Lana Gersten
By Lana Gersten
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News Ruth Brin, 88, Whose Prayers and Poetry Grace Siddurim
Ruth Brin, a Jewish scholar and author of 13 books, died September 30 of a heart attack. She was 88. Famous for her Jewish poetry, prayer services, scholarly articles, children’s books and librettos, Brin’s work made an impact far beyond the city limits of her native Saint Paul, Minn. Her liturgy was found in the…
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News New York’s First Flu Victim Was a ‘Wonderful Role Model’
Mitchell Wiener, a Queens public school administrator and beloved member of that New York borough’s Jewish community, died May 17 of complications from swine flu — the first person in New York State and sixth in the United States to die from the flu strain now spreading around the world. Wiener, 55, was assistant principal…
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Opinion Making Jewish Beliefs Accessible To More
At a time when many pulpit rabbis have fewer congregants to attend to, a Jewish institution is urging them to turn their attention to a larger flock — American society. Rabbis Without Borders aims to bring Jewish wisdom into the public sphere by translating the beliefs and traditions of Judaism into an accessible and usable…
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Israel News LeBron James’s Jewish Connection
Typically, Jews and professional basketball don’t mix — not unless you’re talking about the early days of the game, when Jews were a dominating force. But one of basketball’s present-day greats, Cleveland Cavalier forward LeBron James, is merging the two in an unexpected way. When James was recently asked whom he would name as one…
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News Joseph Sherman, 65, Yiddish Scholar and Translator
Joseph Sherman, a scholar and translator of Yiddish literature who is best known for Translating Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel “Shadows on the Hudson,” died March 20. He was 65. The cause of death was complications from pancreatitis. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sherman was a longtime professor of English literature at the University of the…
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Culture David Roskies on Making the "Language of Jewish Secrets" Young Again
Author and Yiddish scholar David Roskies is out with a memoir that looks at his family’s transmission of Yiddish culture from the Old World of Vilnius to the New World of Montreal and New York. “Yiddishlands” (Wayne State University Press) takes readers on a journey through Eastern Europe, where Roskies’s grandparents owned a printing press…
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Culture Music That Saves?
Birkenau, known as the death camp of Auschwitz, was one of the few camps where music accompanied mass murder. For 54 women who knew how to play instruments, music was a life saver. The Women’s Orchestra of Birkenau was the only such orchestra commissioned by the SS during World War II. The women played for…
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News William Davidson, 86, Philanthropist and Pistons Owner
William Davidson, a businessman and Jewish philanthropist for whom the Jewish Theological Seminary’s graduate school of education is named, died Friday, March 13. Davidson, 86, was the owner of three professional sports teams, including the Detroit Pistons, a National Basketball Association franchise. According to a statement released by the Pistons, Davidson died at his Bloomfield…
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