Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Articles written by Dan Pine


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  • Once buried in Europe, a Hitler puppet stashed in Frank Oz's Oakland attic tells his family's Holocaust story

    Dan Pine|Aug 19, 2022

    (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) - Long before Frank Oz gained fame as the puppet master behind such iconic characters as Miss Piggy and Yoda, he was Frank Oznowicz, an Oakland kid who attended Tech High, ate burgers at Kwik Way and watched movies at the Grand Lake Theater. And from time to time, he'd rummage through the attic of his home. One day he came across something that would prove to be extraordinary: a set of wooden marionettes, carved in the 1930s by his Jewish...

  • JLens puts a focus on investing with Jewish values in mind

    Dan Pine, j. the Jewish news weekly of northern california|Sep 20, 2013

    For sage financial wisdom, Julie Hammerman doesn’t turn only to someone with a proven track record like investor Warren Buffett. She also turns to Maimonides. As founder of the new nonprofit JLens Investor Network (http://www.jlensnetwork.org), Hammerman helps individuals and institutions—such as Jewish federations and foundations—meet investment goals while simultaneously honoring the Jewish values they espouse. Doing well by doing good? The former investment banker says it’s doable. “The fear of losing financial return has been used for... Full story

  • Body of quirk: The life and comedy of Allan Sherman

    Dan Pine, j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California|Jun 21, 2013

    SAN FRANCISCO—Fifty years ago, a hit single took America by storm, one unlike anything on the top of the charts: ”Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah,” a paean to summer camp angst, sung by a pudgy Jewish guy in horned-rims and a crew cut. That song about Camp Granada, where “all counselors hate the waiters, and the lake has alligators,” cemented Allan Sherman’s reputation as the nation’s great song parodist. More than that, it opened pop culture to a Yiddish-inflected humor later perfected by... Full story

  • Humanities professor, evolutionary biologist pursue Jews' genetic trail

    Dan Pine, j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California|May 31, 2013

    By Dan Pine j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California As a professor of Jewish religion, Steve Weitzman studies the lives of biblical figures from Abraham to Zipporah. Now, thanks to his collaboration with genetics researcher Noah Rosenberg, he may be able to examine their DNA as well. The two Stanford University professors teamed up last semester to offer a course they called “From Generation to Generation: The Genetics of Jewish Populations.” The San Francisco-based Koret Fou... Full story

  • 'Seinfeld's' George directs new musical based on '60s Jewish comedy LPs

    Dan Pine, j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California|May 31, 2013

    Taking classic ’60s-era Jewish comedy albums and turning them into a modern-day musical? That’s a pretty big matzah ball hanging out there. Nothing actor Jason Alexander can’t handle. Best known now and forever as George Costanza from “Seinfeld,” he’s been a man of the theater throughout his long career. Alexander directs “When You’re In Love, the Whole World is Jewish,” a new musical revue that was set for its Bay Area debut with a three-day run starting May 24 at San Francisco’s Marin... Full story

  • Poker pals in Philippines took gamble, saved 1,200 Jews

    Dan Pine, j. the Jewish news weekly of northern California|Apr 19, 2013

    SAN FRANCISCO—Mary Farquhar’s earliest memory is of flame. Specifically, the flames of war in the last months of World War II, when Japanese forces battled the Americans in a fight to reclaim Manila, Farquhar’s city of refuge. She was a toddler at the time, the daughter of Austrian Jews given safe harbor in the Philippines, where she was born in 1943. Hers was one of hundreds of European Jewish families—1,200 Jews in all—taken in by the Pacific island nation between 1938 and 1941, saved from the Nazis by an unlikely alliance of Americans and Fi... Full story