Love It. Fear It. Smear It.
Is 'Halachic' Going Mainstream?
Sitting Shiva for Spot?
A 'Crazy' Look at Paris Strip Palace
Boycotting Israel and My Olive Tapenade
From Esperanza to Shprintze
Israeli Gas Masks Help Get You High(er)
Was Adolf Hitler Leader or Follower?
Why My Daughter Isn't Bilingual — Yet
Preaching Lost Art of Fermentation
'Homegrown' Story of West Coast Jews
Remembering Mike Wallace
Sisters in Skivvies on the Lower East Side
An Anthem for LGBT Youth
Jewish Gangsters at the Mob Museum
Mayim's Most Important Role
‘Cabaret’ Comes to Tel Aviv
A Transsexual at Yeshiva University
'Strange' Evolution of Legendary Song
Kehinde Wiley Paints Israelis in Color
Nudge, Nudge. Wink, Wink.
Sweating in the Cleveland Schvitz
Berlin Film Festival Gets Serious, Mostly
Addicted to Aggadah
Why Do Men Write All the Baby Manuals?
Jewish Oscar Winners, From Allen to Zinner
Cleveland Rocks — Not Really
Raised Christian, But Jewish by Birth
Be My Israeli Valentine
The Jew and Hitler's Bug
Academy Awards Slideshow
Oscar Wins for ‘The Artist’; ‘Footnote’ Shut Out
The Jewess of 'Downton Abbey'?
The Allure of the Burka
Who Will Light Up Jewish Kids Lit?
Leonard Cohen's Old Whine in a New Bottle
Stephen Colbert vs. Maurice Sendak
X-Rated Dispute in Knesset
A Fraught Journey To Judaism
Bringing Real Bagels to the Motor City
Saying Mazel Tov in Mandarin
Strange Origins of David Cronenberg's 'A Dangerous Method'
How Jews Stayed in Good Spirits During Prohibition
The Word 'Jew' Has Fallen Out of Favor
Last Song of Hitler's Favorite Crooner
Making Foodie Resolutions for New Year
For the Glove of the Game
Adrienne Cooper Embodied Progressive Spirit
TV Ripped My Son From Reality
How Authentic Is ‘Porgy and Bess’?
Sandra Bernhard Shows Her Softer Side
Gimme Some New Time Religion
Tintin and the Anti-Semites
Gimme Some Old Time Gossip
Jewish Cookies Santa Would Love
The Hanukkah Bush and Christmas Dreidel
Celebrities being the arbiters of good taste when it comes to good deeds and causes, they were out in hordes on the Twitter-sphere to remind us to reduce, recycle, and be better people on this 43rd annual Earth Day.
#Earthday! Go plant a tree! clean up after yourself! Love the place u live in and respect it! In @richardbranson words: THERE IS NO PlANET B
ampmdash; Bar Refaeli (@BarRefaeli) April 22, 2011
“Act or die” warned Walter Cronkite on the 1st Earth Day 1970. bit.ly/HZDRLu So dramatic! #earthday
ampmdash; Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) April 20, 2012
Happy #EarthDay! What are your plans? How are you going to give back to Mother Nature? xoP
ampmdash; The Real Paula Abdul (@PaulaAbdul) April 22, 2012
There was some heavy duty mingling between super scientists and mere mortals at the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Gala held at The Pierre on April 17. Shmoozers included Sam Waksal, Edith Everett and Sir James Wolfensohn. Sinuous Israeli singer Einat Sarouf launched the evening with her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah.
Honored were Sara and Professor Michael Sela, a former president of the Weizmann Institute (1975-1985). Currently the incumbent of the W. Garfield Weston Professorial Chair of Immunology, Prof. Sela — still active in the lab though in his 80s — joshed: “I’ve always said that my motto was work hard and play hard. But I’ve never had enough time to play. So it’s mainly work, but such a pleasant, satisfactory work.”
Born Mieczyslaw Solomonowicz in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland in 1924, Professor Sela’s research led to the development of the drug Capaxone, sold by Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals, which 250,000 patients receive daily in over 50 countries to treat multiple sclerosis.
