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The Schmooze

Out and About: Banned Books in Jordan; ‘Finnegans Wake’ in Yiddish

  • The L.A. Times explores Jordan’s premiere destination for banned books.

  • The Wire creator David Simon talks about his father Bernard Simon, a “professional Jew” and the public relations director of B’nai B’rith for more than 20 years.

  • New York’s Kehila Kedosha Janina is the last Greek synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.

  • Philip Glass is writing a new opera based on Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

  • James Wolcott has some harsh words for Cynthia Ozick.

  • The son of one Dead Sea Scrolls expert was sentenced to six months in jail after impersonating another Dead Sea Scrolls expert.

  • CNN catches up with Orthodox rapper Shyne.

  • Toronto klezmer band Beyond the Pale wins big at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

  • Allan Nadler discusses Jacob Glatstein, “one of modern Yiddish literature’s richest and most original voices.”

  • Speaking of original voices, how about “Finnegans Wake,” in Yiddish?

  • Alfred A. Knopf is set to publish some 300 love letters written by Vladimir Nabokov to his (Jewish) wife, Vera Slonim.

  • Norris Church Mailer, widow of Norman Mailer, has died.

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