Arts and Culture

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 »

(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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

BOULDER, Colo. (JTA) — When Matisyahu, the 32-year-old Chasidic reggae superstar, appeared onstage for the first time since shaving his trademark beard, no one in the audience at the Boulder Theater seemed surprised. The news of his shaving had been widely discussed since the star tweeted a photo of… Read more »

Matisyahu posted pictures of himself on Twitter after shaving his signature beard, Dec. 13, 2011. (Photo via Twitter)

NEW YORK (JTA) — The world’s most famous Chasidic Jew has shaved his beard. With a declaration Tuesday morning that he was “reclaiming” himself, Jewish music star Matisyahu — a.k.a. Matthew Miller — shaved his signature beard and wrote, “No more Chassidic reggae superstar.” The musician posted two photos of his newly… Read more »

Tucson artist Lynn Rae Lowe in her Metal Arts Village studio (Sheila Wilensky)

Judaism is a profound part of life for Tucson metal artist Lynn Rae Lowe, who is known for her award-winning chanukiot and other Judaica. But it wasn’t always so. Men like her father who returned from World War II wanted to assimilate into American society. “They didn’t want to… Read more »

Madeline Dreyfus Heineman Berger, founder of the Temple of Music and Art

David Ira Goldstein has been artistic director of the Arizona Theatre Company for 20 years. But the ATC’s Jewish legacy in Tucson goes back much further — all the way to the founding of the ATC’s Tucson home, the Temple of Music and Art, by Madeline Dreyfus Heineman Berger,… Read more »

Steve Solomon

Steve Solomon, star and creator of one of the longest running one-man comedy shows in history, “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy,” presents a new show next month at the Invisible Theatre. In “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish and I’m Home for the Holidays:… Read more »

An innovative figure emerged in my youth who inspired me in a way that was so different from many others — a rabbi with a guitar and amazing stories who reached into the inner depths of my soul. It was Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, who became known as the “sweet… Read more »

A new kosher cookbook, “Havurah Cooks! A Collection of Recipes by Sun City Vistoso Havurah Club” was conceived by board members Ester Leutenberg and Bebe Lewis as a way to fight “activity fatigue” in the club, which was founded in 1993 and now boasts some 160 members. The club’s… Read more »

Neshama Carlebach

Neshama Carlebach sings so that people can feel. “I want people to feel — that’s when healing begins,” says Carlebach, 37, the daughter of the legendary Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, who also used music to teach and inspire, recording more than 25 albums. Carlebach will take the concert stage at… Read more »

Jenni Wolfson performing in her one-woman show, "Rash." (Melbourne Sibblies)

NEW YORK (JTA) — At the start of “Rash,” Jenni Wolfson appears onstage in a green peasant skirt and khaki top to the sound of cascading gunfire. Her long brown hair is unceremoniously pulled back with a black scrunchie. From a trunk she pulls out a flak jacket and puts it on.… Read more »

Neal Pollack (Laura Sartois/Anthology Photography)

(Tablet) — In the 1930s, Hank Greenberg chased Babe Ruth’s records and won the 1934 World Series with the Detroit Tigers. The national pastime wasn’t friendly territory for a Jewish athlete then, but by proudly staking out a claim, Greenberg proved that Jews could play the game as well… Read more »

One of my favorite books of the last decade is Daniel Tammet’s memoir “Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant,” so I was eager to read “Following Ezra: What One Father Learned About Gumby, Otters, Autism, and Love from His Extraordinary Son” by… Read more »

Arizona Public Media will air two shows dealing with the Nazi era and its aftermath on Tuesday, Nov. 15 on PBS channel 6. “Inside the Mind of Adolf Hitler” starts at 8 p.m., followed at 9 p.m. by “Elusive Justice: The Search for Nazi War Criminals.” “Making ‘Inside the… Read more »