Arts and Culture

NEW YORK (JTA) — My “Spidey Sense” is tingling! Almost half a century after the comic book superhero Spider-Man was conceived by Jewish writer Stan Lee, a Jewish actor named Andrew Garfield will don the red and blue Spandex for the forthcoming cinematic reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. As… Read more »

Sheila Wilensky

I’m an undisciplined reader. I’m always reading a few books at a time, at least one novel, a memoir and some other nonfiction. Here’s a sampling of my recent reading, with and without Jewish connections. When I find a novelist I like I’ll read everything she’s written. At this… Read more »

Peter Singer speaking at a Veritas Forum event on the Massachusetts Institute of technology campus, March 2009. (Joel Travis Sage via CC)

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — He’s been brandished “the most dangerous man on earth,” accused of being a “public advocate of genocide” and likened to Josef Mengele, the notorious Nazi “Angel of Death.” Yet he’s also been hailed as “one of the world’s 100 most influential people” and “among the… Read more »

(N.Y. Jewish Week) — Many of the best comedians have had deeply troubled pasts. But Moshe Kasher, a rising 32-year-old comic and author of a new memoir, “Kasher in the Rye,” takes the old adage to a new level. He began psychotherapy at age 4 and started using hard… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — “Girls” begins with the conversation that many parents of 20-somethings dream of having someday real soon with their floundering children: No. More. Money. This is what the parents of 24-year-old Hannah Horvath, played by series creator, director and writer Lena Dunham, tell her over dinner.… Read more »

Ron Ben-Israel, a former dancer, has gone on to become the host of Food Network's "Sweet Genius." (Food Network)

TEANECK, N.J. (JTA) — As the minutes on the clock tick away, the chefs run about their kitchens furiously trying to complete their Taj Mahal-themed desserts. “What have I got for you now?” booms the thickly accented master pastry chef Ron Ben-Israel as he overlooks the chefs’ workstations. “Another… Read more »

Matthew Koven, left, and Roger Ramkissoon stand next to their new L.A. deli truck. (Edmon J. Rodman)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — It’s not a dinner for schmucks but a lunch served by one. That may sound harsh, but how else to introduce a new food truck rolling on the streets of Los Angeles called “Schmuck with a Truck”? On only his eighth day of business, the… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer, screenwriters of Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film, “The Dictator,” were bantering in the comic actor’s office as Alec Berg, their co-writer, joined in by speakerphone — he was home babysitting his young daughter. Baron Cohen, star of the prankster… Read more »

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — A few months after my first child was born, I went to a bookstore to buy a few books that I thought needed to be on the bookshelf of my new baby’s nursery. Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” was one of those… Read more »

Gertrude Berg as Molly Goldberg of "The Goldbergs." (CBS Television)

NEW YORK (JTA) — What do Golda Meir, Natalie Portman and Aviva Shalit have in common? They’re all on JTA’s Top Jewish Moms list for 2012. With Mother’s Day on Sunday, we present our select group (in alphabetical order but for our final choice): Bella Abzug — The first Jewish woman elected… Read more »

Harold Grinspoon, the founder of PJ Library, reads one of the program's books with a gaggle of children. (PJ Library)

NEW YORK (JTA) — PJ Library wants to come between parents and children — literally. Every month, PJ Library mails free Jewish-themed children’s books to nearly 100,000 households in North America with a grand ambition: that somewhere between Dr. Seuss and the Berenstain Bears, a child may turn to… Read more »

(JTA) — As moviegoers over the weekend flocked to see Marvel’s new superhero ensemble, they would understandably associate the idea of Nazi-fighting avengers  with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Black Widow. But, in fact, there was also a real-life band of Jewish freedom fighters with the same… Read more »

The cover of artist Stan Lebovic’s book reads “Black is a Color, by a survivor’s son.” But in his search for meaning in the aftermath of the Holocaust, “I don’t focus on the negativity,” Lebovic promises. Instead, he finds hope and inspiration in the resilience of the Jewish people.… Read more »

Detail from medieval Spanish Haggadah (Courtesy University of Manchester)

A fourteenth-century Jewish religious book, preserved by experts at The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library, hand delivered to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it will be on exhibit through Sept. 30. The masterpiece from Catalonian Spain will feature in a special installation called… Read more »

(Cleveland Jewish News) — Michael Belkin knows plenty about the music industry; he was born and raised in it. More than 40 years ago, his father Mike and his uncle Jules founded Belkin Productions, which helped launch the careers of such artists as Johnny Carson, Tiny Tim, Janis Joplin,… Read more »

Sharon Azrieli-Perez, a Candian-born opera singer, performs "Turandot" with the New Israel Opera in 2008. (sharonazrieli.com)

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Sharon Azrieli-Perez told her father — David Azrieli, one of Israel’s biggest real estate moguls — that she wanted to be an opera singer, he told her he’d pay for voice lessons only if she got into Juilliard. That was all the motivation she… Read more »

In his video for the song "HYFR," Drake re-creates his Bar Mitzvah -- sort of. (cash Money Records/Youtube)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Thanks to hip-hop superstar Drake’s latest music video, there are now far more eyes focusing on Temple Israel’s bimah than there are even during the High Holidays. And even though the song’s lyrics are decidedly more profane than sacred, the Reform synagogue’s president said he hoped… Read more »

Shlomo Bar Aba as Eliezer Shkolnik in ‘Footnote’

  Footnote,” the marvelous fourth feature by Israeli director Joseph Cedar and his wittiest and most accomplished, begins with music reminiscent of melodramatic Hollywood thrillers of the 1940s. The absurdly ominous score is so over the top that it’s funny. Indeed, the director is winking at us, acknowledging from… Read more »

Shuler Hensley and Eugene Brancoveanu in “The Thomashefskys”

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! Tonight we’re here to tell you a story. It’s the story of Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, two kids from little shtetls in the middle of the Ukrainian nowhere who came to America and became the founders and pioneers of the American Yiddish Theater … they… Read more »

Michael Ginsberg, played by Ben Feldman, is the new Jewish copyeditor on the AMC award-winning show "Mad Men." (Michael Yarish/AMC)

NEW YORK (JTA) — “Mad Men” is like the Jews — it gets a lot of attention for a show watched by less than 2 percent of the population. To kick off its fifth season, the 1960s period program, winner of four straight Emmys for best drama, has a new Jewish… Read more »