Dov Charney, founder, CEO and president of American Apparel, has been hailed by many anti-sweatshop activists as a pioneer in the fair treatment of garment workers in Los Angeles, in an industry notorious for substandard working conditions and abuse. But now, a competing, unflattering reputation is beginning to overtake his good press, as allegations of sexual harassment come to light.
When Eleanor Freedman died of breast cancer in 1974, she left behind three children, a husband, and a life marked by failed promise.
Stories and symbols intersect in unexpected places in Pearl Abraham\’s intricate and complex third novel, \”The Seventh Beggar,\” a vivid meditation on the nature of creation.
This past week, the New York Times Book Review ran a lengthy essay by writer Wendy Shalit titled \”The Observant Reader.\” In it,
Shalit harshly criticized books she deemed to be unfriendly to Orthodox Judaism. Even worse than the books, she asserted, were some of their writers, including such literary luminaries as Tova Mirvis (\”The Outside World\”) and Nathan Englander (\”For the Relief of Unbearable Urges\”).
Andrea Hodos cuts a sprightly figure directing 14-year-old Sophie Porter-Zasada, dancing the biblical story of Sarah laughing as she hears of her pregnancy with Isaac.
Born-again Christian youth pastor Shari Putney is standing at the top of a stairway outside a theater in Hollywood presiding over a group of young adults, decked out in a sequined, pale-blue mother-of-the-bride dress and a huge diamond cross.
Is your image of a sweatshop a black-and- white photograph of Jewish garment workers marching for labor rights 100 years ago, or the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in 1911, in which hundreds of Jewish workers were trapped inside a burning building in New York (see sidebar)?
\”Shalom Y\’all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South\” photography by Bill Aron, text by Vicki Reikes Fox (Algonquin Books, $24.95).
While the idea of Southern Jews may be as improbable for some as snacking on matzah while drinking a mint julep, in fact, the American South has had a thriving Jewish community since the early 1700s.
The University of Southern California, once considered a bastion of WASP elitism, has capped a decade of transformation by naming Stanley Gold as its first Jewish board chairman.
Most parents dream of having a school administrator like Jeff Kaufman.
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