When 41-year-old American novelist Joshua Cohen won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction last week for his semi-roman à clef, The Netanyahus, the first question occurring to close observers of Israeli culture and politics wasn’t “Is it good for the Jews?” but “How bad is it for Bibi and the family brand?”
With a new core exhibition and a new director, the Jewish Museum Berlin hopes to overcome past controversies and make the museum a space for people of all backgrounds to engage with the history of Jewish life in Germany.
Famed ventriloquist and creator of the iconic puppet Lamb Chop, Shari Lewis was one of the few women to run her own television production company at a time when most women were shut out of the industry. Lewis and Lamb Chop entertained generations of children with their many television shows, including specials about Hanukkah and Passover. Mallory Lewis, Emmy Award-winning performer and daughter of Shari, and TV writer-producer Nat Segaloff, join Moment editor Sarah Breger for a conversation about Lewis’ stage and TV career, how Judaism influenced her work, the challenges of being a businesswoman in a male dominated field and how she and her puppet became iconic stars loved by millions. Mallory Lewis and Segaloff are the authors of the forthcoming book Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop: The Team That Changed Children’s Television.
This program is in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.
Actor David Strathairn, nominated for an Academy Award for his role as journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, has dedicated himself to portraying great men. He’s currently performing as Jan Karski, the World War II hero who risked his life to carry his harrowing eye-witness report about the Holocaust from war-torn Poland to the Allied Nations and, ultimately, the White House, only to be ignored and disbelieved. Strathairn is in conversation with playwright Derek Goldman and Moment’s books and opinion editor Amy E. Schwartz about the play, Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski and why this courageous man’s story may be more relevant than ever.
This program is part of the Moment Theater Festival and part of a Moment series on antisemitism supported by the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.
Art Rupe, who died in April at the age of 104, was an independent record producer known for launching the musical careers of Lloyd Price, Little Richard, Sam Cooke and others, paving the way for Black music to crossover to White audiences and the new genre of rock n’ roll. Moment editor-in-chief and Billy Vera, a singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, Grammy Award winning music historian and author of Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story is in conversation about Rupe’s impoverished childhood in a Pennsylvania town, his early affinity for gospel music, and how he turned down a scholarship to become a rabbi and instead headed to Hollywood, his legendary career, life philosophy and more.
This program is in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.
Toward the end of World War II, an increasingly paranoid Adolf Hitler worried about poison. To protect himself, he required young women—girls of “good German stock”—to taste his food before each meal.
Brad Meltzer is a New York Times bestselling author known for his legal thrillers, including the recently released The Lightning Rod. His non-fiction work includes a biography series for children with such titles as I am Anne Frank as well as the upcoming The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill. He is also the host of the tv shows Lost History and Decoded. Meltzer is in conversation with former CBS News correspondent and Moment contributor Dan Raviv about how his law school experience has helped him develop his stories, the extensive research that goes into each book, his commitment to educating children through his “I Am” series and how his concern about antisemitism has influenced some of his work.
Jewish American Heritage Month is an ideal time to introduce young readers to notable Jewish figures in American history, and a number of recently released books can help.
The artist, now living in New York, made the murals of Ze’ev Jabotinsky last year in her hometown of Odessa, Ukraine
Artist Tobi Kahn’s paintings and sculptures celebrate life and explore the realms of memory, spirituality and meditation.
