Traveling while Jewish
By Judith Fein with Alex Denisenko When I grew up, I was mesmerized by my “foreign” grandmother. She had gray hair, sometimes wore nylon stockings that she rolled up at the top, had an accent, read a newspaper in Yiddish, and, like many other immigrants, never wanted to talk about
Arts Feature
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross I was sitting at a recent event sponsored by the Wagner Society of Santa Fe. It was about the Santa Fe Opera’s American premiere of Lili Elbe, the true story of one of the first trans women ever to undergo gender-affirming
Arts Review
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross My husband Paul and I were dining in the Gastronomy Cooking School in Mexico City when I became captivated by a copy of a startling Diego Rivera mural that covered the entire back wall of the room. I could not take my eyes
Community News Feature
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross When someone asks me why I became a travel journalist, I say it’s because I love learning. Every day I try to learn something new, and traveling is the best way to learn many new things at the same time. What I
Traveling while Jewish
by Judith Fein When I met an affable local guide in Catalunya, I innocently asked if anything unusual was happening during the current Semana Santa or Holy Week, which included both Easter and Passover. “Well,” she began, “perhaps you have heard of the Catalonian desserts called brunyols, which are fried
Iran
“You’ll never get out alive. You’re Jewish. You’re female. They’ll behead you, and they’ll post it on youtube.” "There’s NO American Embassy. You’ll rot in a rat-infested jail for the rest of your life” Those were some of the cheery reactions my friends had when I said I was going to Iran.
Personal Essay
Arts Review
By Judith Fein It is very rare that I weep in the dark because I am so moved, hold my breath from the brilliance of a production, or watch an almost three-hour show and immediately want to see it again. And I can’t recall whispering, “How did they
Arts Review
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross As an international travel journalist, I have met with prime ministers and presidents. As a Hollywood writer, I had alone time with stars, and heads of studios. Never did I feel a frisson of fear. But I was un petit peu panicky about
Arts Review
By Judith Fein with photos by Paul Ross and photos by Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera. Things to think about … 1. Your butt. Die Walküre is the second of a groundbreaking, monumental, four-opera, 18-hour series by Richard Wagner referred to as the Ring Cycle. Die Walküre,
Restaurant Review
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross When the Manhattan Avenue Jewish deli opened in Santa Fe a few months ago, it brought on an attack of nostalgia for New York childhood ethnic food delights via the shtetls of Eastern Europe: knishes, chicken matzah ball soup, pickled herring, and real
Opinion
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