Benjamin Ivry

1 day ago | thecatholicherald.com | Benjamin Ivry

On 14 April, the late Pope Francis declared the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí a Venerable Servant of God, recognising his heroic virtues. In doing so, he honoured a mightily talented creative spirit and much revered eccentric. Gaudí, who died a century ago, blended natural imagery and piety with extreme gusto, most unforgettably in the looming, asparagus-like towers of Sagrada Família in Barcelona.

3 days ago | forward.com | Benjamin Ivry

The Russian Jewish dancer Valery Panov, who died June 3 at age 87, proved that the torment of Soviet-era antisemitism endured long after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Born in Vitebsk, Belarus, celebrated as the hometown of the painter Marc Chagall, Panov was the son of Matvei Shulman, an industrial supervisor, who assimilated to the Communist ethos of his time.

4 days ago | forward.com | Benjamin Ivry

On June 3, it was revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename a ship that was dedicated in honor of the American Jewish gay rights advocate Harvey Milk. This unusual move was scheduled by the current administration to coincide with Pride Month.

2 weeks ago | forward.com | Benjamin Ivry

Last year, during a call with Jewish leaders for the High Holidays, then-president Joe Biden described recent American and Jewish experience as "a season of joy and pain." As longtime senator from Delaware, Biden stated that the "wisdom" he learned from these constituents amounted to "a delicate yet profound balance between celebration and suffering.

1 month ago | forward.com | Benjamin Ivry

A reported White House plan, announced May 4, to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the former prison on an island off San Francisco that has been closed for over 60 years, has been dismissed by Izzy Gardon, spokesperson for the California governor, as "Distraction Day again in Washington, D.C." Scott Wiener, co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, tweeted that the notion of a "domestic gulag right in the middle of San Francisco Bay" was an "attack on the rule of law." Yet Alcatraz,...