At this Yiddish music festival, tradition is everything — and nothing By Irene Katz Connelly, Forward Jul 14, 2022 The dance workshop was in full swing, but catastrophe was afoot: Nobody understood how to make a four-pointed star. I’m referring to a folk dance pattern that, as one of the less competent dancers in the room, I am ill-equipped to properly describe. Suffice it to say that there are eight people standing in a… Read More
Film S.F. Jewish Film Fest: How Leonard Bernstein embraced his Jewishness Early in Leonard Bernstein’s career — before he had a career, really — one of his mentors suggested that such an obviously Jewish name as Bernstein would… By Julia M. Klein, Forward Jul 11, 2022
Music New single from Zusha features tune by Beth Jacob rabbi Rabbi Gershon Albert first sang his “Niggun Hodaah” for the members of Zusha in 2016, when the band spent a weekend as musicians in residence at Beth… By David A.M. Wilensky Jul 7, 2022
Dance How Israeli songs became part of Taiwan's folk dance obsession It was a cool spring day in Yilan, a town on Taiwan’s northeast coast known for its picturesque rice fields and delicious spring onions. On a concrete… By Jordyn Haime, JTA Jul 5, 2022
Culture Reboot Studios funds Jewish projects with Soloway, Mansbach and more When “Saturday Night Seder,” a Passover-themed virtual comedy show, was a hit at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, its funders realized there was a… By Andrew Lapin, JTA Jul 1, 2022
Music International Jewish choir seeks teen singers for East Bay chapter HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir is launching an East Bay chapter and inviting local Jewish teens entering grades 8 through 12 to audition.… By Andrew Esensten Jun 30, 2022
Cultured Hot Jewish Summer: Yiddish album and ‘Hallelujah’ doc will strike a chord It’s shaping up to be a Hot Jewish Summer. Drake just dropped a dance album. A movie about a bar/bat mitzvah party motivator is playing in theaters around… By Andrew Esensten Jun 21, 2022
Music New album serves up what’s been cooking at The Kitchen Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer is ready to sing her own songs. The Kitchen’s charismatic hazzan, or cantor, has spent the past three and a half years turning… By Andrew Gilbert Jun 15, 2022
Music The ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ theme song is now in Yiddish Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? ShvomBob Kvadrat-hoyzn, of course. And now the Jewish world knows how to say “SpongeBob SquarePants” in Yiddish,… By Jackie Hajdenberg, JTA Jun 14, 2022