Rich Tenorio

A reinforced platoon of soldiers ready for battle moves out, in search of 'suicide squad' in Santiago, Chile, allegedly formed by government sympathizers, September 13, 1973, after the coup two days prior against president Salvador Allende. (AP Photo)

September 15, 2023, 1:33 am

What happened in Chile on the ‘other’ 9/11? A novel weighs a quasi-fictional scenario

In ‘The Suicide Museum,’ Chilean-American writer Ariel Dorfman pens an alternate history with himself and his family, along with a driven Holocaust survivor, as protagonists

By Rich Tenorio

Two Holocaust survivor families on the Vineland, New Jersey-area poultry farm they jointly purchased in 1947. From left to right: Dina and Dorothy Liverant, standing next to a visitor, with Ruth, Bronia, and Nuchim Grin, Seth Stern's mother and grandparents. (Photo courtesy of Stern)

September 2, 2023, 3:47 am

How Holocaust survivors flocked to NJ to start a thriving poultry farming industry

Seth Stern’s new book ‘Speaking Yiddish to Chickens’ tells how his grandparents joined thousands of other Jews in a plucky venture as they rebuilt their lives in rural America

By Rich Tenorio

Yitzhak Melamed looks at a bust of Spinoza in a screenshot from the film, 'Spinoza: 6 Reasons for the Excommunication of the Philosopher.' (Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

September 1, 2023, 8:05 am

A film on Spinoza that got its crew banned by an Amsterdam rabbi is making waves

The heretical Jewish philosopher was excommunicated by his community in 1656 for his ideas. A newly released documentary about him had a similar reception – but critics love it

By Rich Tenorio

Photos of Ted and Joan Hall in 'A Compassionate Spy.' (Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

August 12, 2023, 2:43 am

The spy who loved her: How wife shielded US nuclear scientist after intel leak to USSR

New documentary ‘A Compassionate Spy’ reveals the crisis of conscience that led Manhattan Project physicist Ted Hall to spy for the Soviets, and how his spouse Joan kept his secret

By Rich Tenorio

Illustrative: A woman in a wheelchair basks in the sun on Via Portico d'Ottavia in Rome's Old Ghetto, one of the world's longest continuing Jewish communities, October 31, 1997. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

August 10, 2023, 3:45 am

An epic tale: New book details over two millennia of Roman Jewish life

From the Church to Mussolini, ‘Intimate Strangers’ sees archaeologist and historian Fredric Brandfon explore the rich and complex history of Europe’s oldest Jewish community

By Rich Tenorio

Zev Vilmos Klein sits on the sofa while his daughter shows a family photo in the film 'Endphase.' (Courtesy Sixpack Film)

July 30, 2023, 3:17 am

With ‘Endphase,’ local filmmaker brings to light 1945 massacre in quiet Austrian town

Hans Hochstöger grew up in idyllic Hofamt Priel never knowing that the SS gunned down over 200 Hungarian Jews there. Now he seeks to raise awareness of the village’s tragic history

By Rich Tenorio

Prof. Avi Loeb, center, on a scientific expedition off of the coast of Papua New Guinea in June 2023 to identify parts of a possible interstellar meteor that crashed in 2014. (Courtesy of Loeb)

July 27, 2023, 2:43 am

Avi Loeb’s claims of finding possible alien technology are polarizing scientists

Funded by a crypto mogul, the Israel-born Harvard professor says a meteor that exploded off the coast of Papua New Guinea may be the first interstellar object found by humanity

By Rich Tenorio

Sanford Greenberg in Washington, DC, September 25, 2017. (Courtesy)

July 7, 2023, 2:25 am

Inventor, blindness activist and former roommate of Art Garfunkel honored at Harvard

The musician inspired Sanford Greenberg to push on with his studies at Columbia after losing his sight. In turn, he helped inspire the classic anthem, ‘The Sound of Silence’

By Rich Tenorio

Moshe Safdie at the Albert Einstein Education and Research Center in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in 2022. (Courtesy Safdie Architects)

June 12, 2023, 3:32 am

From Jeddah to Jerusalem, Israel-born Moshe Safdie cements his architectural legacy

The master draughtsman’s projects include the Yad Vashem redesign and a Sheldon Adelson-owned resort; he writes about it all in his memoir, ‘If Walls Could Speak’

By Rich Tenorio

Woman hands burning white sage. (iStock photo/ ninelutsk)

May 30, 2023, 2:10 am

Check yourself before you hex yourself: An expert’s guide to the evil eye

In his new book ‘The Evil Eye: The History, Mystery, and Magic of the Quiet Curse,’ Antonio Pagliarulo gives a practical overview of one of history’s most durable forces

By Rich Tenorio

The 12th century Crusader fortress Belvoir, at Israel's Kochav HaYarden National Park in the Jordan Valley (Shmuel Bar-Am)

May 27, 2023, 10:05 am

Between bloodbaths, Jerusalem’s Crusader-era Christians, Muslims coexisted in peace

In ‘Jerusalem Falls,’ Prof. John Hosler analyzes what happened in the Holy City between the battles of the Middle Ages – and finds unexpected religious tolerance

By Rich Tenorio

Illustrative: 'Jewish Wedding' by Marco Marcuola of Venice, painted around 1780. (Wikimedia commons/ CC SA 4.0/ Moise Nedjar)

May 26, 2023, 9:44 am

Massive history book charts how the Jewish Diaspora reached all corners of the globe

In the 1,200-page fifth installment of the Posen Library series, Prof. Yosef Kaplan gives a thorough and colorful look at Jews’ cultural and geographical expansion from 1500-1750

By Rich Tenorio

Abigél Szõke and Károly Hajduk in 'Those Who Remained.' (Courtesy: Menemsha Films)

April 28, 2023, 10:16 am

In Hungarian film ‘Those Who Remained,’ how 2 Holocaust survivors adapt to new lives

In the 2019 film making its US debut in NYC on April 28, a man and a young girl learn to lean on each other for support as the Communist regime ushers in an era of fresh challenges

By Rich Tenorio

Rescuer Chiune Sugihara as the consul of Japan in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1940. (Courtesy Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive)

April 19, 2023, 3:36 am

Musical tribute to ‘Japanese Schindler’ Chiune Sugihara has US debut in Carnegie Hall

The story of the Japanese consulate worker who saved thousands of Jewish refugees in Lithuania in 1940 is now being told in concert halls around the globe – and in NYC on April 19

By Rich Tenorio

'The Baron: Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Nineteenth Century,' by Prof. Matthias B. Lehmann. (Courtesy)

April 11, 2023, 10:24 pm

How Orient Express’s Baron Maurice de Hirsch changed the track of Jewish migration

In bio ‘The Baron,’ Prof. Matthias B. Lehmann takes a new approach to history-telling by following the man who helped resettle Jews in locales ranging from Istanbul to Argentina

By Rich Tenorio