As every “Big Lebowski” devotee knows, you don’t roll on Shabbes. So when Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt announced plans to have the Second Annual Lebowski Fest on a Friday night, fans of the 1998 comedy were aghast.“We kept getting e-mails saying, ‘You can’t have this on Shabbes,’” Russell told the Forward. Thankfully, the 500 toRead More
The Sutton Place Synagogue in Manhattan “rocked” as the 220 guests at the June 16 Yiddish Artists & Friends Actors Club & Yiddish Theatrical Alliance Annual Dinner Dance Gala waltzed, cha-cha’d and hora’d to the beat of Mitch Kahn’s Orchestra.Corey Breier, master of ceremonies, club president and recently appointed president of…Read More
I’m working really hard on saying “Independence Day” without smirking. To me, it’s not a holiday; it’s the name of a movie that started the whole cynical tradition of opening big, dumb, “Oooooh, explosions!” gazillion-dollar summer blockbusters. (Okay, so “Independence Day” is the first action flick to feature Judd Hirsch and theRead More
In one of the more unsettling lines in modern Yiddish literature — a genre hardly lacking in disturbing sentiments — a young man who has left the yeshiva for a secular life is rebuked by his former classmate: Don’t you remember what our rabbi taught? He who has studied in the Mussar yeshiva will never again be able to enjoy his life! YouRead More
The National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s June 2 Jewish Cultural Achievement awards dinner at the Plaza — co-chaired by Morris Offit and hosted by actor Ron Leibman — was a feast for the soul.Among the roster of participants delighting the 350 guests who helped raise $500,000 for the foundation was National Public Radio host Scott…Read More
Sparks flew at the civil and witty “Conversation” between Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and Natan Sharansky at the June 2 Aleph Society dinner at the Essex House. When moderator Charles Krauthammer expressed astonishment at the return of antisemitism 50 years after the Holocaust, Steinsaltz — author of 60 books on the Talmud,Read More
I might have been bat mitzvah when I turned 13, but in truth, no such ceremony was available to me as a daughter of Orthodox parents, and so I waited 57 years before I finally stood on the bima to observe my spiritual birthday.Under the guidance of Rabbi Avis Miller at Adas Israel Synagogue in Washington, several dozen women in my cohort completedRead More
My sister-in-law has generously offered to throw me a baby shower. I have always thought that, according to Judaism, baby showers are prohibited. Also, I thought I was supposed to wait until the birth to bring any baby gifts into my home. What is the proper etiquette, and how do I address this diplomatically with my sister-in-law?Read More
Michael Azeez has a long personal history with the Woodbine Brotherhood Synagogue. “My earliest memory,” he said, “is in the synagogue with my father, tying his tallis in knots.”It is something of a tribute, then, that Azeez has spearheaded the restoration of the historic building in southern New Jersey and opened, within the synagogue’sRead More
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