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In Remembrance of Henry Foner

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By Joe Dorinson Contact with Henry Foner, an outstanding union leader, political activist, and talented musician, resulted from my bid to honor Jackie Robinson with a major conference at LIU Brooklyn, then my home away from home for thirty years. With a modest budget, I tried to get a galaxy of baseball luminaries, journalists, writers, broadcasters, historians, students, and fans to attend. Someone—I forget who—suggested that I contact Henry Foner.… Read More »In Remembrance of Henry Foner

I Love Jesse

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In describing the pugilistic antics of his older brother, Harvey, Jerome Charyn evokes painful memories of bias in Brooklyn. To be sure, my Jewish friends in Williamsburg excelled in their studies and some starred in sports; but as fighters we proved less than potent. One exception, however, deserves mention. When a near pogrom visited our neighborhood in 1947, I watched a remarkable act of courage from the safety of my… Read More »I Love Jesse

The Story of the Butterfly

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by Cecelia Margules Approximately 30 years ago I commissioned Ann Froman, a noted sculptor, to fulfill a vision of a butterfly wrapped in barbed wire atop a granite pedestal containing the poem “The Butterfly” by Pavlov Friedman an inmate of Terezin concentration camp, who perished in Auschwitz in 1944. “The Butterfly” graced the courtyard of Shulamith Yeshua for 30 years till the school relocated. This began my search for a… Read More »The Story of the Butterfly

Irwin Hochberg, 89, ‘Zionist Giant’

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BY JONATHAN MARK Former UJA-Federation board chair was a leading activist and philanthropist. Irwin Hochberg, a former chairman of UJA-Federation of New York’s board of directors who helped shepherd the 1986 merger of United Jewish Appeal and the local federation, died in his Manhattan home of natural causes on Oct. 11. He was 89. The Brooklyn-born Hochberg was a leading activist and philanthropist for more than a dozen major pro-Israel organizations,… Read More »Irwin Hochberg, 89, ‘Zionist Giant’

Judge Judy and Others Inducted Into the Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame

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Judge Judy and Others Inducted Into the Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame Necks craned and cameras clicked as the man next to the stage at the Brooklyn Historical Society Tuesday night took out a glass seltzer bottle. He held it high for all to see, a relic of the not-so-distant past. And then he sprayed its contents into a glass containing milk and chocolate sauce. “How many people here have… Read More »Judge Judy and Others Inducted Into the Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame

The Chosen Game

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Reviewed by Joseph Dorinson, Professor, Department of History, Long Island University Brooklyn 19 April 2018 Charley Rosen’s book, The Chosen Game: A Jewish Basketball History (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2017) is a welcome addition to sport literature. It begins with a quotation from an African-American former pro player in 2014: “The Jews were the first ethnic group to embrace basketball, and it’s still a Jewish game.” Running with this salient theme,… Read More »The Chosen Game

Sarina Roffe Elected to International Jewish Genealogy Board

Sarina Roffe Elected to International Jewish Genealogy Board

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Sarina Roffe, a resident of Belle Harbor , was elected to the Board of Directors for the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, (IAJGS) at its recent conference in Warsaw, Poland. Sarina Roffe has over 30 years of experience as a genealogist. Co-chair of the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative and a former member of the JewishGen Board of Governors, Sarina is editor of Dorot for JGSNY and founder of the… Read More »Sarina Roffe Elected to International Jewish Genealogy Board

Jackie Robinson Revisited

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Jackie Robinson Revisited The Jackie Robinson saga, biographer Jules Tygiel insisted before his untimely death in 2008, was comparable to an Easter/Passover service that invites public recollection every year. We must never forget what our country once represented and what it became thanks to the heroic life of Jack Roosevelt Robinson. Nobel Laureate Ernest Hemingway defined a hero as one who demonstrates “grace under pressure.” Our concept of heroism with… Read More »Jackie Robinson Revisited

Eulogy to Lew Fidler

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Eulogy to Lew Fidler When I invited members of Community Planning Board 15 to our 2017 Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, I spotted Lew Fidler, whose nomination to this high honor was rejected by our Board, I commented that every organization needed a Fidler (especially Lew) on its roof. An excellent legislator, a proud Brooklyn Jew with an emese Yiddishe hartz, Lew died on May 5 after suffering a massive… Read More »Eulogy to Lew Fidler

Orthodox Jewish Woman Named Cybersecurity Chief for US Spy Agency

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Orthodox Jewish Woman Named Cybersecurity Chief for US Spy Agency Anne ‘Chani’ Neuberger By JTA and TOI staff 25 July 2019   Anne ‘Chani’ Neuberger grew up in mostly Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park; parents were among hostages rescued during Israeli raid on Entebbe An Orthodox Jewish woman whose parents were among the hostages rescued by Israeli commandos from Entebbe Airport has been tapped to head the United States… Read More »Orthodox Jewish Woman Named Cybersecurity Chief for US Spy Agency