Cantor Janece Cohen leads members of the Kol Shirah choir at the Tucson Jewish Food Festival on Nov. 7, 2010. (Photo courtesey of Linda Levine) Cantor Janece Cohen of Congregation Or Chadash, started a new adult Jewish choir in August with her friend Karla Ember, cantorial soloist at Congregation Chaverim. A month later Ember was brutally murdered. Recently, Cohen was considering a name for the new choir. “I thought of Kol Shirah, which means… Read more »
Lori Sumberg When Lori Sumberg sings her original composition of “Esa Eynai” at the Fourth International Jewish Music Festival on Dec. 5 in New York City, she will take a bit of Tucson with her. Out of more than 350 pieces submitted by composers around the world, Sumberg’s piece was one… Read more »
Cantor Lauren Bandman of Temple Beth Am in Los Altos, Calif., introduces the first piece in the cantorial concert in Rome -- "Shalom Aleichem," by William Sharlin, Nov. 16, 2010. (Ruth Ellen Gruber) ROME (JTA) — Can Jewish sacred music sung in a Roman Catholic basilica help relations between Christians and Jews? For the Reform movement’s American Conference of Cantors, the answer is a resounding yes. Twenty Reform cantors from across the United States traveled to Rome this month for just that… Read more »
Some Jewish groups are saying that Glenn beck, above, went too far with his criticism of George Soros. (Gage Skidmore) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Fox News provocateur Glenn Beck spent several days taking aim at billionaire businessman and philanthropist George Soros, but so far — at least within Jewish circles — the barrage appears to be backfiring. On his radio and TV shows earlier this month, Beck portrayed Soros as… Read more »
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Kosher — it’s the first word in the book. And tackling the “k” word head-on is part of what makes the first Reform guide to Jewish dietary practice so significant. “The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic,” to be published next month by the… Read more »
Barbra Streisand, left, Jerry Seinfeld and Bette Midler were among the stars who gathered for a gala celebrating the new National Museum of American Jewish hisotry, Nov. 13, 2010. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images) PHILADELPHIA (Jewish Exponent) — Her granddaughter at her elbow, 89-year-old Ruth Sarner-Libros walked slowly through the fourth floor of the National Museum of American Jewish History, drinking in every display. Flashing a broad smile, Sarner-Libros said it was beyond anything she had imagined when she hosted the museum’s first… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — The best thing about Thanksgiving is that it invites Americans of all religions and ethnic backgrounds. On the same autumn Thursday, most American families eat turkey and a cornucopia of side dishes. No country has been more welcoming to the Jews than the United States.… Read more »
Janet (Maedell Dixon) and Josh (David Alexander Johnston) prove opposites do attract in “2 Across.” In the romantic comedy “2 Across,” now playing at the Invisible Theatre, two strangers meet on a San Francisco BART train. They’re opposites: she’s a pragmatist, he’s a dreamer. She’s Catholic, he’s Jewish. And she does the New York Times crossword in pen, while he does it in pencil… Read more »
Menahem Pressler Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, a two-time Grammy Award winner, rejoices in the power of music written by the world’s greatest composers, “taking my turn to take those notes and turn them into life.” Stoltzman intends do just that when he performs with pianist Menahem Pressler and the New York Chamber… Read more »
Sue Fishkoff NEW YORK (Forward) — How did kosher certification grow so popular so fast? With Jews making up less than 2 percent of the country’s population, it seems certain that the answer is rooted in something other than increased religious observance. In her new book “Kosher Nation: Why More and… Read more »
Folk singer Pete Seeger, in green, records a song at his home in Beacon, N.Y., in May 2010 for an Israeli-organized peace rally. He is accompanied by Walker Rumpf on guitar and Rava Institute for Environmental alumni Zack Korenstein and Sarah Schuldenfrei. (Michael Hardgrove) SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — No one tells Pete Seeger what to do. At 91, the iconic folk singer has penned hundreds of protest songs, railing against everything from the Vietnam War to global warming. He was blacklisted in the 1950s, he slept under the stars with striking farmers and… Read more »
A photographic exhibit by Tucson Hebrew Academy, “The Art of Making a Difference,” is on display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s Fine Art Gallery through the end of the month. Established for THA’s Tikkun Olam event on Oct. 24 honoring Tucson’s rabbis, the exhibit “is a celebration of… Read more »
The place is the Warsaw Ghetto, the year 1942, and the black-and-white footage shows fashionably dressed men and women, with yellow Stars of David as accessories, having a high time at a champagne ball. Later we see emaciated kids rooting through mounds of garbage and excrement for scraps of… Read more »
"Man Adrift in Box" by Benjamin Levy A private collection of works by Israeli artist Benjamin Levy is on display through Monday, Oct. 18 at M.A.S.T., 299 S. Park Ave. The collection includes paintings, drawings, lithographs and prints from the 1960s to 1990s. Much of Levy’s art is rooted in mythic family tales and remembrances. Near… Read more »
Jerry Seinfeld will emcee the Nov. 13, 2010 gala to celebrate the official unveiling of the renovated National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Courtesy of NMAJH NEW YORK (JTA) — Two of the country’s most famous Jewish performers will highlight the opening of one of the most ambitious Jewish museum projects in years. Jerry Seinfeld will emcee and Bette Midler will headline a Nov. 13 gala to celebrate the official unveiling of the renovated National… Read more »
When I was 18, I was going to Northwestern University night school and looking for day work. One of my courses was marketing and selling, which was taught by Benjamin Bills, a man I will never forget. He told me that I was a born salesman. He said there… Read more »
"Partnership" by Natalie Leonard Drawings by Natalie Leonard and Zevi Bloomfield are the local winners in an art contest sponsored by the TIPS communities of Tucson, Israel, Phoenix and Seattle. The drawings are printed on note cards the Israel Center will distribute at community events. This is the fourth year of the TIPS… Read more »
‘Fractured Bubble’ by Henry Grosman and Babak Bryan won the Sukkah City architectural competition in Manhattan. (Courtesy of Reboot) It was a surprise hit on the cultural roster of a city that may be the most culturally busy city in the nation. And even though the Sukkah City architectural competition in New York was being dismantled this week, look for Sukkah City next year in a town near… Read more »
Mandy Patinkin plays a man obsessed with the story of Anne Frank in "Compulsion," opening Sept. 16 in Berkeley, Calif. BERKELEY, Calif. (JTA) — Mandy Patinkin says he only plays Jewish characters. Che Guevara, his Tony Award-winning role in the 1980 Broadway play, “Evita”? Jewish. Inigo “prepare to die” Montoya in “The Princess Bride”? Also Jewish. “Everything I do is Jewish. It’s who I am. It’s my soul,” said… Read more »
Ivan Gur-Arie “Jewcentricity: Why the Jews are Praised, Blamed, and Used to Explain Just About Everything” by Adam M. Garfinkle, a very readable book, encompasses historical, psychological, cultural and sociological themes. It has always intrigued me why Jews throughout history always got the limelight, for good or bad. This book certainly… Read more »
