Culture - Jewish Review

Jewish Broadway stars surprise NY congregation with a rendition of ‘Seasons of Love’ during Rosh Hashanah services

October 7, 2024October 7, 2024Jesse Orine

Park Avenue Synagogue introduced a new practice during Rosh Hashanah to mark the end of a Jewish year that included the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 and the war and turmoil that has followed: A cohort of Broadway performers sang “Seasons of Love” from the popular rock musical “Rent” on the bimah. The performance took […]

A year in photos: How Oct. 7 caused turmoil and connection on New York City’s streets

October 6, 2024October 6, 2024Jesse Orine

This photo essay is part of a series examining how Oct. 7 and its aftermath have changed the Jewish world. You can see the complete project here. On Oct. 7, as news of Hamas’ invasion of Israel plunged Jews everywhere into shock and mourning, two rallies were called for midtown Manhattan for the next day. […]

A year after Oct. 7, we Jews remain shattered

October 6, 2024October 6, 2024Jesse Orine

This article is part of a series examining how Oct. 7 and its aftermath have changed the Jewish world. You can see the complete project here. We’ve shed endless tears; we’ve hardened our hearts. We’ve stepped back; we’ve leaned in. We’ve silenced ourselves; we’ve spoken louder than ever. We’ve put on kippahs; we’ve taken down mezuzahs. We’ve […]

‘White Bird’ stars Helen Mirren as a Holocaust survivor who teaches her grandson about kindness

October 4, 2024October 4, 2024Jesse Orine

((JR)) — In “White Bird,” a long anticipated film about a Jewish girl who is rescued by her classmate in Nazi-occupied France, the Holocaust is fertile ground for teaching children how to be good. The movie is a spinoff of “Wonder” (2017), a modern-day story about a middle schooler seeking to fit in despite his […]

How Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein shaped basketball as we know it today

October 3, 2024October 3, 2024Jesse Orine

When basketball superstar Stephen Curry sunk a series of three-point shots to help Team USA clinch the Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer, it’s unlikely the four-time NBA champion was thinking about Abe Saperstein. But as a new biography of the trailblazing Jewish basketball executive suggests, Curry had plenty of reasons to be grateful […]

What we talk about when we talk about ‘Zionism’: A roundtable

October 2, 2024October 2, 2024Jesse Orine

This article is part of a project examining how Oct. 7 and its aftermath have changed the Jewish world. You can see the complete project here. ((JR)) — Dictionaries are remarkably consistent when it comes to the definition of “Zionism”: Merriam-Webster, for example, defines the term as “an international movement originally for the establishment of a […]

‘Devastating,’ ‘difficult,’ ‘depressing’: JTA readers on their year since Oct. 7, in one word

October 2, 2024October 2, 2024Jesse Orine

This article is part of a series examining how Oct. 7 and its aftermath have changed the Jewish world. You can see the complete project here. More than 700 readers responded to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s survey asking about what has changed in their lives over the last year. In extended comments, they described wrenching […]

Literary powerhouse Zibby Owens takes aim at antisemitism with her new anthology, ‘On Being Jewish Now’

October 1, 2024October 1, 2024Jesse Orine

Author, publisher and “bookfluencer” Zibby Owens didn’t set out to be a public face of the fight against antisemitism. But like just about everything else, that all changed following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7. “Before October 7, I hadn’t experienced much antisemitism. Just a sprinkle of sea salt on a big buffet,” Owens […]

How US Jewish communities are marking anniversary of Oct. 7 attack: with heartache, and warily

October 1, 2024October 1, 2024Jesse Orine

In Raleigh, North Carolina, a field will display 1,200 Israeli flags. In New Orleans, a local artist will paint silhouettes of hostages. In the Bay Area, a rabbi is leaving her synagogue’s sanctuary open all day so congregants can use the space for personal reflection. These are just a few of the hundreds of Oct. […]

In ‘Notice to Quit,’ Mrs. Maisel’s husband Michael Zegen plays another unlikably likable Jew

October 1, 2024October 2, 2024Jesse Orine

Jewish actor Michael Zegen has made a name for himself playing some less-than-savory Jewish New Yorkers, like Midge Maisel’s philandering husband Joel in the Amazon hit “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and gangster Bugsy Siegel in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Now, in his first-ever leading role on the silver screen, he’s playing a hustling New York City […]