Judy Bolton-Fasman

Boston

Writer at Freelance

Writer of memoir and creative non-fiction

Articles

Trump’s latest target? Free speech

1 month ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

Share Since Donald Trump’s second presidential term began two months ago, his malicious lies and flagrant law breaking has been near-constant and demoralizing. He is hard at work transforming the United States of America into a dystopian landscape. In the last couple of weeks, the Trump administration has gone to battle against a federal judge who ordered that migrants and alleged gang members could not be deported without due process.
Trump’s latest target? Free speech

1 month ago | wbur.org | Judy Bolton-Fasman

Since Donald Trump’s second presidential term began two months ago, his malicious lies and flagrant law breaking has been near-constant and demoralizing. He is hard at work transforming the United States of America into a dystopian landscape. In the last couple of weeks, the Trump administration has gone to battle against a federal judge who ordered that migrants and alleged gang members could not be deported without due process.
Tony-Winning “Parade” Brings the Tragic Story of Leo Frank to Boston

2 months ago | jewishboston.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

It has been more than a century since Leo Frank, an erudite Brooklyn Jew transplanted to Atlanta, was falsely accused of murdering Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old girl who worked at the pencil factory Frank managed. It was a defining moment for American Jewry that led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League in 1913, the year of Frank’s trial.
'Not From Here: The Song of America'

Jan 21, 2025 | hadassahmagazine.org | Judy Bolton-Fasman

Email Print Houston author and librettist Leah Lax was commissioned to write a libretto of immigrant stories for The Refuge, an opera that debuted with the Houston Grand Opera in November 2007. As part of her research, Lax spent a year interviewing 123 immigrants—both documented and undocumented—living in greater Houston. Now, she presents six of those stories in Not From Here: The Song of America, accounts that humanize and illuminate the various immigrant experiences in the United States.
Reviving the Galilee: Rebuilding Lives and Communities After October 7

Jan 21, 2025 | jewishboston.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

Habaita, also known as “Back to the Galilee,” is an NGO in Israel working to revitalize the country’s Galilee region. With support from CJP, Habaita, which means “home” in Hebrew, is marshaling the resources of Israel’s north to help residents reestablish their lives in the region. Among the organization’s five pro-bono founders is social entrepreneur Tom Lahad. Lahad is a fighter pilot who flew in Lebanon for almost three months during the recent war.
“The Brutalist” Showcases Fortitude, Trauma and Architectural Genius

Dec 5, 2024 | jewishboston.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

A winner at the Venice Film Festival for best director and New York Film Critics Circle for best film and director, “The Brutalist” introduces us to Lázsló Tóth (Oscar winner Adrien Brody). Lázsló is a Hungarian architect who studied at the Bauhaus and then was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp.
In “A Real Pain,” Two Cousins Travel to Poland and Reckon With Identity, Legacy and Loss

Nov 15, 2024 | jewishboston.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

In the first scene of “A Real Pain,” we meet cousins Benji and David Kaplan (Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg) as they are about to depart to Warsaw for a Jewish heritage tour of Poland. The trip is at the bequest of their late Grandma Dory, who was born in Poland and survived the Holocaust due to “a thousand little miracles.” The men remember and admire her as a formidable woman. And Benji mourns the especially close and tough love relationship he had with her.
Hero Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s Favorite Cookies

Nov 8, 2024 | jewishboston.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

“Hero Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s Favorite Cookies” are not your typical chocolate chip cookies. Bite down into one, and you will taste a bit of Israel by way of cardamom and cinnamon, and the addition of a third ingredient emblematic of Israel—dates. “There was a twist,” said Marjorie Drucker, the founder and creative culinary force behind New England Soup Factory and The Modern Rotisserie in Newton. “Hersh’s cookie had those two spices not typically found in an American chocolate chip cookie.
A New Chapter in an Old Story

Oct 14, 2024 | tabletmag.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

Just a few weeks ago, writer and publisher Zibby Owens weighed in on Instagram about the latest antisemitic incident in the literary world. Writer Elisa Albert was invited to be on a panel in September at the Albany Book Festival with novelists Lisa Ko and Aisha Abdel Gawad. The program was canceled when Ko and Gawad refused to share the stage with a “Zionist.”“THIS IS NOT OKAY AND SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED,” Owens wrote in all caps on Instagram. She went on to exhort: “Pay attention, world.
Uniting in the Face of Tragedy: The Hostages and Missing Families Forum

Jun 17, 2024 | jewishboston.com | Judy Bolton-Fasman

A wall in Rebecca Assia Shafir’s office is covered with pictures of the hostages who have been held by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023. Their images are imprinted on the minds and hearts of Israelis and those in the Jewish Diaspora communities. The people in these photos, so alive on Shafir’s wall, are an embodiment of hope—hope that these babies, children, young adults, grandmothers and others are somehow surviving. Omer Shemtov’s picture is on that wall. Shemtov was at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7.