Новости за 24.11.2015

Where the Wild Things Are enthusiasts are in luck! A little over three years after the death of beloved author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, his iconic works are now on view (and on sale) at Sotheby’s New York. The exhibit, “Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak,” opened last week and features 47 (expensive) works, including in-process and completed drawings, poster art, and theatrical sets and costumes, among others items. (View the virtual catalog of the display here.)

Last weekend, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard once again demonstrated its peaceful intentions towards the Jewish state by simulating the capture of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. The theatrical display involved thousands of soldiers and a specially-designed replica of the Dome of the Rock mosque. And that, reported the Associated Press, was just the beginning:

A couple living in Budapest, Hungary, decided to renovate their apartment, and hired a workers to get the job done. One contractor took a screwdriver to their walls and discovered papers with handwriting on it. “We thought we’d ruined the neighbor’s wallpaper,” Brigitte Berdefy, one of the owners of the apartment, told the AFP. But it was so much more: 6,300 documents “from a 1944 census that was a precursor to the intended liquidation of the Hungarian capital’s 200,000 Jews in Nazi death camps.”

Prior to Monday night’s nationally televised NFL game, a match-up between the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills, nearly 70,000 people shared a moment of silence to remember Ezra Schwartz, a local teenager who was killed last Thursday in Israel during a semester abroad. Patriots owner Robert Kraft has a long history of support for Israel and Jewish causes. The Patriots won, too. A fitting tribute to Schwartz who was a dedicated Patriots fan.

After many film versions, the superlative staged reading Gatz, and designation by the Modern Library as the best American novel of the 20th century, Gatsby has almost the status of a folk tale, like an American Cinderalla or Jack and the Beanstalk. So it had to be done sooner or later: Bring The Great Gatsby up to date and set it among today’s robber barons.

Across New York City this Thanksgiving, hundreds of soup kitchens will serve thousands of free meals to people in need. Masbia, headquartered in Borough Park, Brooklyn, is no exception—but it does stand apart from the pack. Turkey and cranberry sauce will be on the menu at Masbia, but so will cholent, the bean stew traditionally served on Shabbat.

Among the responses in Israel to the Paris Terror Attacks, there has emerged a divide that deserves attention. Depending on where you spend your political time, one or the other response will appear predictable (and lamentable).

Earlier today I wrote a story about Avis’s refusal to rent a car to a long-time loyal Israeli customer in what seemed a lot like a case of discrimination based on nationality, which is, you know, illegal. In response to my query, the car rental giant’s nameless corporate spokesperson wrote to say that after an inquiry that consisted of taking the word of an Avis employee over that of the customer, without any further due process or corroborating evidence, the customer was found to be in the wrong. Читать дальше...

In September 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a map, a proposal that would give the Palestinians 93.7 percent of the West Bank, with Israeli territory to make up 5.8 percent, and a corridor to Gaza from the West Bank for the other 0.5 percent. Olmert insisted that Abbas initial the map before taking it. It was clear that this was Israel’s final offer. Abbas rejected it. He never met Olmert again.

The day after Sharon, Massachusetts native Ezra Schwartz was killed in the West Bank, the imam of the Islamic Center of New England, Abdul Rahmam Ahmad, wrote the following letter of condolence and solidarity: