Raphael Tennenbaum (a/k/a Ray, or Rafe, and there was a kid in summer recreation who called me Hershey Bar) was born in 1958 in Lynchburg, Virginia to Rabbi Lloyd (ne Leybel) Tennenbaum (b. 1925, Rochester, N.Y) and Silvia Anna-Maria Suzette Pfeiffer-Belli (b. 1928 Frankfurt am Main, Germany -- and yes, that's her name). He grew up in Huntington, New York, where his father led first a Conservative congregation and then a Reconstructionist one. The experience supplied Mom with material for her best-selling novel, "Rachel, the Rabbi's Wife." R. remembers attending Haverford College, graduating in 1979 with a major in philosophy (incidentally, the first student to pass the very demanding Intro Logic midterm at Bryn Mawr in seven years). He then assumed an endless succession of positions -- compromising, appalling, and including: deli clerk, office temp, ticket-taker, box-office functionary, staff writer for Newsday (LI) sports, bookstore clerk, office temp, office temp, hospital clerk, freelance writer, office temp, technical writer, freelance writer, and video director and producer. A couple of years ago he started appearing as a standup comic, and as "Ray Field," he's performed in clubs all around the country.
R. has written for Wired, Newsday, the Hartford Courant, Golf Magazine, Maximum Golf, Suck (www.suck.com), Yahoo! Internet Life, Travel & Leisure Golf, the Weekly Forward, Nick at Night, and "Harvey For Loving People," although they never printed it, and fortunately seem to be out of business (if I'm wrong somebody please tell me so I can pull that plug.) He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Golf Writers Association of America, and the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association.
R's mother's stepfather was the noted conductor William Steinberg (b. 1898, Cologne) and anyone who can reminiscence about his years with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, or the Boston Symphony Orchestra is urged to get in touch. Brickbats are okay too.