“It is one of the biggest exports of Israel,” said Prof. Sela who also helped develop Erbitux, a landmark drug for treating cancer. His overseas appointments include Tufts, Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley and the College de France and Pasteur Institute. In a video he is shown greeting Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Margaret Thatcher.
“I work with memory and I forgot my glasses,” joked Prof. Yadin Dudai, Department of Neurobiology and incumbent of the Sara and Michael Sela Professorial Chair of Neurobiology at Weizmann. “I am in the situation of a person who enters a wedding and discover that he belongs to the bride’s side, the groom’s side and on the rabbi’s side. So I belong to the Weizmann family. A year ago, almost the entire faculty of neuroscience at NYU came to Weizmann.” With his non-reading glasses perched above his forehead, Prof. Dudai spoke at length about “the loss of the major pillars [memory] of our personality. If you lose the past, you lost a large part of the future. Some memory decline may become evident with age.”’ He stopped, looked out at the audience. “Remember! I forgot my reading glasses.” Everyone laughed.
In a video highlighting some of the Weizmann Institute’s accomplishments, a voiceover informed: “Two of the world’s multiple sclerosis drugs…use of the MRI as a non-invasive way to diagnose breast cancer, improve crops such as protein-enriched wheat to fight world hunger, encryption technology that laid the foundation for Internet security…. Whether it’s world hunger or global warming, cancer or terrorism, there is an unspoken belief about the issues facing humanity and that ‘someone, somewhere is working toward and answer.’ And for 62 years, that’s precisely what we have done.”
“It’s hard to think of the Weizmann Institute without thinking of the Selas,” said Lawrence S. Blumberg, chairman of ACWIS, as he presented the award to the honorees — a specially commissioned paper cut by the Israeli born artist Tamar Fishman.
At evening’s end, guests joined in on a lively hora led by Einat Sarouf.
Six hundred and eighty elegantly dressed ladies were delighted with the no-nuts cookies, cakes and allergen-free treats for their food-allergic children offered by vendors at the April 17 FARE Luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street. “This is our first New York luncheon as Food Allergy Research & Education-FARE for short,” said emcee ABC-TV Anchor Lori Stokes who informed that both she and her son were allergy-challenged. “FARE’s mission is to ensure the safety and inclusion of individuals with food allergies while relentlessly seeking a cure.”
Honoree Amie Rappaport McKenna — who helped draft and secure the passage of a landmark 2004 Good Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act — recounted life with son Timmy who suffers life-threatening allergies to even the tiniest amount of milk. “When Timmy was six months old, he reached out to a toy that was covered in crushed goldfish cracker dust. It hit his cheek [and], moment later his body was covered in hives. He reacted to a 6 milligram of egg—the equivalent of a grain of rice,” McKenna said. After an anaphylactic reaction to a “supposedly safe food,” she sought out Dr. Kari Nadeau, of the Stanford School of Medicine and luncheon keynote speaker. “A year after beginning a trial, Timmy eats pizza and cake at birthday parties!” Mckenna exclaimed.
Co-honoree Laura Tisch Broumand, whose 9-year old son William is allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and crab, described his life of “constant vigilance.” Crediting FARE for their support and trials, she smiled, “He [finally] had his first M&M and pretzel and ice cream.”
Stokes introduced 14-year old Amanda Palin who a decade ago appeared on the New York Times Magazine cover and introduced the world to the dangers and struggles of living with food allergies. Today Amanda recently participated in a clinical trial of a Chinese herbal therapy conducted at Mount Sinai by FARE. She introduced Dr. Nadeau who admitted to having asthma and allergies and was “inspired by her patients with multiple severe allergies.” She noted a statistic that “up to 30% of allergy sufferers have more than one allergy” and that more research needs to be done in the areas of genetics and environment.”
The event was co-chaired by Abbey Braverman, Roxanne Palin and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.
Having a contact list full of celebrity names has its ups and downs, especially if you’re one of those people who is prone de mis-texts.
