Category: Culture

((JR)) — When Ryan Lavarnway joined Team Israel for the World Baseball Classic in 2017, the journeyman catcher chose jersey no. 36 not because of the number stitched onto the back, but because the shirt fit him best. But in the years since that tournament, any time Lavarnway has represented Israel, he’s stuck with 36, […]

((JR)) — Golda Meir, the first and so far only woman prime minister of Israel, is a figure as shrouded in mythology as she is veiled by plumes of cigarette smoke in “Golda,” a new political drama starring Helen Mirren. Meir has been called Israel’s “Iron Lady,” alternately lionized as a founder of the state, […]

(New York Jewish Week) — A newlywed couple took the concept of extra innings to a whole new level on Sunday when they held their sheva brachot — a festive get-together held in the week after a Jewish wedding — at Yankee Stadium.  Maya Rosen and Erez Bleicher, who were married at a synagogue last […]

((JR)) — It’s safe to say that few people watch more baseball than Rob Friedman. During the MLB season — which features 30 teams playing 162 games each from April through October — Friedman spends countless hours every day watching as much of the sport as he can from the comfort of a four-screen media […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Holocaust survivor Helena Weinrauch survived imprisonment at three concentration camps and a forced death march. And yet the 99-year-old Manhattanite is, by all accounts, a force of nature. Time and again she has stared down unbelievable darkness. And yet she continues to exude a palpable joie de vivre. In the […]

((JR)) — To prepare for their role in creating Adam Sandler’s latest movie, crew members hit the Toronto bar and bat mitzvah circuit. Production designer Perry Blake and set decorator Julia Altschul, guided by a local consultant on the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, crashed 10 parties within a matter of weeks. “We saw how amazing and […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Anyone walking into Feltz Bagels in Montauk, New York, could be forgiven for wanting to taste everything on the menu: There are 15 types of bagels; a variety of schmears, meats and toppings, as well as desserts like rugelach and babka by the slice. But while everything in the shop […]

((JR)) — The Anti-Defamation League agrees with Leonard Bernstein’s family: Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose in the upcoming “Maestro” biopic is not an antisemitic portrayal of the celebrated Jewish conductor. “Throughout history, Jews were often portrayed in antisemitic films and propaganda as evil caricatures with large, hooked noses. This film, which is a biopic on the […]

(New York Jewish Week) — James McBride’s latest novel began as a book about a Jewish camp, and “ended up being a book about equality.” Set in the small town of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” opens in 1972 when construction workers discover a body and a mezuzah at the bottom of […]

((JR)) — As only the third Israeli to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, Natan Levy is not afraid to showcase his Jewish identity in and out of the ring. He gave himself the chance to do just that as he invited a follower of white supremacist provocateur Nick Fuentes to a fight that […]