Mona Lyn Reese has been composing professionally for more than 35 years, including a stint as composer-in-residence at the Minnesota Opera from 1991-1999. Her most recent album is a dramatic oratorio titled Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim, an interfaith commemoration of the Holocaust, which Reese composed with librettist Delores Dufner, OSB. The ambitious work was recorded [...]

A nonviolent revolutionary who inspired generations of political activists to speak out and confront injustice
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
Marv Davidov, the most prominent face of the local peace movement, began his decades-long career as an activist for peace and social justice in 1961. He was part of a group of six young Minnesotans (including three [...]

Comedy in a Minor Key, by Hans Keilson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 135 pages, $13
Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER
For many Jews, comedy — even in the constant unease of a minor key — won’t mean laughing aloud while reading Hans Keilson’s charming novella about a young Dutch couple hiding a Jew during the war.
The [...]

Yuval Ron Ensemble will welcome local Jewish performers, and others, for a concert in Stillwater
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN
Jews in Stillwater? Yes, there’s a small Jewish community on the St. Croix River, but on Sunday night, Jan. 22, the Jewish population in the “birthplace of Minnesota” is likely to boom thanks to Yuval Ron.
Israel-born, Los [...]

Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate, was in the news last week. Adelson, a billionaire who is the largest donor to Birthright Israel and a prominent contributor to other Jewish causes, reportedly contributed $5 million to Winning Our Future, the pro-Newt Gingrich “super PAC.”
The super PAC, a new breed of political action [...]