Category: Culture

(New York Jewish Week) – On a mild Thursday evening in late March, some 100 people gathered at Kistuné, a hip café and bar in the West Village that’s associated with the French-Japanese “lifestyle brand” of the same name.  Sipping on custom-designed cocktails — like the Refusenik, a Moscow mule with a “resilient mix of […]

((JR)) — According to Jewish lore, God has been making matches since the creation of the world. Aleeza Ben Shalom has been at it only since 2007 — but the Jewish matchmaker is about to bring what she calls “the most important job in the world” to the masses. As the host of “Jewish Matchmaking” on […]

((JR)) — For the first time, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature was given to the author of a book in Hebrew and its translator, in a sign of the award organization’s desire to expand the prize to non-English language works. “Jerusalem Beach,” a book of short stories that draws on Israeli author Iddo […]

((JR)) — Shows about the Holocaust and a notorious American antisemitic incident picked up several Tony Award nominations Tuesday morning, as Broadway’s biggest honors made room for a sizable Jewish presence. Most notably, a revival of the 1998 musical “Parade,” starring Ben Platt as the early-20th-century Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank, scored six nominations, including […]

((JR)) — Ben Platt, the Broadway star headlining a musical about an antisemitic episode in American history, donned a Star of David necklace as part of his outfit for Monday night’s Met Gala. The annual gala is a hallmark of the fashion calendar, and celebrities are urged to put together splashy costumes to match a […]

((JR)) — The Western Wall and Jerusalem skyline provided the backdrop for actor Brett Gelman’s proposal to his now-fiancée musician Ari Dayan. The couple, together since 2019, announced their engagement Friday on Instagram. “SHE SAID YES!!!” Gelman shared. “Can’t wait for Mr. Gelman to become Mr. Dayan,” Dayan wrote. Gelman, 46, is best known for […]

((JR)) — The short life of Anne Frank has inspired generations of filmmakers and television producers. The list of past productions range from “The Diary of Anne Frank” (1959), whose director George Stevens witnessed Nazi occupation as a U.S. army officer, to the Academy Award-winning documentary “Anne Frank Remembered” — featuring the only known footage of […]

((JR)) — The prize dubbed the “Jewish Nobel” will be going to Barbra Streisand later this year, in a return to its tradition of honoring Jewish celebrities for their lifetime of achievements. The iconic actor and singer is getting the Genesis Prize, which has been awarded since 2013, in recognition of her contributions to a […]

((JR)) — Rabbi Michael Wolk was nervous when he stepped foot onto his synagogue’s bimah in May 2021 — but not because his congregation was returning to in-person prayer after a pandemic pause. The jitters were because he was about to debut as an actor, in a role for which he hadn’t auditioned: as the […]

(JTA) — Jerry Springer, the son of Jewish refugees who set aside a promising political career to become the ringleader of a circus-like syndicated talk show featuring feuding couples, angry exes and frequent fisticuffs, died Thursday morning at his home in the Chicago area. A family spokesperson told TMZ that Springer, who was 79, had […]