Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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Culture Remembering Scientist Simon Ramo — Oldest Man To Ever Receive a Patent
The American physicist, engineer, and entrepreneur Simon Ramo, who died on June 27 at the age of 103, drew lifelong inspiration from music and sports for his widespread achievements. Remembered for his pioneering work in microwave and missile technology and often called the father of the Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Ramo co-created two Fortune 500…
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Culture Remembering Michael Herr, Unparalleled Chronicler of Vietnam
In “First Kill,” a 2001 Dutch documentary film, Michael Herr, who died on June 23 at age 76, reflected on his unlikely fame as author of the novelized memoir “Dispatches” and co-screenwriter of the films “Full Metal Jacket” and “Apocalypse Now,” all about the Vietnam War: “I’m a nice middle class Jewish boy. I’m not…
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Culture Recalling Viktor Korchnoi — He Woulda Coulda Shoulda Been Our Chess Champion
The Russian Jewish chess grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, who died on June 6 at age 85, proved that if an opponent brings in a psychic to defeat you, you can destroy the adversary by letting loose gurus. This was the surreal scenario in the 1978 chess World Championship match in Baguio City, Philippines, as described in…
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Culture Why Barbra Streisand Should Think Twice About Starring in ‘Gypsy’
Just because Barbra can do something does not mean that Barbra should do it. The recent news that long-percolating plans for Streisand to star in a film of the Jule Styne musical “Gypsy” will occur has thrilled millions of fans. Not long ago, Barry Levinson shepherded the volcanic Al Pacino through two monstrous TV film…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History of Muhammad Ali
The boxer Muhammad Ali, who died on June 3 at the age of 74, has been accused of having “frequently clashed with the Jewish people.” The truth is more complex. The Louisville-born heavyweight champ was raised a Baptist, but joined the Nation of Islam in 1964, abandoning his birth name of Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr….
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Culture What Emma Goldman Has in Common — With Bernie Sanders
Emma Goldman (1869–1940), the Lithuanian Jewish anarchist, was widely known in America as Red Emma for her defense of free speech, labor protests, women’s rights and birth control. Although she was deported from the United States in 1919, starting in the 1970s increasing numbers of historians and readers have been drawn to Goldman’s personality and…
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Culture Remembering Mell Lazarus, Creator of Miss Peach and Inspiration to Joseph Heller
Mell (born Melvin) Lazarus, the American Jewish cartoonist who died on May 24 at age 89, was more than just the creator of the long-running comic strips Miss Peach and Momma. Lazarus was also a novelist, whose fiction may have inspired his friend Joseph Heller, author of “Catch-22”. Lazarus had befriended Heller, a fan of…
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Culture How Morley Safer’s Jewish Upbringing Inspired His Quest for Decency and Justice
The Canadian Jewish broadcast journalist Morley Safer, who died at age 84 on May 19, was as much preoccupied with ethics and the arts as reporting during his more than a half-century with CBS News, 46 of them with the program “60 Minutes.” He told Abigail Pogrebin, author of “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk…
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