Gal Gadot a Google Hit
Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who rocketed to fame in 2017 by playing the title character in Wonder Woman, ranked as the sixth-most searched person on Google, Google Trends reported.
Gadot also was the third-most searched in Google’s “actors” category.
On less-positive notes for Jews, disgraced American film producer Harvey Weinstein ranked as the fourth-most searched person, while somewhat-disgraced actor and comedian Louis C.K. was the fourth-most searched actor.
Fellowship Brings 5,600 Immigrants to Israel in 2017
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews said it brought 5,600 immigrants from 27 countries to Israel in 2017, a 25 percent increase from a year ago.
The fellowship works in countries “where the Jewish community is threatened by economic turbulence, rising anti-Semitism or terrorism, and has become the lead aliyah force in nine of those countries.”
About 28,400 immigrants arrived in Israel from around the world in 2017, according to the fellowship. That total included 3,000 from North America and about 1,000 from other English-speaking nations.
Yiddish Version of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Planned
The National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene in New York City will produce a Yiddish-language adaptation of beloved musical Fiddler on the Roof, The New York Times reported. Performances are scheduled for July at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
The production “will be presented in the context of a historical retrospective hypothetically introducing the idea that Sholem Aleichem has been present at the conception of the adaptation of his work for the musical stage,” Christopher Massimine, the Yiddish theater’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Tony Award-winner Sheldon Harnick, who wrote the show’s lyrics, will be a consultant, while Broadway director Jerry Zaks will be an adviser.
Throw Pillow Covers Featuring Holocaust Memorial Cause Stir for German Amazon
Amazon in Germany is being criticized for allowing retailers to sell a throw pillow cover depicting Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, JNS.org reported.
A company called Annyer Willer is selling the pillow cover of the Holocaust memorial for about $16. Amazon’s French and British websites have other retailers selling the pillow cover.
We Stand With Israel’s German branch responded cynically on social media by saying, “Let’s make some profit from the memory of the Holocaust. This is what the Jews would have wanted.”
Several With Area Connections Die in Costa Rica Plane Crash
A University of Pennsylvania student, his family and a family that used to live in Montgomery County were among 12 killed Dec. 31 in a plane crash in Costa Rica, The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Penn student William Steinberg from Scarsdale, N.Y., his parents and two brothers were headed to San José when the single-propeller plane crashed soon after taking off.
Also aboard were former Montgomery County residents Leslie Levin Weiss, husband Mitchell Weiss, and children Hannah Mae Weiss and Ari Moses Weiss. The family moved to Florida in 2005.
