JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

een translated into English, French, German, and Hebrew.
Feierstein was visiting lecturer at American and German universities,
and received awards in Argentina and Mexico.
Bibliography: R. DiAntonio and N. Glickman, Tradition
and Innovation: Reflections on Latin American Jewish Writing (1993);
R. Gardiol, The Silver Candelabra and Other Stories – A Century of
Jewish Argentine Literature (1997); N. Lindstrom, Jewish Issues in
Argentine Literature (1989); D.B. Lockhart, Jewish Writers of Latin
America. A Dictionary (1997); L. Senkman, La identidad judía en la
literatura argentina (1983); S.A. Sadow and J. Kates, We, the Generation
in the Wilderness (1989).
[Florinda Goldberg (2nd ed.)]
FEIFFER, JULES (1929– ), U.S. cartoonist and writer. Born
in the Bronx, New York, Feiffer studied at James Monroe High
School and entered the Art Students’ League. From 1947 to
1951 he studied at the Pratt Institute while working as an assistant
on the comic The Spirit. Growing up, he had always assumed
that The Spirit was Jewish. In 1949 he created his first
Sunday cartoon page feature, Clifford. He served in the U.S.
Army from 1951 to 1953, working with a cartoon animation
unit. Upon leaving the army, Feiffer worked in a number of
jobs until in 1956, the New York weekly magazine The Village
Voice began to publish his cartoons. His comic strip, which
was simply called Feiffer, was an immediate success and appeared
regularly in The Village Voice and was also internationally
syndicated. His satirical cartoons made moral and
political statements on a wide range of contemporary issues,
both political and personal – from nuclear holocaust, the arms
race, and presidential politics to male-female relationships and
human fears, and neuroses – and were characterized by the
revelation of the private thoughts of his characters. After appearing
weekly for 43 years, Feiffer’s last syndicated cartoon
strip was published on June 18, 2000.
Although known primarily for his cartoons, Feiffer has
also achieved success as a playwright, screenwriter, and novelist.
His plays of the late 1960s, Little Murders (1967), God
Bless (1968), and The White House Murder Case (1969), were
all highly political. Little Murders, which depicted the horrors
of urban life, was later made into a film. In 1963, he came
out against the Vietnam War, subsequently speaking at peace
demonstrations in Washington.
His screenplay for the 1971 movie Carnal Knowledge and
his play Knock Knock (1976) dealt with more personal issues,
the former with middle-age crisis and the latter with social
values. His play Grownups (1981) focused on interfamily relationships
and conflicts. He also wrote the screenplay for
the film comedy I Want to Go Home (1989), directed by Alan
Resnais and starring Adolph Green, as well as the script for
the 1991 TV series The Nudnik Show.
In 1986 Feiffer received the Pulitzer Prize in editorial
cartooning, and in 2004 was honored with the Ian McLellan
Hunter Award by the Writers Guild of America.
Among Feiffer’s many published works are Sick Sick Sick:
A Guide to Non-Confident Living (1958); Great Comic Book
Heroes (1965), a critical history of the comic book super-he-
feigenbaum, aryeh
roes of the late 1930s and early 1940s; Jules Feiffer’s America,
from Eisenhower to Reagan (1982); Marriage Is an invasion
of Privacy, and Other Dangerous Views (1984); Ronald Reagan
in Movie America: A Jules Feiffer Production (1988); and
President Bill: A Graphic Epic (with W. Brown, 1990). Some
of his many books for children include The Man in the Ceiling
(1993); A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears (1995); Tantrum
(1997); Meanwhile (1997); I Lost My Bear (1998); and Bark,
George (1999).
Add. Bibliography: K. McAuliffe, The Great American
Newspaper: The Rise and Fall of the Village Voice (1978); S. Heller (ed.),
Man Bites Man: Two Decades of Satiric Art – 1960–1980 (1981).
[Susan Strul / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
FEIGEL, SIGI (1921–2004), Swiss Jewish community leader.
Born into a Russian-Jewish family, Feigel grew up in the central
Swiss Catholic village of Hergiswil (Nidwalden), isolated
from any organized Jewish community. In his youth, he experienced
much Catholic anti-Judaism. After serving in the
Swiss army (1939–45), he studied law at Zurich University and
graduated with a doctoral degree in law. He entered the textile
firm of his father-in-law, serving as its director until 1977. He
was president of the Jewish community of Zurich in 1972–86,
initiating a program of lectures by prominent figures and thus
getting the Jewish community much publicity. Among the lecturers
were Bruno *Kreisky, Axel Springer, and Willy *Brandt.
He fought for the enlargement of the Jewish Oberer Friesenberg
cemetery in Zurich, meeting opposition in right-wing
circles. As a prominent media figure, he helped win popular
support for the Anti-Racism Law (1993). With his colleague
Rolf *Bloch, he tried to mediate between American-Jewish
demands and Swiss politicians and bankers in the 1995–96
Swiss bank account affair. He seems to have coined the phrase,
“Justice for the victims, fairness for Switzerland.” He founded
several foundations to fight racism, xenophobia, and antisemitism,
and for the housing of homeless young people. He also
initiated the re-writing of textbooks on Jewish history and
religion in Switzerland. After selling the textile firm (1977),
he returned to law studies and received the Zurich lawyer’s
diploma at the age of 62. He wrote the standard commentary
on the Swiss Anti-Racism Law. The Jewish community chose
him as its honorary president.
Bibliography: K. Obermueller, Schweizer auf Bewaehrung
(1998); Antisemitismus: Umgang mit einer Herausforderung: Festschrift
zum 70. Geburtstag (1991); S. Feigel, Der Erziehungszweck im schweiz.
Strafvollzug (1949).
[Uri Kaufmann (2nd ed.)]
FEIGENBAUM, ARYEH (1885–1981), Israel ophthalmologist.
Born in Lemberg, Feigenbaum trained in Vienna and
emigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1913. He became head of the
eye department of the Straus Health Center, Jerusalem, and
conducted a vigorous campaign against trachoma, serving
hundreds of Arabs and Jews a day in his clinics. In 1914 he
organized a trachoma conference, the first of its kind, in Pal-
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