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HEATHER M. ROSS | STAFF WRITER
M any people have used the past couple of years as a time for
self-reflection and often dramatic career shifts. For Noah
Schoenberg, that shift came when he took his first online
writing course in January 2020.
Now, at 28, he’s showcasing his first play, written two years earlier.
The Bala Cynwyd native became a bar mitzvah at Congregation
Beth Am Israel, where he also attended Hebrew school. His family
later attended Adath Israel on the Main Line in Merion Station.
Schoenberg had a very different idea of his future when he set out to
college, completing his undergraduate studies at Macalester College
10 JUNE 16, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
in applied math and neuroscience.
Schoenberg always had an interest in
writing but, after some time at home
watching classic films with his grand-
mother, he came to a realization.
“I just couldn’t stop thinking about
film and writing in general,” he said.
He began his journey with a writ-
ing class called “Gotham,” which
led to several other online writing
courses where Schoenberg’s creativity
flourished. “Once I started writing, my inter-
est and capacity were clear to me,”
Schoenberg said.
The play “Lev of Leningrad” is a
comedy-drama inspired by the story
of Lev and Marina Furman, Jewish
refuseniks and Soviet-Jewish activists
whose journey eventually led them to
Philadelphia. The term refusenik typi-
cally refers to Soviet Jews denied per-
mission to emigrate from the Soviet
Union, typically to Israel.
Schoenberg was introduced to the
Furmans’ story by his longtime friend,
Michal Furman, the younger daugh-
ter of Lev Furman and an Israeli-
American officer in the Philadelphia
Police Department. He was inspired to
begin writing after a Shabbat dinner
at the Furmans’ home when Marina
Furman asked Schoenberg if he would
like to take a shot at telling their story.
Lev Furman, originally an engineer,
is now a hospice rabbi in Philadelphia.
Schoenberg has looked up to him for a
long time.
“I consider him to be the greatest
guy that I know,” Schoenberg said.
“They are inspiring for a lot of reasons
and, in their own right, a sort of classic
American immigrant story.”
While Schoenberg appreciates both
films and plays, he decided it was more
practical to tell the Furmans’ story as
a play. He reasoned that building any
sort of historical world, especially for
film, is a costly endeavor.
The decision on whether to write
the story for film or as a play was ulti-
mately based on how well Schoenberg
thought Lev Furman’s story could best
impact the audience. While film has
the advantage of zooming in on an
object or a letter, flashbacks, which are
central to Schoenberg’s storytelling, are
better suited to the stage, he said.
“Lev as a character is so engaging
and dynamic, I thought a live perfor-
mance would really bring the audience
in,” Schoenberg said.
“Lev of Leningrad” follows the
Furmans’ story from Soviet Russia
to Israel to Philadelphia, where Lev
Furman is faced with a changing world
full of diverse people and their stories.
The play will feature live music per-
formed by Cantor Jacob Agar, who
Schoenberg met at Beth Sholom
Synagogue in Elkins Park. Agar is an
opera singer and composer who has
committed to doing the music for the
play, according to Schoenberg.
The play debuted at the Fulton
Theater in Lancaster during its inaugu-
ral Stories of Diversity festival in 2021.
“Lev of Leningrad” was selected as one
of three finalists and received a staged
reading. Between the rehearsals that
week and the performance, Schoenberg
became convinced that his dramatic
career change was the right decision.
“There’s nothing like it. I’ve never
had more fun than in those rehearsals,”
he said.
Schoenberg has advice for young
people considering switching to a
career in creativity.
“Living at home (with his family)
allowed me to save up a nest egg of
money. [You need to] live as cheaply
and efficiently as you can for a year or
two before you make the jump. You
will have to sacrifice your time so you
can write at your best — I’m a morning
writer. Be ruthless in protecting that
time; you need to be at your freshest
and best to even have any chance at
doing this. Put yourself in a position to
succeed,” Schoenberg said.
Schoenberg isn’t done telling Jewish
stories, though. An upcoming project
will tell the story of his grandmother,
who was raised in Bucharest, Romania.
A staged reading of “Lev of
Leningrad” will take place on June
29 at 7 p.m. at InterAct Theatre
in Philadelphia. Tickets are pay-
what-you-wish. All proceeds will be
donated to Sunf lower of Peace, an
organization dedicated to helping
Ukrainians affected by the Russian
military invasion. JE
hross@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Noah Schoenberg
Noah Schoenberg
nation / world
Brazilian Jewish School Takes in Hospital Patients Escaping a Fire
A Jewish school in Rio de Janeiro took
in more than 150 patients escaping a
hospital fire, many of them in sick beds,
on June 7, JTA reported.
