His People

Edward Sloman's delicious 1925 morality tale, made for Universal Studios, is a silent movie of the kind that must have launched the phrase "they don't make them like that any more." Rudolph Schildkraut, a renowned actor who had his own Jewish theatre in the Bronx, plays David Cominsky, a Jewish pedlar with a reverence for learning and not much ability to make money.

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New York has a quiet election

The comments of one New Yorker seemed to tell a large part of the election story this week: “Four years ago when Obama won, it was crazy here,” she said. “Now, not so much.”

Indeed, walking around Manhattan, you could have been forgiven for not knowing there was an election on.

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As Hurricane Sandy hits, Katz’s deli kept bagels coming

Darkness descended over the historically Jewish neighbourhood of Lower East Side on Tuesday evening where the power was still out the day after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the north-eastern coast of the US, leaving at least 50 people dead and millions without electricity.

At the Chasam Sopher synagogue, one of the area’s many Jewish institutions, there were no signs of light or life.

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Turning a blind eye to abuse

After the past few weeks of headlines, I'd be happy to hibernate for the winter and no longer read about kids going missing with strangers, teachers abducting teenagers or allegedly paedophilic presenters from my childhood.

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Occupy Judaism leads Rosh Hashanah demonstration

A group of Jewish activists from New York organised a demonstration to promote “social and economic justice” over Rosh Hashanah.

Occupy Judaism brought hundreds of people to Zuccotti Park in New York last Sunday evening.

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How New York blew me away

Last Saturday, I flew to New York.

At 6pm I was in a cab from JFK into Manhattan, when the driver said: "The tornado is due at 9pm." He said it like a waiter saying, "your eggs will be with you in five minutes."

"What!!?" I shouted, sticking my face into the little gap in the glass partition. "Are you kidding me! What is this? The Wizard of Oz!?" 

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