The Miriam Catalog and Repository
Welcome to NAJC
The purpose of the Miriam Catalog and Repository is to document the culture of North American Jews.
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Who We Are
President NAJC
Alan Bailin, PhD, MLS
Professor of Library Services, Hofstra University
Treasurer
Ari Fridkis, MA, MSW
Rabbi, Temple of Universal Judaism
Secretary
Martha Kreisel, MA, MAH
Retired Associate Professor of Library Services, Hofstra University
Collection Director
Ann Grafstein, PhD, MLIS
Professor of Library Services, Hofstra University
Miriam Catalog and Repository
The purpose of the Miriam Catalog and Repository is to document the culture of North American Jews. North American Jewish Culture (NAJC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.
Recent Submissions
In Peter Yarrow’s legacy, an uneasy blend of Jewish values and personal transgressions: The folksinging Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary has died at 86
(The Forward, 2025-01-07) Ivry, Benjamin
Folksinger, Peter Yarrow, of the well-known singing trio, Peter Paul and Mary, died on January 7, 2025. The singing group melded traditional folk music with a kind of easy-listening sound. Peter Paul and Mary were prominent performers at civil rights protests, including the 1963 March on Washington. The trio was influenced by the older politically-engaged singing group, The Weavers. Yarrow had a secular Jewish upbringing and credited his political commitments to his Jewish values. in 2002 in the Atlanta Jewish Times, he described Peter Paul and Mary as the “the Tikkun Olam trio.”
A stain on his legacy is that he had been incarcerated for three months in 1970 for molesting a 14-year old girl in his hotel room. Eleven years later, he petitioned then President Jimmy Carter for a pardon, which was granted. In his letter to Carter, Yarrow stated that he wished to show his own children “that society has forgiven their father” and “their daddy did something very wrong [but] their daddy has also done much for society to help eliminate want and inequality where he saw it.”
Click on the link to read the article.
“J is for Janucá” Brings Latinx Jewish Representation to Children’s Books
(Latina Media Co, 2023-12-15) Heredia, Ces
Ces Herida grew up Jewish in northern Mexico, experienced her Jewishness through a multicultural lens. She describes her house as the only one with a menorah in the window. In trying to explain to Mexicans--Jews and non-Jews--her friend and fellow Jewish-Mexican, Melanie Romero, wrote a children's books “J is for Janucá” She describes the difficulty of establishing an identify in a very Catholic country. Romero describes to Herida the pain of not seeing representations of people like you in the media. "My childhood," she said, "would have been much more empathetic if I had seen a version of myself in the media, and I never did..." Her hope is that "J is for Janucá " will "prevent other Latinx Jewish kids from going through what we went through: the mean comments from kids (and parents), the ignorance, the antisemitic remarks. It holds space for the religious and cultural traditions of a minority within a minority—Latinx Jews—and that can only ever be a good thing." Click on the link to read the article.
Dianne Feinstein, longest serving woman in the Senate, has died at 90
(2023-09-29) Shafer, scott
Obituary on NPR for Dianne Feinstein, former senator from California, who was the longest serving woman in the senate. Her initial foray into a significant elected position came in the aftermath of the assassinations of San Francisco mayor George Mascone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. She served as interim mayor and then won election as mayor and served until 1988. Feinstein's tenure as mayor coincided with the AIDS epidemic that overran San Francisco and was ignored by the Regan administration. Feinstein spared no resources to fight the epidemic. She won a seat as the Senator from California partially in the wake of the Congressional hearings on the elevation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, silencing the accusation of sexual harassment leveled against him by his former law clerk, Anita Hill. She is widely credited with opening the door to other women striving for positions of power. Click on the link to read the obituary.
Gangsters vs. Nazis: How the Jewish mob fought American admirers of the Third Reich
(Tablet, 2018-07-02) Rockaway, Robert
This article describes the rise of antisemitism in the United States concomitant with Hitler's rise to power in Germany. American Jews were frightened and the response of the Jewish establishment was tepid. The Jewish American group that did undertake robust militant responses was the Jewish mob. Nathan Perlman, a former Republican congressman, secretly reached out to and sought the help of Meyer Lansky, a prominent organized crime figure. They attended Nazi rallies and violently attacked the Nazis--but did not kill any of them. Talk show host, Larry King, described how when he was growing up in Brooklyn, “Jewish gangsters were our heroes. Even the bad ones were heroes to us.” Click on the link to read the article.
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show | Season 2 | Episode 14
(YouTube, 2021-12-03) Shore, Dinah
This is the second 14th episode of the "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show," an hour long variety show that Dina Shore starred in for seven years. This episode includes guests Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra. Click on the link to watch.