Rich Tenorio

In this still from the new feature film 'Alegria,' Yael (Laia Manzanares) is at right, with her mother Raquel (Adelfa Calvo) at left. (Courtesy/ Julio Vergne)

January 20, 2023, 10:12 pm

In ‘Alegría,’ Jews, Christians and Muslims come to a boil in a Spanish melting pot

The new film by director Violeta Salama, screening at the New York Jewish Film Festival on Jan. 22, embraces complexities of identity in the tumultuous African port city of Melilla

By Rich Tenorio

'Sentence: Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison,' by Daniel Genis, pictured at right in weightlifting gear, in an undated photo taken during his prison time. (Courtesy)

December 21, 2022, 3:54 am

A first ‘real’ Hanukkah helped an inmate find light during a decade behind bars

In his memoir ‘Sentence: Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison,’ Daniel Genis tells how voracious reading and finding his Jewish identity saved his life in more ways than one

By Rich Tenorio

Illustration from the 13th century Morgan Bible, of David bringing the Ark into Jerusalem. (Public domain)

December 17, 2022, 10:05 am

How priests, prophets and kings united Israel in monotheism and codified the Torah

In ‘The Book of Revolutions,’ Rabbi Edward Feld analyzes three of the Bible’s main precepts, written over hundreds of years and later compiled by exiled priests in Babylon

By Rich Tenorio

Striding lions with Eros child (pair of two). Early 1st century BCE- mid 1st century CE, Yemen, bronze. (Courtesy of Smithsonian/ Colleen Dugan)

December 12, 2022, 5:03 am

In ancient Yemen, a booming economy sparked cultures rivaling the Greeks and Romans

A newly-opened Smithsonian exhibit holds 2,000-year-old artifacts revealing a civilization in its golden age, with an incense trade that spanned the known world from Rome to India

By Rich Tenorio

Mo Levy at the Roulette Records office, sirca 1969. (Wikimedia commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0/ Richard Carlin)

November 29, 2022, 1:38 am

Jewish organized crime made jazz noteworthy – but left Black musicians flat

In his new book ‘Dangerous Rhythms,’ author TJ English exposes a dark underside of the music industry, showing how mob-adjacent Jews fought segregation while exploiting the talent

By Rich Tenorio

Right: An illustrative photo of Isidore Isaacs in Grand Army of the Republic uniform. He served that organization as Commander of the Department of New York in 1921. Left: The original HUVA (Hebrew Union Veterans of America) badge, produced in 1896. (Courtesy of National Museum of American Jewish Military History/ NYU Press/ Shapell Foundation)

November 14, 2022, 6:03 pm

Braving bigotry and enemy fire, Jews served the Union valiantly during the Civil War

Book ‘Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War,’ out November 15, shows how Jewish troops fought in an army that served pork, rested Sundays and was led by a general who didn’t want them

By Rich Tenorio

'The Ghosts of Rose Hill,' by R.M. Romero. (Courtesy)

November 5, 2022, 5:53 am

A Latina-American Jew finds a kindred spirit in this romantic YA ghost story

When aspiring violinist Ilana is sent to stay with an aunt in Prague, she meets Benjamin. But things aren’t all as they seem in ‘The Ghosts of Rose Hill,’ a new book by RM Romero

By Rich Tenorio

'Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors' (Courtesy); Tova Friedman's kasha varnishkes (Ellen Silverman).

October 19, 2022, 3:18 am

Recipes in this Holocaust survivors’ cookbook nourished souls during and after WWII

All of the 110-plus dishes in the newly-released ‘Honey Cake & Latkes’ were provided by Auschwitz survivors who say discussing the recipes helped them live through their starvation

By Rich Tenorio

A member of the Assemblies of God Ministry of Restoration church reacts to the words of Pentecostal preacher Dione dos Santos in the Coreia shantytown, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 28, 2014. Evangelical Christianity is the fastest growing religious segment in Brazil and its population is exploding. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

October 15, 2022, 1:25 pm

Are the End Times near? How Pentecostal Christianity is taking over the world

In her new book ‘Beyond Belief,’ journalist Elle Hardy writes about her encounters around the globe with the fast-growing religion, and theorizes about what makes it so popular

By 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