Cuba usually comes to mind at this time of the year as the weather in Toronto goes from bad to worse. Holed up in my winter-bound house, I think of Cuba’s sunny weather, its sandy beaches, its turquoise waters and its tropical vegetation. Call it, if you wish, Cuba on the brain. But the lure […]
It’s the holiday season, a time to read and reflect. These books, published recently, are eclectic and stimulating. Makers of Jewish Modernity (Princeton University Press) contains 43 thoughtful essays by leading scholars about thinkers, writers, artists and leaders who had a significant impact on the 20th century. There are well-crafted portraits of philosophers (Martin Buber), […]
Shanghai is a city in transition. Before the 20th century, Shanghai was China’s vibrant commercial and financial center, but following the communist takeover in 1949, it fell into a state of somnolence. Since the economic reforms of the 1990s, however, Shanghai has bounced back and taken its rightful place as one of Asia’s most dynamic […]
The New York City neighborhood of Harlem, an African-American enclave for about the past century, used to be home to the second largest Jewish community in the United States. Only the Lower East Side had a greater Jewish population. During the penultimate years of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th […]
It’s outrageous but true. If you type the word “Holocaust” on the Google search engine site, a wave of mostly reputable articles relating to this unprecedented event in European and Jewish history appears. But if you enter the phrase “Did the Holocaust happen?”, you’ll be taken by surprise. Incredibly enough, the first item that pops up […]
Eero Saarinen passed away five decades ago, but his architectural legacy remains firm and strong. “He figured out a way to be important across time, so even though he died young, he is still alive,” says his son, Eric, who takes us on a journey of his father’s works in Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who […]
Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta, which opens in Canada on December 23, is a brooding, intricately-layered film exploring the vulnerabilities and fragilities of personal relationships. Adapted from three short stories by the Canadian author Alice Munro, and set mostly in Madrid, it spans a 30-year period. Undercurrents of melancholy, even dread, course through it, and Alberto Iglesias’ soundtrack […]
A battle royale has erupted in the United States over the selection of the next chairperson of the Democratic Party’s governing body, the Democratic National Committee. Ever since Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz vacated the post last July, on the eve of the party’s national convention, several Democrats have announced their interest in running for […]
Israel’s important but mercurial relationship with Turkey has entered a promising era after years of mutual acrimony, yet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a harsh critic of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians and a supporter of Hamas, continues to criticize Israel, sometimes quite stridently. Israel and Turkey — the only Muslim member of the NATO […]
It’s never too late to fall in love. That’s the premise of Leon Marr’s appealing old-school Canadian romance, The Second Time Around, which will be presented by the Jewish Film Foundation’s Chai Tea series in Toronto on Sunday, December 18. There is nothing “modern” about this film (which opens in theatres in Toronto next March). […]