Five hundred thousand Jewish Americans, many of them the sons and daughters of immigrants, served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. Ten thousand of them were women. Lisa Ades’ absorbing documentary, GI Jews: Jewish Americans In World War II, scheduled to be broadcast on the PBS network on April 11 at 10 p.m. […]
A 10-part series on the ambitious, power-hungry henchmen who worked closely with Adolf Hitler is now available on the Netflix streaming network. Hitler’s Circle of Evil, a skillful German production, is an amalgam of newsreels, wordless dramatizations and commentary by British and German historians. Judging by four of its episodes, this fascinating documentary is a […]
Al Capone was the first American gangster to achieve celebrity status. Such was his notoriety that he appeared on the cover of Time magazine on March 24, 1930, an honor normally reserved for politicians, statesmen, scientists, movie stars, novelists or captains of industry. Capone’s ascent to stardom is the subject of Al Capone: Icon, which will […]
Iran and Saudi Arabia, carrying the banners of the Shi’a and Sunni strains of Islam, are engaged in an intense struggle for primacy in the Middle East. Their bruising competition for dominance, playing out mainly in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, has already affected Israel and Arab countries. Martin Smith, a seasoned Middle East correspondent, […]
Phil Rosenthal, the creator of the phenomenally successful TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, indulges his passion for travel and food in a new six-part Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil. A voracious gourmand rather than an astute gourmet, he eats his way through six cities — Bangkok, Saigon, Tel Aviv, Lisbon, Mexico City and New Orleans. […]
Disguised as an Arab, the Swiss adventurer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt discovered Petra in 1812, long after it had been abandoned and left to the elements and the bedouins. Since then, droves of visitors from far and wide have descended on this Nabatean city carved out of the spectacular sandstone cliffs of southern Jordan. Tourists are […]
The second season of The Crown, a Netflix presentation, is a heady, entertaining mixture of drama and melodrama crowned by sharply nuanced performances and lavish sets, judging by the first six episodes. Like the introductory season, Peter Morgan’s series hangs on the shoulders of one indomitable character, Queen Elizabeth II, the capable sovereign who still commands the destiny […]
She’s supposedly the world’s strongest girl, a weightlifter who broke a powerlifting record at a remarkably young age, and who still holds three records in her masculine sport. “I love being strong, it’s empowering, ” says Naomi (Nahama) Kutin in Jessie Auritt’s fly-on-the-wall documentary, Supergirl, which will be broadcast on the PBS network on Monday, […]
Israeli cuisine is a kaleidoscopic amalgam of tastes, flavors and aromas from every conceivable corner of the globe, matching the national origins of its diverse Jewish, Muslim and Christian population. The typical Israeli, if there is such a person, will most probably like a Polish-style kugel — a baked noodle pudding — as much as […]
An award-winning Israeli television series is coming to Toronto. The first season of Your Honor, a 12-part crime drama, is being presented by the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation and the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies on November 5 and November 12 at 2 p.m. at Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto. Created by Shlomo Mashiach and […]