A fire broke out in the Hospital São
Lucas’ laundry room that produced
thick smoke and required an evacuation.
Employees at the hospital in
Copacabana, one of Rio’s most Jewish Barilan, a Jewish school in Rio de
Janeiro, provided shelter to more than
neighborhoods, wheeled patients to the 150 patients escaping a fire in a nearby
nearby TTH Barilan School and the hospital.
TTH Barilan school via JTA.org
ground floors of apartment buildings.
“Humanity is so complicated that, when you do the right thing, they say you’re
like Superman,” TTH Barilan President Rafael Antaki said. “The hospital’s emer-
gency plan was successful, and so was ours, focused on chesed and love.”
The unprecedented scene of hospital beds lined up in the school’s courtyard
made parents, teachers and employees emotional. Kindergarten classes were
temporarily suspended, but elementary, junior high and high school classes were
not interrupted.
One patient needed to be resuscitated in the courtyard, the O Dia newspaper
reported. head Merav Michaeli said. “But as happy as we are here today, it’s important to
remember those who are not here, because they are being silenced into fear. We
will not allow them!”
The Post reported that drones flew above the crowd as a protective measure.
Polygamous Jerusalem Cult Leader Found Dead in Prison
Polygamous cult leader Daniel Ambash was found dead in his cell at Ayalon
Prison in Ramle on June 10, The Times of Israel reported, citing the Israel Prisons
Service. Paramedics declared Ambash dead after resuscitation efforts failed. The prisons
service said the circumstances of his death would be examined.
Ambash was sentenced to 26 years in prison on 18 charges. Those charges
included sexual offenses, abuse of minors, incarceration and sadistic violence.
Ambash, who was a Bratslav ultra-Orthodox Jew, headed the so-called
“Jerusalem cult.” He had six wives and 14 children, who were kept by Ambash and
his assistants in slavery conditions. JE
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
NAZARETH ORTHOPEDICS
Pope Hosts Yad Vashem Director at Vatican, Doesn’t Discuss
Catholic Church’s Holocaust Controversies
Amid controversies concerning the Vatican’s Holocaust-era record, Pope Francis and
the head of Yad Vashem met for a first-of-its-kind talk on June 9, JTA reported.
Yad Vashem Director Dani Dayan met with the pope at his office in the Vatican.
During their 30-minute talk, they spoke about ways to “bolster collaborative
activities” in areas of “Holocaust remembrance, education and documentation,
and to discuss efforts to fight antisemitism and racism worldwide,” Dayan’s office
wrote in a statement.
Dayan thanked the pope for his 2020 decision to open the Vatican’s archives
related to the wartime Pope Pius XII, whose critics say did too little to intervene
on behalf of the 6 million Jews that the Nazis murdered.
But they did not discuss the Holocaust-related controversies, including the
ongoing beatification of Pius XII, that have strained Jewish-Catholic relations for
years, Dayan said. Instead, Dayan focused on areas of consensus and on strength-
ening ties with the Vatican, he said.
Around the corner. Beyond expectations.
For the first time, female authors in Israel published more books of prose and
poetry than their male counterparts, the National Library of Israel said in its 2021
annual “Book Report,” JTA reported.
Of the 7,344 books sent to the library in 2021, 25% are exclusively classified as
prose and poetry. Just over half, 52%, were credited to female authors, giving them
a majority for the first time since the library began collecting statistics.
Among the notable releases by women were “A Penguin Café at the Edge of
the World,” a children’s story by author and poet Nurit Zarchi, recipient of the
2021 Israel Prize for literature, and “Strangers,” a bestselling novel by author Lihi
Lapid, advocate and wife of Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.
Approximately 92% of books published in Israel in 2021 were in Hebrew, with
4.8% in English, 2.2% in Arabic and a handful in Russian.
More Than 170,000 March in Tel Aviv 2022 Pride Parade
Despite heat warnings, more than 170,000 people dressed in rainbows and glitter par-
ticipated on June 10 in the Tel Aviv Pride Parade 2022, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The parade began near the Sporteque on Rokach Boulevard, leading to a per-
formance area in Ganei Yehoshua within Yarkon Park. The route was different
than in past years.
“For the first time in 20 years, the Pride March route is running through here;
there is nothing more exciting than that,” Transportation Minister and Labor
THMA-937433516-NAZ A First: Female Israeli Authors Outpaced Males in Publishing in 2021
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