Another Sunday, but this one will take me to a place that I love visiting. I am going to the Skirball Cultural Center, in Beverly Hills, CA, with my daughter Sarah, son-in-law Allan, and my two grandies Emily and Logan. They are having a special event today, entitled “Fiesta Hanukkah”.

“Celebrate Hanukkah with a Latin flair! This year, as part of the Skirball’s ongoing initiative to commemorate Jewish life in Latin America, the annual Hanukkah family festival invites families of all backgrounds to enjoy Latin Jewish music, art-making, and storytelling, as well as tasty variations on holiday food favorites.”

It should be a wonderful and fun way to spend the day with my family. I am excited about seeing the Hanukkah festival at the Skirball through their eyes.
~~~

Today, December 6th, would have been my parents wedding anniversary. They were literally married the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. I like to think they are together, in an environment of peace/shalom, dancing the foxtrot under the gazebo at Central Park or on the boardwalk at Jones Beach.
~~~~~~
All photographs were taken by me.
© Copyright 2007 – All Rights Reserved – No permission is given or allowed to reuse my photography, book reviews, writings, or my poetry in any form/format without my express written consent/permission.

According to a February 4, 2009, Associated Press article that I read on MSNBC, it seemingly appears that Nazi war criminal and concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim died in 1992 in Cairo, where he lived under an assumed name.

You can read the full article, here.

Last August I wrote a post about the fact that Ruediger Heim, son of Aribert Heim, wanted his father declared legally dead.
~~~~~~

In other news, my friend Susan of Jewish Rantings has two copies of People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks to give away. Find out more here.
~~~~~~

Rachel S. Harris, has written a review for The Jewish Daily Forward, on the book Poets on the Edge: An Anthology of Contemporary Hebrew Poetry.
~~~~~~

Jay Michaelson has written an interesting article for The Jewish Daily Forward on the environment and Jews. It’s quite interesting, and you can read it here.
~~~~~~

National Yiddish Book Center has an upcoming event on February 8th: “If the Walls Could Speak (Les Voix de la Muette). You can read about it, and other February events, here.
~~~~~~

I saw this tiny spark of bright red while looking out of my dining room window. The male cardinal was resting on one of my trees, so of course I had to take his photograph. The tree is about 35 feet from the window, so I used a 200mm zoom lens, and cropped the photo.

Browsing online, earlier, I came across the Yale University Library Collections. Among the collections are exhibited beautiful editions of the Haggadah in manuscript form. These manuscripts include the Sarajevo Haggadah, and the Birds Head Haggadah, along with other incredible editions.

The Early Printed Editions include the Guadalajara Haggadah, the Prague Haggadah, The Bordeaux Haggadah, and other beautiful editions. There are also Modern Israeli Editions exhibited, including the Jerusalem Haggadah and the Kibbutz Haggadah, among others. Other Modern Editions include The New Union Haggadah, the American Heritage Haggadah, and three Holocaust Haggadahs.

Each of the Haggadahs are beautiful testaments to Pesach/Passover and the Seder celebration. I have never seen anything like this, the beauty, the clarity, the incredible hand drawn and painted images, and the amazing handwritten script, all speak of the importance of Pesach/Passover, and its emphasis and meaning of the holiday to the Jewish people, through traditions and cultural celebrations.

Why not visit, and look for yourself. You will be astounded at the overwhelming beauty.

~~~~~~

Jew Wishes…Peace to You All.

The Jewish Museum, NYC, is currently exhibiting Andy Warhol’s “Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century (1980)”. The Andy Warhol exhibit runs through August 3, 2008.

The “Ten Portraits” exhibit includes world-renowned Jews who played a significant role in Jewish culture, and were significant individuals in their fields, including Sarah Bernhardt, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin and Gertrude Stein, etc.

Check out The Jewish Museum website for more information.

~~~~~

Jew Wishes…Peace to You All!

I visit Yad Vashem’s website at least once a week.  This morning I browsed an extremely intense and profound exhibit, by the artist Samuel Bak. The exhibit is entitled, An Arduous Road:  Sixty Years of Creativity. Bak’s paintings are incredible, and his works are often surreal and filled with fantasy elements within abstract modes.  Yet, they are strong in visual content, depicting the horrors of war, family, loss, and the long journey he has taken to find his essence, his Self.

Bak’s journey took him from the Vilna Ghetto to the killing site in Ponary, a forest preserve located approximately six miles from Vilna.  He and his mother managed to flee labor camps, and were given refuge in a Benedictine convent, where they spent eleven months until liberation.  He survived the Holocaust, physically, but closed himself off, emotionally, carrying the burden of silence with him through the decades.

Bak spoke out through his art, his masterful and amazing artwork, his life’s journey encompassing sixty years of his life.  He was a child prodigy, demonstrating brilliance through his paintings at a young age.  His paintings speak in and of themselves of the long and grueling journey he has taken.

Why not browse Samuel Bak’s exhibit, An Arduous Road,  yourself, and see what I am talking about, and look through the eight links that contain his profound, illuminating and intense paintings.  You can also read his biography, while you are there.

~~~~~~

Jew Wishes…Peace to you all.
© Copyright 2007 – All Rights Reserved – No permission is given or allowed to reuse my photography, book reviews, writings, or my poetry in any form/format without my expresss written consent/permission.

I came across an artist named David Friedmann while browsing various sites. Friedmann (1893-1980) was an accomplished artist, and he was a Holocaust Survivor. His career as an artist began long before he was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, and then to varied concentration and death camps. His work was exhibited beginning in 1919.

You can see a timeline of David Friedmann, here. You can also read about his pre-war artwork being confiscated during the Holocaust, the majority of which is still missing.

He drew portraits of famous individuals. But, his work also included “Portraits of the Prague Jewish Community 1940-41“. After David Friedmann was liberated he began to document the Holocaust and the Jews who perished. “Because…They Were Jews” is a haunting collection of portraits, and a collective legacy, depicting the inhumanity of the Nazis towards the Jews. You can also see more artwork at the USHMM, by doing a search on the website.

His work is intense, vivid, haunting and poignant, unforgettable, a lasting tribute and memorial to those who perished, and to those who have survived.

~~~~~~

Jew Wishes…Peace to you all.
© Copyright 2007 – All Rights Reserved – No permission is given or allowed to reuse my photography, book reviews, writings, or my poetry in any form/format without my expresss written consent/permission.