Eva Mendes found out the hard way. During an appearance on “Conan” on Thursday, the actress explained that she often likes to send inspirational text messages to her friends (am I the only one to wonder what she sends to Ryan Gosling?). One such friend was a playwright named David, to whom she penned (or tapped) the following note: ““You’re a talented writer! Keep at it! You got a big future ahead of you :)”
Unfortunately for Mendes, the text was not sent to David, obscure playwright and close friend, but to Larry David, co-creator of “Seinfeld” and star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Mendes, mortified, told Conan: “I sent it to Larry David. Larry David! You’re a talented writer? I think you’re onto something? You know, stick with it? Larry David! Are you kidding?”
Uninspired, Larry David never texted back.
Who could have imagined that cigars and poker would be the main ingredients in the recipe of rescue of Jews on the cusp of World War II?
“Rescue in the Philippines: Refuge from the Holocaust,” tells the story of how the five Frieder brothers from Cincinnati, built a cigar empire in Manila and with the help of poker aficionados Col. Dwight Eisenhower, U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippines Paul McNutt and the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Manuel Quezon, helped 1,200 Jews find haven in that country.
The one-hour documentary held its New York premiere on April 10, hosted by the American Jewish Historical Society. Narrated by Liev Schreiber and with a promo quote from Eisenhower’s granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower as “A story for all time,” this 3 Roads Communications film puts the gutsy president Quezon on the map as a Righteous Gentile alongside Oskar Schindler.
Jonathan Karp, AJHS Executive Director, introduced Mario Lopez de Leon Jr, Consul General, Republic of the Philippines in New York, who told the guests — amongst whom were a number of Manila survivors including Berlin-born Dr. Yashar Hirshaut, President of the Israel Cancer Research Fund International Scientific Council — “The story has a special meaning for the Filipino people people…who find kinship with the Jewish people in their shared belief in the dignity of man and human rights. Speaking as a diplomat, this film also served a deeper purpose…to strengthen the vibrant friendship between the Filipino and Jewish people founded [when] the Philippines voted in favor of the UN resolution which gave rise to the State of Israel. We were among the first countries to recognize the State of Israel.”
Present at the screening were film consultant Peggy Ellis, her mother Jane Frieder Ellis and film consultant Barbara Sasser,who says in the film: “Quezon was willing to take in 30,000 or more Jews and settle them on the Island of Mindanao…He was a good Catholic…the most irreligious thing he could think of was to think badly of the people who gave them their savior.”
Quezon’s daughter, Zenaida Quezon Avancena said, “Dad had moral courage….. He believed in the sanctity of life.” His grandson Manuel Quezon III said his grandfather had been born poor, never had the problem of the colonial mindset and was “a great ballroom dancer and a hard-boiled politician,” adding: “He loved the underdog and he knew what it was like to be on the run.”
In the film,George Lowenstein, a German-Jewish refugee, recalls that when the Americans returned with General MacArthur, an American pilot flew overhead and spotted little George. “He did a 360 and dropped a Hershey bar.” After the liberation, 10-year-old George read the “Four Questions” at the first night of Passover celebrated by the GIs and refugees in Manila. The film notes that American GIs helped rebuild Manila’s Emil Synagogue, which had been destroyed by the Japanese.
Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg will be honored by the Ms. Foundation For Women for her “commitment to women-centered philanthropy and mentorship,” at the Foundation’s 40th anniversary gala on May 13.
“Diane is advancing women’s equality at the highest levels of leadership, providing opportunities for emerging female entrepreneurs and support for women who are creating cultural change,” Ms. Foundation President and CEO Anika Rahman said in a statement. “Her vision of equality is exemplified not just through her empowerment of female leaders, but also through her public advocacy of women’s rights.”
The designer of the flattering-on-every-shape wrap dresss is on the board of Vital Voices, an organization that promotes female leadership and innovation around the world. In 2010, the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation established the DVF Awards, that provide grants for women who have demonstrated the above qualities in promoting their various causes.
Other gala attendees include “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” star Olivia Dukakis, Ashley Judd, Ms. Foundation co-founder Mario Thomas, and of course, Gloria Steinem.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s days as Hollywood darling seem to be long gone. The actress, who has been outspoken in her views on healthy living (and criticism of what she sees as everyone else’s bad habits), came in first in Star magazine’s annual poll of most irritating and annoying celebrities in film, television, and music.
