the release of his autobiography. In many parts of the world, Jewish custom holds that a tombstone be placed on the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Middle East, USA

Irving Berlin: The Story of the Man Behind ‘God Bless America’

Irving Berlin created music without formal training. And by himself. In 1918, while serving in the U.S. Army, he wrote the one and only “God Bless America.” When at first he couldn’t sell the song, he did what many songwriters do when such things happen: He stuck it in a drawer. Berlin dusted the tune

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Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA