Lin-Manuel Miranda and my German-Jewish grandma both made ‘the Heights’ what it is

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Several years before skyrocketing to superstardom with “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the exuberant Broadway musical “In the Heights.” In the last act of the stage production, a salsa-flavored celebration of the Latino community of Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, a sign for “Rosario’s Car […]

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These days David Hertz is a world leader in turning food into social change. He had to reconcile his Jewish identity first.

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Chef David Hertz, one of the world’s leading food entrepreneurs tackling social issues, credits two places with inspiring his journey: There’s the kibbutz in Israel, and the favela in Brazil. At 18, after growing up in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, he traveled to the Hatzerim kibbutz to live […]

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