The Fred Fox School of Music at the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts will present its 13th annual Music+Festival, featuring the music of George Gershwin (1898-1937), Steve Reich (b. 1936), and William Bolcom (b. 1938), from Oct. 9-12. All festival events will be online, with free admission.… Read more »
Arts and Culture
Sukkah installation at JHM promotes human rights
The Jewish History Museum and Holocaust History Center is hosting “Clamor en el Desierto/Clamor in the Desert,” a new work from artist Mirta Kupferminc. The sukkah installation is imbued with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights presented in dozens of languages, and invite the community into active care of… Read more »
More than just brisket: Change up your menu with these 9 delicious Rosh Hashanah recipes
This article originally appeared in The Nosher. (JTA) — I know the holidays will look, and taste, different than most years. I also know many families cherish the big brisket, standing rib roast or pot roast that graces their table each year. Traditions are important, and food imparts its… Read more »
Yeshiva University rejects LGBTQ club, saying it will support students in other ways
(JTA) — Yeshiva University rejected the formation of a campus group for queer students but said it was putting in place new policies to help LGBTQ students feel safe. The flagship Modern Orthodox college in New York sent a statement to students Thursday addressing a yearlong battle over whether… Read more »
They thought a Jewish school in Oakland would be able to accommodate their gender-fluid child. It wasn’t that simple.
(JTA) — A Jewish day school in Oakland, California, is committing to making changes this week after a local family said the school had declined to accept their gender-fluid child. Meg Keene, an Oakland mother who runs a prominent wedding planning website, encouraged her thousands of Instagram followers to… Read more »
ChaiFlicks, the ‘Jewish Netflix,’ is here
(JTA) — It was only a matter of time: A Jewish Netflix has arrived. That moniker is probably the best description of ChaiFlicks, a film and TV streaming platform focused on Jewish-themed movies that launches Wednesday. It helps that its creators were once in business with the real Netflix.… Read more »
Jewish educator’s ‘Yo Semite’ T-shirt back in spotlight following Trump gaffe
(J. the Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — When Berkeley resident Sarah Lefton awoke on Tuesday morning, her phone was lit up with notifications. While she was sleeping, President Trump had signed the Great American Outdoors Act, a piece of legislation that will protect the nation’s parks… Read more »
Seth Rogen: Israel should exist, but I’m not sorry for my critique of Jewish education
(JTA) — In a new interview, Seth Rogen said his comments about Israel being a bad idea for a state were made in jest but affirmed that he found his childhood education about the country, which he received through Jewish schools and camps, to be problematic. “I don’t want… Read more »
SF Giants’ first home game blessed by seafaring ‘Rally Rabbi’
(J. the Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — While the ballpark Tuesday night at the San Francisco Giants’ home opener may not have been filled with fans because of COVID-19 restrictions, nearby McCovey Cove had a familiar guest. Standing on a 75-foot yacht docked in a part… Read more »
Seattle’s only freestanding, certified kosher restaurant closes amid pandemic pressure
(JTA) — If you keep kosher in Seattle — whose metro area is home to more than 60,000 Jews — you now have to head to the suburbs for a restaurant meal you can eat. The city’s only freestanding, certified kosher restaurant, Bamboo Garden, is serving its last meals… Read more »
Confused about Judaism’s view on the afterlife? Start by watching ‘The Good Place.’
Social distancing and staying inside is hard. Thankfully, accessing good things to watch during this time is not. This is the latest installation of a weekly column on Jewish movies and TV shows that you should stream in quarantine. The Good Place Streams on: Seasons 1-3 are on Netflix, Season… Read more »
So long, ‘amulet.’ Hello, ‘phylactery.’ The Met Museum has updated that tefillin description.
(JTA) — Days after a small corner of the internet erupted with criticism of how the Metropolitan Museum of Art labeled a Jewish ritual object in its collection, the New York museum has quietly revised the description. Where its website had previously called tefillin, the leather boxes and straps… Read more »
New ‘kosher Netflix’ streaming service in Israel lets viewers skip the immodest parts
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israelis who don’t want to see racy content have a new streaming service that allows them to skip the immodest parts. The Tov TV service, dubbed the “kosher Netflix” by the Israeli daily Haaretz, is geared toward observant Jews who follow the religious laws of modesty.… Read more »
Thousands join 48-hour #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate Twitter boycott to protest anti-Semitism on the platform
(JTA) — After their vocal calls for Twitter to take down rapper Wiley’s spree of anti-Semitic tweets went unanswered, Jews in the United Kingdom are taking another approach: silence. British Jewish activists and their allies — including high-profile celebrities, both Jewish and non-Jewish — are staging a 48-hour boycott… Read more »
An enduring feature of the pandemic so far: Jews are flocking to online classes
(JTA) — Israeli poetry scholar Rachel Korazim had been thinking about cutting back on travel when the coronavirus pandemic made the decision for her. “I said I really want to shift my teaching to distance learning because, you know, I’m not getting any younger. Travel is tiring,” she said… Read more »
Tucsonans’ ‘Way to Be’ designed to help people examine, transform lives
With all the chaos and uncertainty in the outside world in recent months, many people are looking for ways to stabilize their inner lives. Tucson-based authors Shari Gootter, MA, LPC, CRC, and Tejpal, MA, MBA, have written a book, “Way to Be: 40 Insights and Transformative Practices in the… Read more »
Esther Becker’s annual book event for women takes on a new format
For the past 16 years, hundreds of women have spent summer hours reading books selected by Esther Becker of the Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies in advance of her annual book brunch. Her selections have included novels, mysteries, biographies, essays, autobiographies, and prayer. Although the format will be different,… Read more »
Online programs aid Southern Arizona community connections
synagogues and Jewish agencies offer an assortment of virtual engagement programs for long summer days spent sheltering from the heat and the coronavirus. The list below includes some items that have crossed our desks recently but it is by no means exhaustive; check with other local organizations for additional… Read more »
‘Dispatches from Quarantine’ features last Reiner interview
Comedy icon Carl Reiner left a message for these trying times through ‘Dispatches from Quarantine,” an online video series. His interview, conducted in May, was the last from the comic legend behind TV’s “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” who died June 29 at age 98. Presented by Reboot, a… Read more »
A new ‘Dirty Dancing’ film could be in the works
(JTA) — Jennifer Grey, the Jewish actress who starred in the original “Dirty Dancing” film, is collaborating with Lionsgate on an untitled dance movie in which she will star and executive produce, Deadline first reported Tuesday. Lionsgate holds distribution rights to the original “Dirty Dancing” films, which include the 2004… Read more »