Israeli writer, essayist and cultural arbiter Adam Baruch, 63, died after a long battle with diabetes.
He was considered one of Israel’s most influential print journalists and worked at most of the country’s top media outlets.
According to his obituary on Ynetnews he was born Baruch Rosenblum to a religious family in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood in 1945, spent his childhood in Ramat Gan and his later adolescence at the Noam Yeshiva High School in Pardes Hannah. He later went on to study law at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University:
He adopted the nom de plume “Adam Baruch” during his military service, seeking to circumvent army regulations forbidding servicemen from publishing articles in civilian media.
Baruch’s unique rhetoric was epitomized in his personal column for Ma’ariv’s weekend edition; language that combined archaic Jewish legal decrees with modern Israeli issues. Baruch was also considered one of leading authorities in the field of art.
He served as curator for exhibits in Israel and abroad, and even put together a solo exhibit in 2003 at the Tel Aviv Museum which dealt with images created by the TV medium.
His books dealt with Jewish law as a way of bridging the religious Jewish culture with the secular Israeli experience.
Dorin Frankfurt, a leading fashion designer and one of Baruch’s closest friends said of him on Saturday: “Adam invented much of what we call true Israeli culture. It stemmed from his background, his roots. His hand was in everything: Art, writing… he had a profound understanding of whatever it is he was dealing with…He turned us into a cultural microcosm. Speaking of him in past tense is unbearable.”
In 2002, Baruch was given the AVI CHAI Fellowship award for his achievements in the field of culture. In explaining its selection, the award committee said Baruch “is an exceptional cultural mediator in the Israeli scene. In his extensive writing over the years he has been working on building an authentic, original bridge between the traditional Jewish language and the current Israeli dialect.”
An astute reader noticed that two significant Jewish women writers who died in 2007 were not on our list of notable 2007 Jewish deaths. So, we will make up for the oversight. (more…)
Here is the In My Heart list of notable 2007 Jewish deaths as reported in the trade media, New York Times, Canadian Press and elsewhere. This list certainly isn’t complete. First of all, we have left out most of the names you’ll find elsewhere on In My Heart. And we’re sure there are many others. Please send updates and corrections to us at In My Heart. (more…)
Jack Zander, 99, a pioneer and veteran in animation who continued in his field until his 90s, died Dec. 17, 2007. His work included animating Jerry (the mouse) in the first seven “Tom & Jerry” cartoons, now considered classics, TV specials, commercials and more.
Zander was a native of Michigan and was a BMW motorcycle driver until he was 91. According to some in the field, his entrepreneurial instincts, as well as work in commercials, has resulted in Zander having less of a (more…)
Rosemarie Koczy, 68, who survived a childhood in German concentration camps and later spent years creating searing art infused with images of Holocaust victims, died from breast cancer Dec. 12, 2007.
Her works have been gaining increasing stature, despite her status as an art world “outsider,” that is, someone who was not believed to be formally trained in art and who did not travel in art world circles. Her art, including tapestries and pen-and-ink drawings, has been shown in the U.S., Japan and Europe. (more…)
Mel Cheren, 75, a music producer once named the “Godfather of Disco,” an AIDS activist, and owner of a gay-friendly inn in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, died Friday, Dec. 7, 2007.
Cheren was a double minority: gay and Jewish, an Army veteran, a music industry veteran of 50 years, and an indefatigable promoter and self-promoter. Cheren was actively involved with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and started 24 Hours For Life in 1987, a non-profit organization of music and media professionals who raised money for AIDS awareness. (more…)
Paul Brach, 83, an artist and educator whose late work expressed the eternal Jewish struggle of man’s relationship with God, died Nov. 16, 2007, a few weeks before a major exhibit of his recent work was scheduled to open.
Elly Flomenhaft, co-director of the New York gallery where Brach’s work will be exhibited beginning Dec. 6, said Brach knew he was dying from prostate cancer, and his desire to complete the show kept him going. (more…)
