Rich Tenorio

Leonid Berenshtein speaks to director Roman Shumunov in his eponymous film. (Courtesy)

September 30, 2022, 9:10 am

Film lauds WWII partisan chief who found Hitler’s V2s, died in Israel in obscurity

Director Roman Shumunov tells the story of Leonid Berenshtein, who climbed the ranks in the underground, eventually discovering the factory producing Hitler’s dreaded V2 rockets

By Rich Tenorio

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen on a screen as he addresses the audience from Kyiv during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, May 23, 2022. (AP/Markus Schreiber, File)

September 27, 2022, 2:59 pm

The unlikely rise – and remarkable endurance – of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky

A new biography of the resilient president by journalist Serhii Rudenko chronicles his start as a law student and TV actor, through the war that revealed his true colors

By Rich Tenorio

The brains behind exhibit 'I’ll Have What She’s Having.' Cate Thurston is the pickle; Laura Mart is the fish; Lara Rabinovitch is the sandwich. (Jennifer Caballero)

September 8, 2022, 1:07 am

LA deli exhibit puts a little mustard on the Jewish-American immigrant tale

In ‘I’ll Have What She’s Having,’ open through September 18 at the Skirball Center and then in November in NY, curators say the way to understand US Jews is through their stomachs

By Rich Tenorio

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2016, file photo, Hillary Clinton pauses while delivering a speech conceding her defeat to Republican Donald Trump after the hard-fought presidential election. The AP reported on Nov.
10, 2017, that an article claiming Clinton didn't give a concession speech was false. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

September 4, 2022, 3:14 am

The undelivered speeches that reveal a series of unrealized alternate US histories

In his new book, presidential speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum opens the archives, uncovering the scenarios American leaders had prepared for — and the ones they avoided by keeping mum

By Rich Tenorio

British soldiers in Tobruk, Libya, surrendering to German forces on July 8, 1942. (AP Photo)

August 28, 2022, 10:23 pm

80 years ago, Nazis almost knocked Britain out of WWII to take the entire Mideast

In ‘1942: Britain at the Brink,’ historian Taylor Downing looks at bitter defeats for the UK that nearly threatened the empire, including Jews who took haven in Mandatory Palestine

By Rich Tenorio

In this July 11, 2013, photo, Scarlett Lewis, center, mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Jesse Lewis, hugs Lynn McDonnell, left, mother of victim Grace McDonnell, as Neil Heslin, right, father of Jesse Lewis watches after a public forum in Newtown, Connecticut. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

August 23, 2022, 1:52 am

Sandy Hook ‘hoax’ trial shows how false narratives are fed and spread, warns author

In her new book, ‘Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth,’ NYT journalist Elizabeth Williamson sounds the alarm on more pernicious conspiracy theories

By Rich Tenorio

Filmmaker and puppeteer Frank Oz. (Victoria Labalme)

August 10, 2022, 6:44 pm

New Frank Oz exhibit reveals ‘Muppets’ co-creator’s family history of fleeing Nazis

An unconventional glimpse into the famed puppeteer’s background is on display at the Bay Area Contemporary Jewish Museum – and it includes a satirical pre-WWII marionette of Hitler

By Rich Tenorio

Prof. Avi Loeb at the Harvard College Observatory, March 1, 2022. (Courtesy of Leslie Kean)

August 9, 2022, 5:58 am

Israeli scientist proves his far-out theory on interstellar meteor is down to earth

Undeterred by naysayers or controversy, Prof. Avi Loeb stuck to his guns about a rare 2014 space rock — and his findings have finally been vindicated by the US government

By Rich Tenorio

The ghost of Henry Ford, played by John Lepard, kills time on Detroit’s People Mover in '10 Questions for Henry Ford.' (Andy Kirshner)

July 29, 2022, 4:52 pm

Henry Ford’s ‘ghost’ opens up about his infamous antisemitism in new art documentary

A century after the publication of ‘The International Jew,’ filmmaker Andy Kirshner revives the automaker in ’10 Questions for Henry Ford,’ screening at the SF Jewish Film Festival

By Rich Tenorio

Adam Sandler in 'You Don't Mess With the Zohan.' (Screenshot)

July 25, 2022, 2:52 am

Hollywood and Israel, a love story: How the Jewish state met the silver screen

In a new book, authors Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman examine the history of modern Israel’s representation in cinema — with all its ups and downs

By Rich Tenorio

Rear Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of nuclear powered submarines, boards the USS Nautilus from the Navy Tug 534 in the Narrows below Brooklyn, New York on August 25, 1958. (AP Photo/Pool)

June 11, 2022, 1:17 am

How a Jewish immigrant from the shtetl became the father of America’s nuclear Navy

Abrasive, controversial and tenacious, Admiral Hyman Rickover was called ‘the greatest engineer to ever live’ by Jimmy Carter. A new biography tells his incredible life story

By Rich Tenorio

Michelangelo's fresco 'La Creazione' ('The Creation') on the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri)

June 5, 2022, 2:32 pm

Is God circumcised? How people in ancient times viewed the Heavenly Body

In new book, Francesca Stavrakopoulou displays God as portrayed by His early worshipers: with genitals, passions, powers – and a penchant for the monstrous

By Rich Tenorio

Hundreds of newly trained al-Shabab fighters perform military exercises in the Lafofe area some 18 km south of Mogadishu, in Somalia on February 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

June 3, 2022, 3:10 am

Can jihadists truly deradicalize? Jewish author speaks with terrorists to find out

In ‘Home, Land, Security,’ Carla Power charts the return of extremists to mainstream society. Raised in the Midwest and Mideast, journalist has some advice for Western governments

By Rich Tenorio

Sarah Minnich as Rita Alter and Glenn Howerton as Jerry Alter in 'The Thief Collector.' (Courtesy Museum & Crane)

June 2, 2022, 3:56 am

The ‘ordinary’ Jewish retirees behind a $160M art heist – and who knows what else

Alison Otto’s documentary ‘The Thief Collector’ posthumously examines the lives of Jerry and Rita Alter, who were found to have a priceless missing painting. But it gets stranger

By Rich Tenorio

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his secretary Marguerite Lehand and ambassador to France William C. Bullitt ride from the railroad station to FDR's Hyde Park, New York, home on July, 22, 1940, after a trip to Washington. (AP Photo)

April 28, 2022, 11:28 pm

Why did the US ignore diplomats who boldly raised an alarm about Hitler before WWII?

In new book ‘Watching Darkness Fall,’ former US ambassador David McKean illustrates how antisemitism, apathy and internal politics set America back in the war against Germany

By Rich Tenorio