David Denby, author of Eminent Jews, a study of Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan and Norman Mailer, will appear at Congregation Torat El in Oakhurst on Sunday, March 22 at 11 a.m.
As prosperity for Jews increased and antisemitism began to fade after World War II, these four creative giants altered the way people around the world listened to music, defined what was vulgar, comprehended the relations of men and women and understood the American soul during the latter of the 20th century.
Denby is a New York Times bestselling author, including of American Sucker and LitUp. He was a film critic for New York Magazine and The New Yorker, where he is now a staff writer. His essays have appeared in The New Republic and The Atlantic.
The book can be purchased from bookshop.org to support independent bookstores or amazon.com.
Cost is $20 per person in advance and $25 at the door. A light brunch will be served. Reservations can be made at torat-el.org or 732-531-4410.
While World War II is generally understood as the Western allies’ struggle against Nazism, Jochen Hellbeck, Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University, has another explanation—that Nazi Germany didn’t view the West as its greatest existential threat, but rather communism and Soviet Russia. Its obsession with eliminating “Judeo-Bolshevism” became ground zero for the Holocaust.
On Monday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Douglass Student Center in
New Brunswick, Hellbeck will speak about that link between German anti-communism and the Holocaust explored in his newest book, World Enemy No. 1: Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and the Fate of the Jews, during the Toby and Herbert Stolzer Annual Lecture sponsored by the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers.
Drawing on newly declassified Soviet archives and other recently discovered sources for his book, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in history, Hellbeck will discuss his groundbreaking insights. His academic specialties are modern Russia, the Soviet Union, and the history of World War II.
The program is free but advance registration is required at bidnercenter.rutgers.edu.
The Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County in Edison will celebrate Women’s History Month with author Alyson Richman on Tuesday, March 24 at 7 p.m. There she will discuss her book, The Missing Pages, a tale of family legacy and the resilience of memory. The book revolves around Harry Widener, a promising and passionate book collector who boards the Titanic holding a priceless volume he’s just purchased in London. As the ship goes down, he rushes back to his cabin to retrieve the precious book, but neither he nor the book are ever heard from again. To preserve his memory, Harry’s mother builds the Harry Widener Memorial Library at Harvard to house his extensive book collection and ensure his legacy. Harry Widener did, in fact, board the Titanic with his parents—his father also died—and his rescued mother did establish the library at Harvard.
In Richman’s book, Violet Hutchins, a Harvard sophomore recovering from her own great loss, is working as a page at the Widener Library. When mysterious things begin happening at the library, Violet wonders if Harry Widener’s ghost is trying to communicate with her, urging Violet to uncover a long-buried secret that the ardent young Harry took with him to the grave.
Light refreshments will be served. Cost is $36 for VIP, including signed book: $10 for members and $7 for non-members.
For information contact Hannah Cohn at hcohn@jccmc.org. To register go to jccmc.org/missingpages.
Meet Joshua Stulman, the creator and artist behind of Israel Defense Comics, as he discusses the real life events and experiences that led to the creation of his comic book series, March 29 at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County in Freehold. His work features the Jewish superhero, Magen: The Shield of Israel.
Stulman will also discuss his advocacy work on behalf of Israel in New York City. In 2010,he co-founded the Jewish arts gallery, Hadas Gallery, in Brooklyn and served as curator until 2014 where he organized the “Super-Jews” exhibition, highlighting the history of Jewish super heroes in Comics.
Israeli Defense Comics helped sponsor the first annual Jewish Comic Con in Brooklyn in 2017 and Stulman served as co-curator for the “Pow!!! Jewish Comic Art and Influence” exhibition in Brooklyn in 2018.
Stulman, whose art has appeared in the Jerusalem Post, is a speaker about the Jewish history of the comic book Industry and publishes a weekly blog on current events in comics.
Attendees will be able to purchase his artwork with free signatures and will receive a free raffle ticket for an original piece of artwork. Cost is $20 for museum members and $25 for non-members. For information contact Barry Haber at (732) 252-6990 or bhaber@jhmomc.org. To purchase tickets go to www.jhmomc.org.