“Twilight“‘s Kristen Stewart, notorious for cheating on co-star and boyfriend Robert Pattinson in July, came in second, with Jennifer Lopez, John Mayer, and Katherine Heigl trailing in third, fourth and fifth place.
Paltrow even beat Anne Hathaway, called-out for being too perfect in the aftermath of her “Les Miserables” Oscar win in February.
Rapper Chris Brown, under mass criticism this year for rekindling his relationship with Rihanna — whom he beat up in 2009 — starting a fight with Drake, and his general stance towards women, came in last on the list.
Apparently being a snooty health nut is a bigger crime than being a violent wife-beater. Click here for the full list.
In what is possibly the coolest birthday card ever made, an Israeli woman celebrated her husband’s special day by turning his life into a television opening theme.
Leigh Lahav inserted herself, her husband Oren, and their friends and family into such shows as “Mad Men,” “Arrested Development,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” ” The Office” and more.
Who knew Herzliyya looked so much like Scranton?
Talk about keeping a wedding on the down low.
People Magazine reported that Jodie Sweetin, a.k.a. Stephanie Tanner on “Full House,” secretly married fiancee Morty Coyle in an intimate ceremony in Beverly Hills on March 15, 2012 — last year.
The couple’s one year anniversary present to themselves was to share their union with the wider world. “We wanted to keep it quiet and intimate for a while, but felt that on our first wedding anniversary, it was time to share,” Sweetin told People.
Musician Coyle apparently proposed to Sweetin on her birthday, in January 2011. The couple originally said they wanted to put off getting hitched until anti-same sex marriage laws were struck down, but subsequently reconsidered.
The wedding was officiated by Coyle’s All Day Sucker fellow band member and songwriting partner Jordan Summers, at whose home the ceremony was held.
According to People, Sweetin, 31, wore a mid-length Oleg Cassini dress. Her daughter Zoie (with ex-husband Cody Herpin), 5, and the newlyweds’ daughter Beatrix, 2, were in attendance.
Fans of intimate ceremonies, take note.
It was a magical night at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium as the New York Pops, the biggest symphonic pops orchestra in America, honored composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz at its April 12 tribute “The Wizard & I: The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz.” New York Pops conductor and music director Steven Reineke boasted to the fan-packed hall, “This is the fifth sold-out concert of the season.” The event was also in celebration of Schwartz’s 65th birthday, which was on March 6.
Musical theater stars Jeremy Jordan, Norm Lewis, Julia Murray and Jennifer Thompson — the latter two managing four spectacular gown changes that evening — thrilled the audience with Schwartz gems from still-on-Broadway “Wicked,” as well as “The Children of Eden,” “The Magic Show,” “Pippin,” “Godspell,” and a medley from animated films such as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Pocahontas” and “The Prince of Egypt.” The icing on the cake was when Schwartz — unannounced — strode out on stage and sat down at the piano. The program was enriched by the 90-strong Essential Voices USA choral ensemble directed by its founder, Judith Clurman.
Alas, there was nary an excerpt from Schwartz’s 1986 musical “Rags” with book by Joseph Stein (who also authored the book for “Fiddler on the Roof”) and music by Charles Strouse. I saw “Rags” at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on August 23, 1986. It closed the following night. In my September 5, 1986 rave review in the Forward, I asked: “What went wrong?” A standing ovation, calls from the audience of “Down with the critics!” plus a thousand-strong march on Broadway could not halt its closing.
When in 2007, Carol de Giere contacted me for permission to cite my Forward “Rags” review in her upcoming biography of Stephen Schwartz, I was dumfounded. “How did you find it?” I asked. She explained that she came across the review at the Lincoln Center Archival Library. In her 2008 biography, “Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz from Godspell to Wicked” de Giere does honor to Schwartz with her detailed chronology of “Rags” and its troubled journey.
Schwartz was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 18, 2009 and performed his song “Defying Gravity” for the 1,000 guests at the New York Marriott Marquis Grand Ballroom. During dinner, Schwartz autographed my copy of the book with the dedication: “For Masha, with thanks.”
Jason Segel has apparently checked himself into Alcoholics Anonymous after his mid-February breakup with Michelle Wiliiams.
