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He was barely 4’9″ tall, he arrived in the United States when he was nearly 30 years old, so he spoke English with a heavy accent for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, the entire motion picture industry in Hollywood owes him its existence. His numerous inventions include the forerunner of foundation cream, false eyelashes, lip gloss and compact powder. Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner and other film stars got their dramatic look from him. But he believed that glamour should be within reach of every woman, making her look like a star. That may explain why his line of cosmetics[…]

The Miss America pageant was founded in 1921, initially as a bathing suit contest. Later on, it became a beauty, talent and poise pageant whose contestants sought to bring about world peace, which is how we know it today. The competing and winning criteria have, however, changed a bit every few years. No one remembers most of the Miss America winners, but there some who are unforgettable, including Bess Myerson. It took close to 25 years for a Jewish girl to win the coveted title. Bess Myerson, who was crowned in 1945, was the first Jewish Miss America, and the[…]

Adolfo Kaminsky, probably the most famous Jewish forger in the world, died earlier this month. For nearly three decades, from 1940 to the end of the 1960’s, he was involved in every important underground movement or revolution across the globe. With the skill of a true artist, he falsified official documents of dozens of countries, but never sought payment for his services. Even though he produced forged papers for so many years, he was never caught. After decades of keeping out of the limelight, he decided to share the details of life story – first in a biography written by[…]

This week 75 years ago, on January 13, 1948, marks the anniversary of the murder of the renowned Soviet-Yiddish actor and director, Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels, who was also the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theatre – GOSET. He was also the undisputed leader of Soviet Jewry in those days. The decision to murder him was made by Stalin himself. The reason: the reaction of Soviet Jews to the decision of the Soviet authorities to support the establishment of the State of Israel a couple of months earlier, on November 29th. According to the official account, Mikhoels was killed[…]

Some names evoke such strong connotations that you can’t free yourself of them. One of those names is Delilah. Every time you hear Tom Jones’s immortal hit from 1968 about the treacherous woman who drove him crazy, which was written by Barry Mason and composed by Les Reed, you can envision the seductive and dangerous image of the biblical Delilah. While Samson symbolizes courage, Delilah has become a code name for sensual and backstabbing women. Everyone is familiar with the biblical story of Delilah. Samson, the last judge in the Book of Judges, received superpowers from God to terrorize the[…]

Mirra (Maria) Sakhnovsky (Sakhnovskaya) was a fascinating, but controversial, figure, who was willing to go to great lengths to spread her ideology. Her short life was replete with secrets and mystery. Born in the Pale of Settlement, she fell in love with the communist revolution, had an impressive military career, and become the first woman to reach a rank equivalent to general in the Red Army. Her story ended, like many others, when she was thrown under the brutal and blind machine of Stalin’s purges. Her birth name was Mirra Goetz. On official forms, she always wrote that she was[…]

Towards the middle of the 1960’s, a new kibbutz was established at Tel Avdon in the Western Galilee. A lot of effort went into building it, but no trace remains – besides on the movie screen. The kibbutz was established so that Sophia Loren, who at the time was at the height of her beauty and charm not long after winning the Oscar for Best Actress, could wiggle her hips there while wearing short shorts and a blue shirt. The gorgeous Italian movie star landed in Israel on July 29, 1964. She toured the country for ten days before starting[…]

In the first years following the October Revolution, the new Soviet State was suffering from a famine. The attempt to contain a ‘new economic policy’ was a big failure, and people living in cities and villages were forced to stand in line for hours to buy basic commodities such as bread, salt, matches and heating oil. And if they were lucky, they would also get a bit of herring. Despite the famine, the communist regime continued to export grain to other countries, hoping to convey to the outside world that it was a success story. One of those images of[…]

“In our home, we didn’t talk about anything related to the Holocaust or the pogroms,” recounts Ilana Bar-Gil from Modi’in. “I was in shock when my mother began receiving reparations from Germany. And then, little by little, she started telling us what had happened. In 1945, my mother, Dina, was nine years old, the middle child of six siblings. She doesn’t remember a lot about the pogroms, but does remember being hungry all the time. They would rummage through garbage cans for food. One day, she found a piece of bread covered with rat droppings. But because she was so[…]

Roseanne Barr has just turned 70. It’s an excellent opportunity to take a close look at the high-profile, complicated and volatile Judaism of one of the most influential, controversial and oftentimes successful women in the American television and entertainment industry. Despite the broad-based consensus regarding her importance in the world of American comedy, as well as the brilliance of the good seasons of the trailblazing sitcom Roseanne – somewhere around the end of the 1980’s and early 1990’s – taking her seriously was a thing that was hard to take seriously. Yet, even when her remarks were confused, not always[…]