Dear Rhonda Spivak
My friend Barb Taverna has been good enough to give me your name and email address.
I read your piece on the Venetian glass chess p[ieces showing Jewish versus goyish sides and wonder if you have any further information on the provenance of these figures, their maker and his family background, as well as the tradition of such historically symbolic board games in Judaism.
By the way, my wife and I lived in Winnipeg in the 1960s when I was teaching at the University of Manitoba in Ft Garry.
Regards,
Norman Simms
Editor's reply: There is a youtube about the maker of the chess set Gianni Toso but I muss confess that atfter watching it I didn't come away with much of a better understanding. You can access it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Otv4urtds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Otv4urtds