According to Radar Online, Segel, 33, started attending meetings in early March in Hollywood, CA.
The “How I Met Your Mother” star has a history of boozed-up antics, including a memorable appearance at a karaoke bar, in which Segel was filmed serenading a stranger with Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.” Lucky for him, he wasn’t half bad.
Williams, the late Heath Ledger’s ex, and Segel, started dating in 2012. The couple cited commitment issues and the difficulty of sustaining a long-term relationship as the reasons for their split. Segel retained his residence in California, where his hit-sitcom is taped, while Williams and her 7-year-old daughter Matilda, live in Brooklyn.
The actor stars in the upcoming “This Is The End” directed by fellow “Freaks and Geeks” alum Seth Rogen. A big party full of Hollywood stars, and pop icons that gets crashed by some kind of alien invasion — a recipe for sober living if I’ve ever heard one.
If you’ve ever been glued to an episode of “Sex and the City” and fantasized about how glamorous your life would be if you could just sneak into that dreamy shoe closet and squeeze your toes into one of Carrie Bradshaw’s towering pumps, then today is your lucky day.
Sarah Jessica Parker has announced that she will be donating three pairs of shoes worn on the show to the Gotta Have Rock And Roll celebrity shoe auction on April 24.
The Golden Globe winner gave up a pair of Prada platform sandals, Dolce Vita pumps (above), and Jonathan Kelsey sandals. All three items were owned, worn, and signed by the style icon, who recently declared that she was sticking to flats from now on.
Other celebrity-imprinted footwear will include brown leather boots owned and worn by Elvis Presley in 1969 at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, mega pink platforms worn by Britney Spears during her 2000 “Crazy” tour,” and a size 22 black and red sneaker worn and signed by Shaquil O’Neal.
Proceeds from the auction will go to LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and the Performing Arts.
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According to the New York Post’s Page Six, Harvey Weinstein is a daddy once again. Wife Georgina Chapman reportedly gave birth to a little boy on Thursday in New York.
The film producer and studio executive has four daughters, one with Chapman, and three from a previous marriage.
In December, after he announced that Chapman was pregnant, Weinstein joked to Page Six: “We don’t know the sex. It could be Harvey and five daughters. I’d be happy either way.”
At least now he has an ally in the house.
No one could accuse Robert Downey Jr. of being boring. The actor really, really tries to embrace local customs wherever he goes. While in South Korea promoting the third installment of the Iron Man franchise in early April, he stunned locals by busting out some Gangnam-style dance moves.
Most recently, still on the Iron Man World Tour, the actor decided “When in Rome…” — or Germany, in this case — and casually threw on some lederhosen for the red carpet.
The London premiere of the film — perhaps a bearskin hat, this time? — was set for Wednesday, April 17, but Deadline reported that it will be pushed to Thursday, so as not to get in the way of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral.
The film opens in the U.S. on May 3rd.
What do you think of Robert’s new look?
After a long period of being a somewhat forgotten tween movie star, Amanda Bynes has been hitting headlines with every click of her mouse.
The “She’s The Man” cutie’s abrupt transformation into a Jersey Shore-worthy diva — complete with fake tan, cheek piercing and talon-like nails — has the Twittersphere at rapt attention. Especially since she’s been so candid about every single detail of it.
Yesterday, Bynes took offense at the coverage of her that’s been circulating in magazines and blogs, specifically targeting Perez Hilton, Us Weekly and E!Online who “say I have erratic behavior when I do NOTHING wrong.”
Fast on her way to becoming a kind of Jewish Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes has attracted her fair share of attention lately with some pretty odd tweets.
Her latest one threatens to sue all the tabloids, blogs, magazines and news sources that have criticized her:
I’m suing every blog, every magazine, every news source that’s saying I’m doing anything wrong “erratic behavior”… twitpl.us/t/cfT
ampmdash; Amanda Bynes (@AmandaBynes) April 10, 2013
Cut short by Twitter’s 140 character limit, Bynes used TwitPlus to continue her rant, adding:
“I’m suing In Touch, Us Weekly, Perez Hilton for hiring paparazzi who follow me then take the worst photos with the worst angles. I’d like to put up their worst photos on my twitter until they only start putting up my twitter photos when writing a story when there is NO story, just an awful photo posted with instead of a caption, they say I have erratic behavior when I do NOTHING wrong. There’s NOTHING with my life, other than you putting up awful candid photo after photo. I’m working out, it’s hard getting in shape with an eating disorder. Please follow me on twitter then look forward to be sued if you if say I have erratic behavior or am living my life wrong in anyway.”
