Tonight, a small detour from my usual subjects. When I was a UCLA graduate student in 1978, I studied Yiddish with Prof. Janet Hadda. During that year, she asked the class if they would meet with a filmmaker who was planning a film on Yiddish in America. The director was Pierre Sauvage, a Franco-American documentary […]
Song for Lebanon
In the current climate, when a Middle East war may come from any direction, it’s worth sitting back and hearing beauty, the opposite of war and hate. After reading Idan Landau’s post (in Hebrew) predicting an imminent “war of choice” by Israel against Hezbollah, I watched the video he featured of the Israeli performer, Karolina, […]
Israeli Defense Minister Demands Media Ban on Famed Israeli Poet for Praising Palestinian Girl
Yesterday, Israeli poet Yonatan Geffen published a poem on Instagram dedicated to the courage of Ahed al-Tamimi. It was a simple poem, not even terribly controversial at first glance. But oh did it rankle the Israeli far right. Avigdor Lieberman in highest dudgeon, immediately called for Geffen and his poetry to be banned from the […]
Leonard Cohen Dies, But Lives
It’s been a horrible week. No question about it. Today brings word that Leonard Cohen has died at age 82. Words cannot express the feelings of gratitude I have for his life and his achievement. From his first album in 1967 he accompanied me through my youth and into later days. All the way through. […]
