Yafit Josephson in 'New Eyes' Back by popular demand, the critically acclaimed one-woman show “New Eyes” will return to Tucson for a single performance on Monday, April 22. “New Eyes” tells the story of Yafit Josephson, a young woman living in Israel who joins the army as part of her mandatory service to her… Read more »
Left to right, Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane von Furstenberg and Andy Cohen at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's event in New York, Feb. 26, 2013. (Neilson Barnard) NEW YORK (JTA) — Diane von Furstenberg takes a seat at her long, farm table-inspired desk inside her office on the fifth floor in this city’s Meatpacking District. The studio is so vividly colored, so overly patterned and so decked out in exotic tchotchkes, von Furstenberg is one of… Read more »
In the documentary, "The Mereh Affair -- The Itinerary of a Killer," Mohammed Mereh is shown skiing four weeks prior to his killing spree in Toulouse in March 2011. (France 3/You Tube) (JTA) — Four weeks before he murdered seven people in Toulouse, a cheerful Mohammed Merah was filmed laughing and showing off his skiing skills to friends at a popular Alpine resort. The footage, televised on March 6, formed the opening sequence in a controversial documentary about the 23-year-old, French-born… Read more »
Ben Feldman as Michael Ginsberg, the Jewish copywriter in AMC's "Mad Men" (Courtesy AMC) NEW YORK (JTA) — Advertising, it’s fair to say, is in Ben Feldman’s blood. Yes, he technically plays a fictional advertiser, the Jewish copywriter in AMC’s award-winning drama “Mad Men.” But Feldman says it was his excellent marketing skills that landed him the role. “The casting loved that I… Read more »
(L-R) Liesel (Nele Trebs), Lore (Saskia Rosendahl), Jürgen (Mika Seidel) and Günther (André Frid) in Lore. (Music Box Films) Set during the fall of Germany in April 1945, Cate Shortland’s “Lore” evokes and filters the moral weight of history through a single adolescent girl. Experiential rather than informational, subjective without being reductive, the German-language film is a parable of the end of innocence —the naive innocence of girlhood… Read more »
Jewish artist Siona Benjamin paints portraits of women in the Bible, using her Jewish and Inidan background as influences. (Siona Benjamin) MONTCLAIR, N.J. (JTA) — In the space of a single painting, Siona Benjamin juxtaposes feminism, Indian mythology and Jewish imagery. On a three-foot canvas, she’ll paint a portrait of a blue-skinned figure, usually a character from the Bible, with nods to Persian miniatures, Talmudic fables and Vishnu gods. Often… Read more »
Shoppers checking out the dried fruit stand at the Tel Aviv Carmel Market, 2009. (Liron Almog/Flash90/JTA) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Puffing on a cigarette, Amnon Tubi says he always knew what scientists only recently have proven about staying healthy. “I knew that Mediterranean food is the best,” he said, surrounded by tables overflowing with tomatoes, cucumbers and oranges. “The legumes are healthy. There’s a lot… Read more »
PARIS (JTA) – Cigarette in one hand and cup of tea in the other, Matisyahu sat down with JTA in his closet-sized dressing room during his European tour to talk about his life, his music, how he’s raising his kids, and the recent changes in his religious outlook and… Read more »
Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh embarked on “The Gatekeepers” with the intention of stirring things up. He has everyone’s attention now, with his film playing to sellout audiences at home and opening across the United States last month on the buzz of an Academy Award nomination for documentary feature.… Read more »
Francine Hermelin Levite and Edgar Bronfman have been using unique versions of the Passover haggadah for years. Now both have decided to publish their versions of the Exodus story. Hermelin Levite, 43, the mother of three school-aged children, is the author of “My Haggadah: Made it Myself,” (http://madeitmyselfbooks.com), an… Read more »
BOSTON (JTA) — When he was 5 years old, Marian Marzynski’s parents hatched a plan to smuggle him out of the Warsaw Ghetto. It was 1942, and Marzynski and his family were among the 400,00 Jews rounded up two years earlier by the Nazis, confined to the 1.3-sq.-mile ghetto… Read more »
Left to right, the final issue of the "Ultimate Spider-Man" featuring Peter Parker and the first issue featuring Miles Morales. (Courtesy Marvel Comics) NEW YORK (JTA) — Spiderman heroically dispatched countless foes since he arrived on the scene in 1962. Nearly a half-century later, Brian Michael Bendis managed to kill him. In 2000, Bendis was hired to write Ultimate Spiderman, a modern-day retelling of the classic Spiderman story. More than 10 years, 160… Read more »
Jim Belushi Most family men spend weekends mowing the lawn or tinkering in the garage. Not Jim Belushi. He’s out almost every weekend, making audiences around the country laugh, performing with his improv troupe, the Chicago Board of Comedy. “Most guys, they golf on the weekend,” said Belushi, 58. “I go… Read more »
Ann Kirschner, author of the acclaimed “Sala’s Gift” and the upcoming “Lady at the OK Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp,” will be the keynote speaker in the Jewish History Museum’s Jewish Storytelling Festival. She will give a free lecture about her new book on Thursday, March… Read more »
Naomi Benaron An acclaimed first-time novelist, an award-winning mystery writer, an internationally best-selling author and the reporter who wrote “A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State” will highlight the Brandeis National Committee’s 17th Annual Book & Author Events. The committee’s Tucson chapter… Read more »
Joshua Bell with the Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius (Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco) Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell will play with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Tucson Music Hall. The program of romantic classics will include the overture to Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” Grieg’s “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen,” the “Wedding March” from Mendelssohn’s “A… Read more »
The “Nazi Hunters” series, with new episodes airing on PBS 6 next month, chronicles the stories of the determined individuals who chased some of the most reviled criminals on earth — the men who perpetuated the atrocities of the Third Reich during World War II. But the pursuers themselves… Read more »
Scott Edmiston The Brandeis National Committee will host its annual University on Wheels event on Thursday, Feb. 7, at 9 a.m. at Skyline Country Club. Scott Edmiston, director of the Office of the Arts at Brandeis University, will speak on: “Truth or Beauty: The Need for Art in the 21st Century.”… Read more »
Matisyahu Matisyahu, the no-longer-Hasidic reggae superstar, will bring his first acoustic tour to Tucson on Wednesday, Jan. 30, performing at the Rialto Theatre. The concert will feature acoustic renditions of tracks from his latest album, “Spark Seeker,” in addition to some fan favorites. While in Santa Monica earlier this month… Read more »
In "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," a film with characters that bring to mind the themes of Tu b'Shvat, Bilbo Baggins discovers there is trouble brewing in the forests of Middle-earth. (Courtesy Warner Bros.) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — What lore does Bilbo Baggins have to share with us about Tu b’Shevat? While viewing “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and hearing the Middle-earth characters talking about threats to the forests, more than a seed or two of connection between the increasingly popular Jewish holiday… Read more »