A lesson in how not to tweet.
What if Tatooine were a warped version of 1960s suburban California, Aunt Beru was Mrs. Robinson, and Luke Skywalker just a blonder Benjamin Braddock?
Replace John Williams’s Darth Vader theme with Simon and Garfunkle, and my guess is, it would look something like this. Enjoy your trip to Scarborough Fair. Via land speeder, that is.
Grindr, the popular gay mobile app, has announced that it will be donating 100% of all revenue from new subscribers to Grindr Extra this week to Israeli couple Yuval and Liran, as part of their Grindr for Equality world campaign.
“I read about Yuval and Liran’s emotional personal story and was impressed by their creativity in pursuing their dream of fatherhood, and their persistence, recruiting international celebrities such as Joan Rivers, to help raise awareness that in so many parts of the world the joy of parenthood and other aspects of family are still not available to gays who are not equals in the eye of the law.” Joel Simkhai, Israeli-born CEO and founder of Grindr said in a statement.
“We at Grindr believe in giving back to the gay community that’s been so loyal to us and made us the #1 dating app for gays. With our ability to reach millions of users, Grindr is in a unique position to provide real and meaningful assistance within the community and advance the cause of our community worldwide.”
The story of Yuval and Liran, an Israeli couple who have been trying to have a kid via surrogacy for the past two years and lost most of their money, in the process went viral after the couple filmed themselves holding up signs criticizing Israeli surrogacy laws, which they see as discriminatory against gay couples. A number of Israeli celebrities supported their cause by photographing themselves holding up similar signs, stating “We want them to have a baby too,”
It’s hard to believe that Marc Jacobs is 50. I mean, have you seen him? It’s a far cry from his days of long, stringy hair, baggy clothes and just general schlubbiness. May we all look this good when the big 5-0 rolls around.
But beyond his amazing beach bod, the man is just so busy! The household-name fashion icon was the youngest designer to ever have been awarded the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Perry Ellis Award for “New Fashion Talent” in 1984. He is head designer of his two namesake brands, Marc Jacobs, and Marc by Marc Jacobs, and has more than 200 retail stores in 80 countries. In February 2013, he was named the new creative director of Diet Coke. Oh, and he’s also been creative director at Louis Vuitton since 1997.
Whew.
He’s been scandalous, he’s been controversial, he made a memorable appearance on South Park character, he’s had a Paris museum exhibit dedicated to him, and need I even mention that time he wore a dress?
If you know anyone’s name in fashion, it’s his. So, Happy Birthday Marc, and look, Buzzfeed even made you a card.
The designer has hung out with the most glamorous of the glitter-set, from Kate Moss to Anna Wintour. Check out some of our favorite pictures:
Francky Perez, a Morrocan-born Jewish singer known in France for his hip-hop version of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, has struck again. On Friday, Perez released the English version of his French single, “N’oubliez Jamais” (Never Forget), a rap song about — you guessed it — the Holocaust.
In an interview with The Jewish Journal, Perez explained that he got the idea for the video while visiting Yad Vashem last year. While wandering the museum, he spotted a picture of a child in a concentration camp.
“I looked at the kid and he looked exactly like my second son,” he said. “I had a shock. I needed to do something that expressed what I was feeling, and I’m someone who uses rap music for therapy.”
“I am Sephardic,” he added. “But sometimes when I talk to other Jews, I feel they think that being Sephardic we don’t feel this hell they went through. That’s not true. Being Sephardic, I feel this is in my genes as much as an Ashkenazi. I suffer for my people, I feel it in my genes the same pain and suffering, not like the people who went through it, but like all Jews now.”
Perez hopes the song and video, which took him six months to write and make, will help educate both Jews and non-Jews about the horrors of the Holocaust.
Does it? See for yourself.
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