Rich Tenorio

Clockwise, from left: Cover of 'The Passenger,' by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz and translated into English via publisher Peter Graf (Courtesy); Kristallnacht destruction in Magdeburg, Germany, November 1938. (German Federal Archive/Wikipedia Commons); Author Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz (Courtesy Leo Baeck Institute, New York); Schoolchildren and others brought to watch the burning of synagogue furnishings on Kristallnacht in Mosbach, Germany, November 1938 (Courtesy).

June 9, 2021, 3:47 am

WWII victim’s 1938 novel about Kristallnacht makes English-language revival

Writer Ulrich Boschwitz fled Germany after pogrom and wrote contemporary account ‘The Passenger’ before death at sea by a Nazi torpedo. Now rediscovered, it’s earning rave reviews

By Rich Tenorio

Illustrative: Bernard Madoff, right, leaves US District Court in Manhattan, New York, after a bail hearing, January 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

June 4, 2021, 3:28 am

Before dying, Bernie Madoff lifted veil on the biggest Ponzi scheme in history

Business radio personality Jim Campbell releases ‘Madoff Talks,’ which covers 9 years of revealing interviews with the financial mastermind – up to his death in April behind bars

By Rich Tenorio

In this February 14, 2016 illustrative photo, a woman in an alien costume poses for a picture during the annual Alien Festival in Capilla del Monte, Cordoba, Argentina, the site of an alleged UFO sighting 30 years ago. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

April 29, 2021, 4:25 am

How do aliens look? An Israeli zoologist’s down-to-earth theory on ET evolution

In his new book ‘The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy,’ Arik Kershenbaum argues that using earthly evolutionary biology is the best way to picture interstellar life

By Rich Tenorio

A 1928 mugshot of Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, a Jewish American mobster, with significant influence within the Mafia and National Crime Syndicate. (Courtesy Yale University Press)

April 21, 2021, 4:33 am

How Jewish mobster Bugsy Siegel’s gamble on Vegas paid off after his murder

The movie star-handsome member of the infamous Murder, Inc. envisioned a gambling oasis in the desert, says a new book in Yale’s Jewish Lives series

By Rich Tenorio

Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, speaks with author David Rubenstein. (Courtesy)

April 9, 2021, 10:52 pm

What makes a leader? Billionaire author grills Fauci, Bezos, Oprah to find out

David Rubenstein loves talking to pros about what makes them tick, so when Bloomberg TV gave him his own interview show, he jumped at the chance. Now he’s written a book about it

By Rich Tenorio

Uri Shulevitz, author of 'Chance: Escape From the Holocaust,' and cover art. (Photo of Shulevitz courtesy of Paula Brown/ book cover courtesy Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

April 8, 2021, 4:56 pm

Fate has starring role in Holocaust-surviving illustrator’s memoir for children

Acclaimed writer/illustrator Uri Shulevitz returns with autobiography ‘Chance: Escape From the Holocaust,’ filled with encounters so fantastic they could only happen in real life

By Rich Tenorio

This photo of Dr. Robert Lefkowitz in his office at Duke University captures a pose that all of his trainees will undoubtedly find familiar: feet up on the desk, smile on his face, exulting over the latest data. (Courtesy)

March 1, 2021, 3:50 am

How a Nobel-winning ‘accidental scientist’ changed the world by saving himself

Robert Lefkowitz documents his career, culminating in a discovery used in 50% of FDA approved drugs in new memoir, ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm,’ out this month

By Rich Tenorio

Clockwise from top left: 'Bukra fil Mish Mish' poster; L to R: David, Shlomo, and Herschel Frenkel, with the poster for a Mish Mish film; director Tal Michael; Mish Mish opposite real-life Lebanese singer Sabah. (Courtesy Menemsha Films/ photo of Michael courtesy Michael)

February 18, 2021, 11:38 pm

‘Jewish Disney bros’ who founded Egypt animation industry make triumphant return

Tal Michael’s film ‘Bukra fil Mish Mish’ focuses on the Frenkels, a long-forgotten trio who launched a cartoon company by their bootstraps in the 1930s before being forced to flee

By Rich Tenorio

Gerard van Honthorst, 'Adoration of the Shepherds,' 1622. 'The Bible With and Without Jesus' looks at verses that can be interpreted to predict Jesus's birth. (Public domain)

December 25, 2020, 4:32 pm

The Bible without Jesus? How two faiths can read the same text in dissonant ways

Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Brettler parse opposing interpretations Jews and Christians have of the same Bible, and make the argument that religion doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game

By Rich Tenorio

Celebrity chef Pati Jinich in the kitchen at a pecan hacienda, or farm, in the Mexican state of Sonora. (Courtesy Jinich)

December 11, 2020, 10:05 pm

TV chef brings Mexican latkes and jalapeno matzah ball soup north of border

Pati Jinich boasts a rich culinary heritage from grandparents who fled to Mexico after the Holocaust, and uses it to educate Americans — from the small screen to the White House

By Rich Tenorio

Jonathan Rothberg aboard his superyacht Gene Machine with his home coronavirus test, Detect. (Courtesy)

December 5, 2020, 4:30 pm

On land and sea, US presidential-honored scientist works toward home virus test

Serial start-upper Jonathan Rothberg aims to turn tide of pandemic with a coronavirus testing kit he devised while isolating with vulnerable family members aboard his superyacht

By Rich Tenorio

'Embarkation of the Pilgrims,' by Robert Walter Weir, circa 1857. (Public domain/ Brooklyn Museum online collection)

November 26, 2020, 1:39 am

Back in 1620, the Pilgrim leader behind the 1st Thanksgiving was Hebrew-obsessed

William Bradford’s ‘Of Plymouth Plantation’ features about 1,000 words in the biblical tongue. But although many early Protestants studied Hebrew, they were hardly philo-Semitic

By Rich Tenorio

Illustrative: Not a member of the Catholic Jesuit order, Cesare Vincenzo Orsenigo was a top Vatican diplomatic link with the Nazi regime. In this 1939 photo he speaks with Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, with Adolf Hitler in the background. (Bundesarchiv bild)

November 10, 2020, 3:02 pm

Jesuit Catholic priest pens book about his order’s complicity in the Holocaust

Historian James Bernauer’s book ‘Jesuit Kaddish’ surprises academic Catholic order with a novel study of its members’ anti-Semitism — and honors those who saved Jews during WWII

By Rich Tenorio

Harry S. Truman holds up an Election Day edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune, which, based on early results, mistakenly announced 'Dewey Defeats Truman' on November 4, 1948. (AP Photo/Byron Rollins)

November 3, 2020, 4:01 pm

How a nascent Israel was a key issue in Truman’s stunning 1948 election upset

As another unpredictable election plays out, author A.J. Baime tells how support for the Jewish state and civil rights were both central to an underdog incumbent’s campaign

By Rich Tenorio

'The War With Grandpa' executive producer Tre Peart next to his chair. (Courtesy 101 Studios)

October 20, 2020, 3:08 am

15-year-old producer is behind the box office victor ‘The War With Grandpa’

Conquering other pandemic-era releases in ticket sales since its Oct. 9 open, the film starring Robert De Niro is based on the very Jewish children’s book by Robert Kimmel Smith

By Rich Tenorio