New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Phylisa Wisdom to run his Office to Combat Antisemitism. Prior to her new position, Wisdom was executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda, where she coordinated progressive Jewish organizations in the city.
The American Conference of Cantors (ACC) has announced that Rachel Roth, a longtime member of its senior staff, has been named Chief Executive Officer. Roth holds degrees from Indiana University and the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. She is a long-time member of the National Association for Temple Administration as well as the Church Alliance that reflects her commitment to service, collaboration and community-building across North American faith-based organizations.
Jewish Olympian Jack Hughes scored the U.S. men’s hockey team’s game-winning goal in overtime, with some calling it the “most dramatic goal in nearly half a century” Hughes, who had at least two teeth knocked out earlier in the game, led the team, which included his brother, Quinn. Final score: 2-1 against Canada, giving men’s hockey its first Olympic gold medal since 1980s “Miracle on Ice” game. Pictured, Jack Hughes, left, with his brother. [...]
Dr. Morris Waxler, who as a federal health official was instrumental in approving laser eye surgery as a quick fix to replace eyeglasses or contact lenses, and then reversed himself a decade later after concluding that the operation could actually impair a patient’s vision, died on Jan. 2 in a hospital in Madison, Wis. He was 88. Patients who had undergone Lasik surgery soon began complaining about how their sight had been distorted by halos, [...]
Award-winning songwriter Billy Steinberg, who wrote several top hit songs, including Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” died Feb. 18. He was 75. Mr. Steinberg wrote some of the biggest pop hits of the 1980s and 1990’s, and was behind songs performed by Whitney Houston Celine Dion, Cyndi Lauper, and Madonna. “Billy Steinberg’s life was a testament to the enduring power of a well-written song — and to the idea that honesty, when set to music, can [...]
Frederick Wiseman, a director whose rigorously objective explorations of social and cultural institutions constitute one of the more revered bodies of work in American documentary filmmaking, died on Feb. 16 at his home in Cambridge, MA. He was 96. Mr. Wiseman, who received an honorary Academy Award in 2016, was among the most influential directors of nonfiction cinema. Mr. Wiseman’s last films were among his best received. The novelist Jay Neugeboren, writing in The New [...]
Michael Silverblatt, a ravenous reader and cerebral interviewer whose long-running public radio program, “Bookworm,” provoked authors to see their work in fresh ways and to articulate what drove them to write in the first place, died on Feb. 14 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73. Mr. Silverblatt, whose nationally syndicated show aired from 1989 to 2022, once described himself as “a person of ferocious compassion instead of ferocious intellect.” He stunned his [...]
To the editors: I thought our members would like to know about a program at the Floyd Memorial Library, sponsored by the Friends of the Library and Dolly Parton. The program, titled the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, sends free, age-appropriate books to Greenport, East Marion, and Orient kids, who are 5 years old and younger. If any of our members know of youngsters who would benefit from this program, please encourage parents to complete [...]
Dear members and friends, When I read Veronica Kaliski’s letter-to-the-editor reporting an initiative to provide free books to youngsters, I was reminded of an incident that had occurred while I was employed as an editor by SI Communications, publishers of a group of community newspapers. The catalyst for the incident was my friend Ruth. A lovely, intelligent woman with a pleasant sense of humor and an aura of style, Ruth played tennis, attended concerts and [...]
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman is a fictional retelling of the Siege of Masada (70-73 CE) through the eyes of four resilient women — Yael, Revka, Asisa and Shirah — who find refuge there, each bearing secrets and past traumas. When the Romans besiege the fortress, only two women and five children survive the brutality and loss, leading to the tragic historical outcome. The members of the Book Circle will meet on Thursday, Feb. [...]
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