Lauren Grossman Tucson author Lauren B. Grossman found the inspiration for her second novel, “The Golden Peacock,” in a souvenir from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. When visiting the museum about a decade ago, Grossman was handed the identity card of a Holocaust survivor, randomly selected from a bin. She… Read more »
The Mystics of Mile End, by Sigal Samuel (Courtesy of HarperCollins)
(JTA) — Really, every season is book season — but autumn brings a blend of offerings just right for warming up with as the weather cools down. To help you select the best one(s) to keep you cozy on the couch, or to find that perfect Hanukkah present for… Read more »
The Bandura Games co-founders: Justin Hefter, Ammoun Dissi, and Etay Furman (Courtesy Bandura Games)
SAN FRANCISCO (Tazpit) – Bandura Games, a computer gaming company based in San Francisco, California, is set to launch a new mobile game app that would bridge gaps, build connections and create empathy between people from different sides of conflict zones. Initially interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Justin Hefter,… Read more »
Allison Jean White and Elijah Alexander in Arizona Theatre Company’s ‘Disgraced.’ (Tim Fuller)
Arizona Theater Company’s production of “Disgraced,” Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a successful Muslim-American lawyer whose dinner guests’ discussion of race and identity explodes into chaos, plays at the Temple of Music and Art through Nov. 7. I n“Disgraced,” corporate lawyer Amir Kapoor is happy, in love and… Read more »
Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin stars in the Deaf West Theater's production of "Spring Awakening" on Broadway. (Joan Marcus)
(JTA) — When the rock musical “Spring Awakening” premiered on Broadway, it was a critical darling and financial success. It won almost every major award possible, including eight Tonys, four Drama Desk Awards and even a Grammy. So perhaps it’s not so surprising that it’s been revived on Broadway,… Read more »
Matisyahu performing in Moscow, Dec. 7, 2014. (Shutterstock)
(JTA) — With his clean-shaven face and hip clothing, it’s easy to forget that Matisyahu was a Hasidic icon before he was just a Jewish one. But on a segment of HuffPost Live on Tuesday, the Jewish reggae singer called leaving the Hasidic community “one of the hardest things… Read more »
Gilad Millo, left, with DJ HYPNOTIQ and Kiptoo 'k4' Kirwa at a Nairobi recording studio, Oct. 14, 2015. (Courtesy of Gilad Millo)
(JTA) — Zipping between meetings at Nairobi’s five-star hotels wearing a suit and tie, Gilad Millo looks every bit the ex-diplomat he is. But looks can be deceiving: Though he may be balding and slightly pudgy, Millo is one of Kenya’s hottest pop stars. He’s so popular, in fact,… Read more »
Pumpkin Challah Cinnamon Rolls (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — This recipe needs very little introduction because it is just so decadent and delicious. Pumpkin challah. Cinnamon rolls. Sweet glaze. This is the autumn comfort food of your dreams. Or at least mine. You can use this method to make cinnamon rolls using any… Read more »
J. Edward Wright J. Edward Wright, director of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona, will give the first of five lectures in a Downtown Lecture Series on immortality offered by the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wright will speak Oct. 14 on “The Histories and… Read more »
Israeli cellist Amit Peled with perform on Jan. 12 at the University of Arizona. Israeli-born classical cellist Amit Peled got started playing cello late, at the age of 10, because a 14-year-old girl he loved was a cello player. He never spoke to the girl, he told the AJP, but kept on with the instrument and, at the age of 22, after a… Read more »
Lindy Bowser as Gert and Stephanie Howell as Bella (Luke Howell) The Arizona Rose Theatre Company will present Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers” Oct. 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 at the Temple of Music & Art Cabaret Theatre. Drawn from Simon’s experiences growing up in New York City, “Lost in Yonkers” won the Tony Award for best play and… Read more »
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music will present “Music + Festival 2015: Bernstein, Adams, Berio” on Oct. 17, 18 and 24. Directed by UA composer Daniel Asia, the eighth annual composers festival will feature a symposium, concerts and a film. Leonard Bernstein was “a composer, conductor,… Read more »
BOSTON (JTA) — An Israeli-founded water purification company has teamed up with Boston-based Harpoon Brewery to channel the once-famously polluted Charles River into a new beer. Desalitech, which started in Israel seven years ago and then moved to Boston, is using its patented technology to provide water for Harpoon’s Charles River… Read more »
Alexander Fehling in "Labyrinth of Lies," Germany's entry in the 2016 Academy Awards. (Sony Pictures Classics)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – When the German film “Labyrinth of Lies” opens, Hitler’s Third Reich was defeated only 13 years earlier. Germany is rising from the ruins, but in 1958 its people are largely in a state of forgetfulness and denial about the recent past. Ask the man in… Read more »
Two women, both mothers, become friends; the concept is simple enough. And when you get down to the nuts-and-bolts of it, it only seems logical, really: they live on the same floor of the same building in Cold War-era Knickerbocker Village, an apartment complex in New York City; their… Read more »
(Copyright 2014 Trillium Studios)
Eight of Tucson’s long-running film festivals have come together to create the Tucson Festival of Films, a three day event showcasing features, documentaries and shorts from Oct. 8-10. Among those is the Arizona premiere of “Raise the Roof,” a documentary presented by the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival about… Read more »
Rise of the Forgotten by Lisa E. Mishler
The messages and memories of the Holocaust remain a prevalent and enduring part of the global culture. “This is a story that repeats itself over and over and over again,” says Lisa E. Mishler, author of “L’Chayim — To Life,” a new book that interprets the survival stories of… Read more »
Sabine Feisst The Jewish History Museum has partnered with Arizona Opera to bring Arizona State University professor Sabine Feisst to Tucson for a night of history, music and culture. On Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m., Feisst will present “Arizona Lady and Exiled Composers from Nazi-Occupied Europe,” a historical account of… Read more »
(JTA) — Israelis get around the globe, as anyone who has traveled to Thailand, Goa or Patagonia knows. Writers, too, are known for living outside the lands of their birth – Czech-born Milan Kundera lives in Paris and writes in French; Jhumpa Lahiri moved to Rome in 2012 and wrote her… Read more »
From left, Chef Roy Choi, Martin Short and Phil Rosenthal in a scene from the new PBS show "I'll Have What Phil's Having." (Courtesy WGBH)
(JTA) — Next year in Jerusalem. At least that’s Phil Rosenthal’s plan. Rosenthal is best known as the creator and behind-the-scenes genius of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” the successful sitcom starring (and based on the comedy of) Ray Romano. But now Rosenthal is in front of the camera and the… Read more »
