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Tramp Art and Jewish History

By Masha Leon

In keeping with the Texas theme of the January 20 opening-night preview of the American Antique Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion, the party’s grand chairman was Lynda Johnson Robb, daughter of former president Lyndon B. Johnson. Also in the photographers’ sights was guest and collector Martha Stewart. Strolling through displays of Shaker cabinets, 18th- and 19th-century paintings and Indian art, I chanced upon the booth “M. Finkel & Daughter — America’s Leading Antique Sampler and Needlework Dealer” (a sampler is a form of needlework with either alphabets or the name of the person who made it embroidered). Were there any American-Jewish sampler makers? Greeting me with, “My mother reads the Forward,” Amy Finkel (the daughter in M. Finkel & Daughter) explained: In all my years of collecting, I have come across only two or three important Jewish samplers. These were always made by young girls, usually alphabets or aphorisms. In the 1820 to ’30s, there was one by a 7- or 8-year-old from Richmond, Virginia, and another from Baltimore by a Sarah Benjamin, daughter of a Dutch-Jewish merchant who came to America in the 1820s… I am always on the lookout for samplers in Hebrew, from Palestine. In the 1920s to ’30s, there were some in Hebrew that are now in private collections. My quilt collector-buyers include Barbra Streisand and Woody Allen.Read More

Timeless and Timely Lyrics

By Masha Leon

Setting the tone for the January 18 Silver Anniversary Gala of the Congress of Racial Equality, Rabbi Shea Hecht, chairman of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education, stated, “[This evening] is a partial fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, led by a mosaic of leaders who remind us that we are all children of God.” With a wide smile and deep décolletage, philanthropist Tova Leidesdorf, recipient of the International Brotherhood Award, saluted the black-tie crowd at the Sheraton New York Hotel with: “Good evening! Salaam,! Shalom aleichem! I was born in Palestine…. During World War II, American soldiers came to my home for Shabbat dinner. They brought Hershey chocolate bars.Read More

When Putsch Came to Shove

By Masha Leon

“How do you hide a Jewish family in full view?” posited 97-year-old Marga Spiegel, whose memoir, “Saviors in the Night/Unter Bauern: Retter in der Nacht,” is the basis for the film of the same name, which launched January 12 at the New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater. “By saving us, they saved the world,” said Spiegel, as we sat next to each other at lunch at Sardi’s earlier that day.Read More

A 'Mikado' for the 21st Century

By Masha Leon

When the operetta “The Mikado” made its 1885 London debut at the Savoy Theatre, its creators — lyricist William Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan — could not have imagined that in 2010, in New York City, the cast would include a Jewish cantor (a woman at that!).Read More

Remembering "Shep" Zitler

By Masha Leon

The last time I saw Marek Edelman, who died October 2 at 90, was at the October 5, 1997, “100 Years Bund” celebration, which was held at New York’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. We chatted in Yiddish. He remembered my father, Matvey Bernsztejn, and reminded me that as a teenager he had been one of my baby-sitters in prewar Warsaw when my parents wanted to attend various political or social unternemungen (meetings).Read More

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