One of the great actors of the last century said that to play Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice gave him joy; it was one of the highest points of his career. Shylock, the hated Jewish moneylender, demands the contractual payment of a pound of flesh from Antonio when

Shakespeare digs deep in his rhetorical toolbox to construct the perfect anti-hero By Miriamne Krummel, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer The Theatre Department at Wright State University is staging William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (circa 1596) this month. Should this production be a topic of discussion for Dayton’s

By Joseph A. Lieberman, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer I first heard the term ghetto in a Jewish context back in the ‘60s, in a novel about the Warsaw Ghetto. For some reason, it never occurred to me that its origin was Italian, and more specifically, Venetian. I shouldn’t

By Rabbi Bernard Barsky, Beth Abraham Synagogue, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, which is to be performed at Wright State University this month, has always carried the stigma of antisemitism. Its portrayal of the vengeful and avaricious Jewish moneylender Shylock belongs at first glance