Forward.com

Comic Explores ShoahThough the Shoah seems out of place amid the bright colors, tights and capes of comic books, graphic novels have a long history of depicting the Holocaust. Art Spiegelman started writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Maus” in 1972, and the mutant known as Wolverine was given a history in the Polish extermination camp Sobibor. Last week, in Philadelphia, Marvel Comics announced that Greg Pak, best known for writing such characters as Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, would be penning a new miniseries in September called “Magneto: Testament.”
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Natalie Portman’s Latest CauseHollywood starlet Natalie Portman is currently filming a special clip in support of a youth village being planned in Rwanda. The Israeli American actress is taking part in an effort, spearheaded by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and financed by American Jewish donors, to create a safe place for some 500 children-turned-refugees from the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The early Israeli villages built for children orphaned in the Holocaust inspired the concept.
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A Worthy BirdIn a fitting tribute to the spirit of the Jewish people, Israel’s newly chosen national bird is the hoopoe. Known for its golden crown of feathers, this bird is the subject of many stories and legends. Perhaps the most famous is one involving King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
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