Ruth Ellen Gruber's Blog, page 33
June 8, 2010
Poland -- Festivals (not Krakow....)
Synagogue in Chmielnik, 2006. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen GruberBy Ruth Ellen Gruber
By now, the Festival of Jewish Culture in Krakow, which marks its 20th edition this year (June 26-July 4), is wellknown around the world. But Poland is host to many other Jewish culture festivals of one sort or another, which frequently take place in towns and villages where Jews no longer live. This month, for example, there are at least three: in Bialystok, Sejny and Chmielnik.
The Zahor: Color and Sound Jewish cul...
June 7, 2010
Ukraine -- Profile of Meylakh Sheykhet
Meylakh Shekhet, Sam Gruber, and me in L'vivI'm delighted to share this link to a profile in Canada's National Post of my friend Meylakh Sheykhet in L'viv, who has devoted much of his life to identifying and preserving Jewish cemeteries and sites of WW2 mass execution. Specifically, it describes one of Meylakh's current projects, an attempt, with Canadian aid, to restore the Jewish cemetery in Sambir, near L'viv.
Ever since he ventured into the Ukrainian countryside and saw the remnants...
June 4, 2010
Virtually Jewish available as ebook
I happened to look at the amazon.com page for Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe and was delighted to see that it is available as an e-book on Kindle. (Which now can also be read on other e-readers including IPhone and IPod Touch).
More on the YIVO online Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
I posted a brief note about the online publication of the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe a few days ago. I was too lazy (or, rather, pressed for time.....) to post most than a publication notice. But Bob Cohen has posted a very informative review, noting some of the highlights, on his Dumneazu blog -- worth reading.
The new YIVO site brings together contemporary leaders in Yiddish culture like Prof. Dovid Katz on the history of Yiddish, Judit Frigyesi on liturgical music, and...
Book -- New Book about Bialystok, Poland
Monument to the destroyed main synagogue in Bialystok. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen GruberJewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora, by Rebecca Kobrin, a new book about Bialystok and the Jews who both lived and left there, has been published by the University of Indiana Press. From the description, it sounds as if it shows how memories of "the old country" are connected with the reality of the New World.
The mass migration of East European Jews and their resettlement in cities throughout Europe, the United...
June 2, 2010
Paris -- Festival of Jewish Cultures
I just added a link in my annual list of Jewish culture festival (see the sidebar of this blog) to the 6th Festival of Jewish Cultures (Festival des Cultures Juives), which takes place in Paris June 13-28.
The program includes an international roster of music, art, theater, film and more in several locations around the city -- and particularly in the old Jewish neighborhood of the Marais. Most of the events are linked to Russia and Jewish culture there.
The program includes an international roster of music, art, theater, film and more in several locations around the city -- and particularly in the old Jewish neighborhood of the Marais. Most of the events are linked to Russia and Jewish culture there.
Le Festival des Cultures Juives...
June 1, 2010
YIVO Encylopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe is online!
The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe is online -- though the official launch is next week.
A fabulous resource!
A fabulous resource!
The only resource of its kind, this encyclopedia provides the most complete picture of the history and culture of Jews in Eastern Europe from the beginnings of their settlement in the region to the present. This Web site makes accurate, reliable, scholarly information about East European Jewish life accessible to everyone.But oh, I can already feel that I'm going to be s...
May 21, 2010
Romania/CZ -- Czech 9 Gates Festival in Bucharest
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
This year, the annual (and of late traveling) 9 Gates Festival of Czech Jewish Culture is being hosted in Bucharest, Romania.
The schedule includes:
This year, the annual (and of late traveling) 9 Gates Festival of Czech Jewish Culture is being hosted in Bucharest, Romania.
The schedule includes:
EXHIBITIONS
Neighbors who Disappeared
The project Neighbors Who Disappeared provides young people (12-21 years old) with an opportunity to search for neighbors who "disappeared" from their neighborhood - particularly during the Second World War. Students and children in the same schools children go to today, and what were the r...
May 20, 2010
Romania -- Historic synagogue in Iasi under restoration
Photo (c) Simon GeissbuehlerBy Ruth Ellen Gruber
The historic 17th century Great Synagogue in Iasi, in northern Romania, is under restoration. The Swiss historian and diplomat simon Geissbuehler (who has written widely on Jewish heritage in Romania) visited the site last week and provided the picture above. He said the synagogue is empty, and that some work has been completed on the foundations, but that workers on the site did not have a time frame for the work's completion.
The synagogue wa...
Romania -- Jewish culture festival next week in Timisoara
Just found out about this Jewish Culture Festival, which takes place in Timisoara, Romania next week -- May 24-27.
It is co-sponsored by the local Jewish community as well as the French Cultural Institute and features the internationally known actress Maia Morgenstern (who played Mary in the controversial Mel Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ.")
Timisoara is a beautiful city, and its Jewish community is one of the largest of Romania's communities outside Bucharest.
Permanent Jewish settl...
It is co-sponsored by the local Jewish community as well as the French Cultural Institute and features the internationally known actress Maia Morgenstern (who played Mary in the controversial Mel Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ.")
Timisoara is a beautiful city, and its Jewish community is one of the largest of Romania's communities outside Bucharest.
Permanent Jewish settl...
