Category: Culture

(New York Jewish Week) — The competition started in the elevator. On Wednesday night, around 5:40 p.m., a woman lugging an empty suitcase across the ground floor of the nondescript 520 8th Avenue office building in Manhattan yelled, “Hold that door!” She was hoping to get a prime spot in line at the event happening […]

This story originally appeared on My Jewish Learning. ((JR)) — Next Thursday is Tisha B’Av, the day on which Jews traditionally commemorate the destruction of the two ancient Temples with fasting and other modes of self-denial. The goal of these rituals is to induce a mindset of mourning in an attempt to appreciate what was lost with the […]

((JR)) — Friday is not just “Barbie” release day — moviegoers are also planning to fill theaters across the United States to see Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” biopic. Many hope it will answer a question that has long divided Americans and the country’s understanding of its history: Who exactly was J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of […]

(New York Jewish Week) — When Lea Herzfeld went on her first date with a guy she met on Loop — a new dating app that relies on its users to do the matchmaking — she wasn’t nervous, for a change. “I felt more comfortable going into it knowing that he wasn’t a complete stranger,” […]

A version of this article originally appeared on Kveller. Jewish actor Noah Schnapp, who plays Will Byers on the Netflix hit “Stranger Things,” is currently in Israel, where he appears to have been hounded by some fans and paparazzi. The actor, 18, shared a picture from the Western Wall on his Instagram stories, captioning it: […]

((JR)) — In the second season of “The Nanny,” the sitcom she wrote and starred in, Fran Drescher’s character, Fran Fine, refuses to enter a hotel where the busboys are striking. “I’m sorry, but the Fines don’t cross picket lines,” she tells her companion, the father of the family she works for. “It’s against our religion.” […]

((JR)) — When Michael Neuman found out his run on this season of the NBC obstacle course competition show “American Ninja Warrior” would not air, the competitor inside of him was crushed. Part of the filming schedule had conflicted with his Shabbat observance. But Neuman was even more disappointed that he would not get to […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Some 50,000 gay men and women were imprisoned by Nazis during the Holocaust. Of them, approximately 10,000 to 15,000 were held in concentration camps, and nearly all of those who were sent to the camps died there. And yet, many stories of LGBTQ+ people who died in Nazi prisons are […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of a new series, Sign Post, which explores street signs and other locations around the city that are named in honor of Jewish New Yorkers. (New York Jewish Week) — For more than 50 years, Jewish dancer and choreographer Anna Sokolow would sit at the window of her apartment […]

((JR)) — In January, 25 alumni of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Kutz Camp gathered on their former campus. Although the historic summer camp known for fostering Reform leadership and leaving a mark on modern Jewish music had shuttered in 2019, the alumni were back for a preview screening of “Theater Camp,” a comedy film […]