Category: Culture

(New York Jewish Week) — It was a stupendously bad idea to arrive at the press preview for the New-York Historical Society’s new exhibit, “‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’: The Jewish Deli,” on an empty stomach. The exhibit — which originated at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles and opens in New York on Friday, Nov. […]

(JTA) — Three weeks after saying he was “alarmed” by Adidas’ ties to Kanye West, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, donned the company’s sneakers for his group’s “Never is Now” conference in New York City. The about-face happened after Adidas ended its relationship with West weeks after the rapper began making antisemitic […]

(New York Jewish Week) — A film exploring the alleged massacre of perhaps 300 Palestinians — and further allegations of an Israeli government cover-up — will open the 16th annual Other Israel Film Festival at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. Israeli filmmaker Alon Schwarz’s documentary “Tantura” will be shown on Thursday, Nov. 3, kicking off […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Ella Joy Meir, the Brooklyn-based musician who leads the alt-pop group Iris Lune, did not expect to spend the first five months of the pandemic sequestered in her father’s home in Israel. She and her wife, journalist Mikhal Weiner, and their 1-year-old son had gone to visit family in Israel for […]

(JTA) — Two years ago, a poll on Twitter tried to settle once and for all how to refer to the corner of the social media platform where Jews conversed. “Jwitter” got two thirds of the 525 votes, with the rest falling to “Jtwitter.” Whatever they call it, the Jewish users of Twitter have used the […]

This piece contains spoilers. (JTA) – At the fancy private school where he has just started his first day, Jewish sixth-grader Paul Graff (Banks Repata) is asked by a major donor what his last name means. Sheepishly, he admits that it was shortened from the longer family name — one that ends in “-stein.” The […]

(New York Jewish Week) — A New York revival of the 1998 Broadway musical “Parade” — about the 1915 lynching of a Jewish man, Leo Frank, at the hands of a Southern mob — arrives at an auspicious, if not ominous, time. Antisemitism is again part of the national conversation, while nationalism and accusations of […]

(JTA) — Gad Elmaleh has been one of the most famous Jews in France’s entertainment industry over the past two decades. The son of Moroccan immigrants, who has often referenced his Jewish identity in his wildly-successful sketches, has been nominated for a Cesar award, the French equivalent of an Oscar, and he has crossed over […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Many Holocaust documentaries follow a familiar arc, from normalcy, to the unthinkable, to destruction. The last reel often includes scenes of corpses and skeletal survivors, usually in the company of the American and Russian soldiers who liberated them. The films might end with clips from the Nuremberg Trials, or vignettes […]

(New York Jewish Week) — After a smash-hit run interrupted by COVID, “Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish” is returning next week for a seven-week run at Manhattan’s New World Stages. For many in the cast, Jewish or not, returning to “Fiddler” feels emotional —  especially in a time of world upheaval, rising antisemitism and […]