Hany Abu-Assad was cheering in a crowded square in his hometown of Nazareth, Israel, when Mohammad Assaf — a youth from the southern Gaza Strip — earned overnight stardom by winning “Arab Idol,” the region-wide televised singing contest.
Beyonce is wearing a line of dresses custom made by Israeli fashion designer Inbal Dror on stage during her new world tour.
While there are many excellent young adult novels with Jewish characters, some of which mention a bar or bat mitzvah, there are probably fewer than a dozen that tackle the subject directly.
While the prophet Elijah remains conspicuously absent, one Passover Seder in Jerusalem received a more well-known guest.
The next time you’re kvetching about having to go to another bar or bat mitzvah, think about this: Steven Spielberg could be there, and he could make you a star.
Every now and then, a multi-generational novel such as “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” by Sarit Yishai-Levi (Thomas Dunn Books/St. Martin’s Press) comes along, so rich with potent curses, outlandish customs, eccentric characters, and forbidden loves, readers might find the story somewhat incredible and hard to connect to.
In 1974, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin attended a Washington reception hosted by President Gerald Ford, during which Ford asked the prime minister’s wife, Leah Rabin, for a dance.
Jack Bender has recurring dreams of flying.
The life of renowned Hungarian-Jewish magician and escapologist Harry Houdini has been portrayed onscreen by multiple Jewish actors, including Tony Curtis, Paul Michael Glaser and Adrien Brody.
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