It may not surprise anyone in our community to learn that, like the movie industry and the sciences, Jews occupy a disproportionate influence on the history of American comics. Examining the intersection of Jewish culture and the American comic strip is \”Cartoon Art,\” a four-month exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center.
It was 1942 when 29-year-old Eli Leskley, a Czech-born Jew, was sent to Theresienstadt, a fortified ghetto 50 kilometers from Prague. As a visual artist, he was assigned to the sign workshop, where he had access to paper, paint, ink, pencils and other art supplies. With what must have been a combination of remarkable courage and an overpowering need to document what transpired there, Leskley secretly painted dozens of prison-life scenes, mostly with watercolors and ink on office-sized paper taken from the workshop.
Ellen Sloan met her husband-to-be, Will Hoffman, at an Ivy League cocktail party on Nov. 13, 1992. Sloan, then 36 and never married, attended the party because \”I had heard it was a good place to meet smart guys,\” she says, with a laugh.
Getting to see Aida Suleiman is like playing chess with a temperamental computer. The first time I tried, she stood me up at the last minute because she had to deal with an emergency at a home for battered wives.
Asked to discuss the accomplishments of the 105th Congress, which erupted last week in a frenzy of last-minute wheeling and dealing as lawmakers tried to avert another politically costly government shutdown, Rep. Ben Cardin\’s response was succinct. \”It will be a very brief conversation,\” said the Maryland Democrat, a senior member of the Jewish delegation in the House.
For as long as she can remember, Dr. Beth Karlan has been driven to answer one elusive question: what is the difference between a normal cell and a cancerous cell? While the question is common among medical researchers, Karlan\’s progress in discovering at least a partial answer has been both heartening and a continuing stimulus to continue the search.
The Eretz Alliance School may be small, but its lineage is long and distinguished. Eretz Alliance, which occupies a brand-new campus in Tarzana, opened this fall with 36 students enrolled in its nursery school and kindergarten classes. Ultimately the $7 million building will house students through the fifth grade.
An Asian-American Fairfax High School student asks Ethiopian-born Taktu (Rachel) Yasu how long it took her to learn English. An African-American classmate wants to know if she encountered racism in her native Israel. Another African-American senior inquires if there are any Jews left in Ethiopia.
November 1998 will mark the 60th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Sixty years have passed since the beginning of one of human history\’s darkest moments and even now we find ourselves still pursuing justice for the victims of the Holocaust.
The New York Times devoted 1,500 words last Sunday to a biographical profile of Monica Lewinsky, the 24-year-old woman who allegedly had an 18-month affair with President Clinton and who has been accused of lying about it under oath.
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