LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Joseph Cedar is on a pretty good run: The Israeli director has made four movies in his 11-year career, and the first three have represented his country at the Academy Awards for best foreign-language film. One made the cut of five finalists, but a Cedar… Read more »
Arts and Culture
Israel’s ‘Footnote,’ Allen and Spielberg get Oscar nods
(JTA) — The Israeli film “Footnote” and veteran Jewish filmmakers Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg are up for Academy Awards. Oscar nominations were released Tuesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Israel’s hope for its first Oscar was kept alive with Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” listed among… Read more »
The unhappy medium
(Jewish Ideas Daily) — Some days, I think back 25 years to my high-school French course, where I first encountered the concept of the juste milieu — the happy medium — and the difficulty of achieving it. Why is it so elusive? Why do I often feel caught betwixt… Read more »
Mystery swirls around Judaic manuscripts discovered in Afghanistan
NEW YORK (JTA) — It was said to be a finding of groundbreaking scholarly and historic significance, comparable in importance to the 19th-century discovery of the Cairo Geniza and rivaling the Dead Sea Scrolls for sheer drama. That, at any rate, was the buzz in scholarly circles when reports… Read more »
With new restaurant at Canyons, kosher food debuts at U.S. ski resort
PARK CITY, Utah (JTA) – Kosher food isn’t something one generally associates with ski resorts, and Utah isn’t a place known for its Jewish population. But after Canyons, the state’s largest ski resort, opened the nation’s first ski-area, glatt kosher restaurant this season, the Jews came. And ate. And… Read more »
Park City shul is popular venue for Sundance films — and ski-in Shabbat services
PARK CITY, Utah (JTA) – Call it the Sundance Synaplex. This week, crowds of people will be flocking several times a day to Temple Har Shalom in this picturesque ski town, but they won’t be coming for Shacharit, Mincha or Maariv services. Instead, for 10 days the synagogue is… Read more »
Ukrainian historian makes career in Jewish heritage travel
LVIV, Ukraine (JTA) — Alex Dunai is not Jewish. But over 15 years of leading Jewish tourists searching for their roots in Ukraine, he’s built up a serviceable knowledge of Yiddish — though sometimes he has to make things up. “I make up sayings — you have highway roads, we… Read more »
Clergy push Debbie Friedman song
(Forward) — About two weeks before she died, Debbie Friedman stood with Rabbi Joy Levitt at the piano in Levitt’s Manhattan apartment, and she shared with her friend a melody that the legendary singer and composer would never have the chance to record. It was a new version of… Read more »
Thelonius and ‘Baroness’ find mysterious harmony
Hannah Rothschild never quite solves the mystery that comprises the heart of “The Jazz Baroness.” But her seductive documentary about the profound friendship between her British great-aunt Nica and bebop pianist extraordinaire Thelonius Monk provides so many bits of pleasure along the way that we don’t particularly mind. Made… Read more »
Alabama’s secret Jewish weapon celebrates grid title
NEW YORK (JTA) — After the University of Alabama won the Bowl Championship Series football crown by dominating top-ranked Louisiana State University, much of the attention and credit has gone to Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban. But what about Robert Levin? Pediatrician by day, Levin has been Alabama’s band announcer —… Read more »
Rebooting Reboot: Cultural group behind ‘Sukkah City’ hires new director, charts its future
NEW YORK (N.Y. Jewish Week) — In the fall of 2010, Sukkot became a national topic of conversation when Reboot, the Jewish cultural organization, engineered an architectural competition around the temporary shelters used to celebrate the holiday. “Sukkah City,” as it was called, will have a slightly different sensibility… Read more »
The actually Jewish-controlled media tries to make its mark
NEW YORK (JTA) — It is a strange irony: Jews have been successful in the television business — but Jewish TV, not so much. It’s not for lack of trying. Right now, no fewer than three Jewish-focused national cable channels are trying to carve out a viable niche within… Read more »
Freud’s a cultural rage, but Judaism views are under attack
NEW YORK (N.Y. Jewish Week) — If you were to take a cultural tour of New York today, you’d think Sigmund Freud were as relevant to society now as Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs. Everywhere you’d turn, from Broadway to the movies, you’d find the father of psychoanalysis holding… Read more »
The ‘Jewish Jordan’ talks basketball, Judaism, and giving back
(JUF News) — “Jewish Jordan” — that’s the nickname Sports Illustrated gave Tamir Goodman when he was merely 17 years old and a high school junior at the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. Ranked among the best 25 high school basketball players in America, Goodman seemed set to become the… Read more »
Judea Pearl, father of slain WSJ reporter, is a leader in artificial intelligence
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — A man arrives at an airport for a flight, and as he goes through security the agent asks some questions. Did anyone help him pack his suitcase? What is the purpose of his trip? Is anyone accompanying him? During the conversation, the agent enters answers… Read more »
Brandeis book sale to benefit scholarship fund
The Tucson chapter of Brandeis National Committee will hold its annual book sale at the Foothills Mall from Jan. 13 to 22. The sale will feature more than 50,000 books, including collectibles and first editions. “Someone said it takes a village,” says Meg Sivitz, Brandeis book sale chair, “but… Read more »
Film festival will feature love, loss, intrigue
It’s not just the free popcorn that draws hundreds of moviegoers to the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival, which will run for its 21st year at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Jan. 12-22. It’s the lineup of films, from dramas to comedies to animated shorts, with themes that are… Read more »
Ketubah exhibit to open with champagne
The Jewish History Museum will hold the grand opening of its fourth annual ketubah exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 1 from 2 to 4 p.m. The exhibit will be on display Jan. 4 through Feb. 5 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. and Fridays from… Read more »
“Rabbi, Matisyahu shaved off his beard! Should I shave off mine?”
NEW YORK (JTA) — As if the Jewish world doesn’t have enough problems with Iran on the brink of starting a nuclear war and the radical Muslim Brotherhood making gains in Egypt’s phased elections. This week we were rocked by another close shave with disaster: “Chasidic reggae superstar” Matisyahu… Read more »
New Yorkers producing film on Israel’s Six-Day War victory
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The Six-Day War in 1967 was a brilliant military victory, a turning point in Israel’s history. Similar glory by Americans on the battlefield no doubt would have led to the production of a half-dozen films with John Wayne single-handedly wiping out the Arab armies. Yet… Read more »