Robert Doisneau (1912-1994) was a remarkable photographer, often mentioned in the same breadth as the illustrious Henri Cartier Bresson. A lithographer and engraver by trade, he slipped into photojournalism gradually. By the 1950s, he was well established, known in particular for his photographs of Paris. Jean Claude Gautrand’s lavishly-illustrated coffee-table book, Robert Doisneau, published by Taschen […]
Whatever you think of the report released yesterday by the United Nations Human Rights Council on last summer’s Gaza war, take a moment to reflect on its causes. In a nutshell, it was the result of aggression on the part of Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip with an iron hand since the spring […]
On his obnoxious racist website, American mass murderer Dylann Storm Roof holds the battle flag of the Confederacy as he spits on and burns the American flag. It’s hardly a mystery why he desecrated the Stars and Stripes as he paid respect to the Confederate flag. Roof, who cold bloodedly killed nine African-American parishioners at the historically […]
Extremism in Israel, whether manifested in deed or through rhetoric, should be a source of grave concern to decent Israelis who care about the future direction of their country. In recent days, vandals have desecrated the Church of the Multiplication, near the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, while a United Torah Judaism parliamentarian […]
Are you in the mood for some eclectic reading material? Sit back in your chair and enjoy the company of these books, published recently. The major league baseball season is in full swing throughout Canada and the United States. As you may know, American Jewish athletes, from Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax to Al Rosen […]
Roger Cohen, a New York Times columnist, has written a poignant memoir of identity, displacement and prejudice in The Girl From Human Street: Ghosts of Memory of a Jewish Family, published by Alfred A. Knopf. Born in London, raised in South Africa, schooled in Britain and now a citizen of the United States, he’s a […]
A voice from the past emerges in the pages of The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook: Garden-Fresh Recipes Rediscovered and Adapted for Today’s Kitchen (Schocken Books), first published in Yiddish in 1938 when Vilna — a center of Jewish learning and scholarship — was part of Poland rather than Lithuania. It’s the inimitable voice of Fania Lewando, the […]
My introduction to the exotic flora of Saguaro National Park, in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, was inauspicious, to say the least. My daughter, Lauren, my occasional travelling companion, had convinced me that a visit to this immense, unspoiled park would be a worthwhile experience due to its signature attraction — the majestic saguaro […]
Technicolor was all the rage when it was introduced in Hollywood films decades ago. Moviegoers who had grown accustomed to the reality of black and grey gladly embraced the rainbow of vibrant colors. In a tribute to this ground-breaking technology, which revolutionzed the industry, the Toronto International Film Festival is presenting Dreaming in Technicolor, a […]
Vera Brittain’s memoir, Testament of Youth, struck a chord when it was published in 1933, just 15 years after the end of World War I, supposedly the war to end all wars. Brittain, a smart, spunky, independent spirit born in an epoch when women were expected to be meek, mild and submissive, elaborated upon themes […]