Gloria Abella Ballen
Finding Walter Benjamin in the Neue Galerie
... about Walter Benjamin and the perfect place, the Neue Galerie, where I found his book, The Story Teller: Tales out of Loneliness.
Jewish European History
Ron Duncan Hart
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer
...to think of its aftermath, the sharp contrast between this celebration of life painted by Klimt and the Nazi wave of hatred that would destroy the Jewish life
Jewish European History
Flourish and Struggle: The Elusive Jewish Communities of Barcelona
By Jonah Wald During December of 2025 and going into the January of 2026 I went with my family to Barcelona, Spain. We learned a lot about the rich history of this area and I became very interested. These are some things I learned on my trip. The Spanish Inquisition
Personal Essay
New Mexican by Proxy or How My Soul Came to Belong to New Mexico
by Corinne Joy Brown Citizens of New Mexico fascinate me. Native Americans, settlers, adventurers, retirees, and transplants. People who arrived by accident and others who came for a reason. Some who thought they were merely passing through, then realized, decades later, they never left. Let’s not leave out the
Traveling while Jewish
A Jewish Community is Thriving in the “Land of Fire and Ice” and celebrating Chanukah
Story and photos by Jim Winnerman Is there a Jewish presence in the remote country of Iceland? For most people, the answer will invariably be that they have no idea, and then are surprised to learn that the island nation is in fact home to a small but thriving Jewish
Jewish European History
Etty and the Etty Project: Susan Stein in New Mexico
by Dianne R. Layden, Ph.D. The short play Etty about the life of Dutch woman Esther “Etty” Hillesum (1914-1943) during the German occupation was performed by Susan Stein in schools and houses of worship in New Mexico in October 2025.* I saw the performance in Albuquerque at Congregation Albert
Jewish Films
Personal essay written on Oct. 13th from Marisa Fox, the Filmmaker of "My Underground Mother" SFIFF Official Selection
"Freedom fighter, double agent, femme fatale — Tamar said she was all three. Decades after her death, a page she wrote in a diary from a Nazi-run women’s camp reveals a hidden identity, leading her journalist daughter on a global reckoning with the secrets she took to her grave.
Jewish Films
"Extinguished Lives" world-premier short documentary; interview with filmmaker Roberta Grossman, SFIFF OFFICIAL SELECTION
"When a young bride and her husband escape the Nazi onslaught for the safety of her childhood home—a remote Jewish village in Lithuania—they discover that the most chilling threat may come not from the invaders, but from those they once called neighbors." "Extinguished Lives"
Opinion
As Wagner's German opera house addresses his antisemitism, one of his most famous works is coming to the Santa Fe Opera this summer.
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross Update: The Jewish community in Bayreuth Germany has chosen to run this article on their website at ikgbayreuth.de About ten years ago, a fellow opera lover gave me a DVD of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. I had little interest in the
Essay
Generational Trauma in the Age of Fascism
By Didi Rosenthal March 28, 2025 I remember when I asked my mother about whether she ever felt resentful about the German citizenry not protesting the attacks on Jews during the rise of Hitler and the Holocaust. She responded that she really didn’t blame others because they and their