METROPOLITAN NEW YORK
Lectures and Discussions
‘Modern Memoirs’: Renowned New York journalists Sam Freedman and Joe Lelyveld talk about Jewish identity, family relationships and personal history in a book discussion moderated by Forward features editor Gabriel Sanders. Freedman focuses on the life of his mother, who died at the age of 50, in his book “Who She Was: My Search for My Mother’s Life” (Simon & Schuster, 2005), and Lelyveld explores his childhood in Cleveland in his work “Omaha Blues” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005). Co-sponsored by the Forward, the event is presented by the Museum of Jewish Heritage as part of a book club called Looking Back, Facing Forward. Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Edmund J. Safra Hall, 36 Battery Pl.; March 29, 7 p.m.; $5, free for members. (646-437-4202 or www.mjhncy.org)
The New Europe: How is the history of the Jewish Diaspora in Europe throughout the past 200 years related to the continent’s contemporary Islamic communities? Can the Jewish experience be used as a model for a modern-day multicultural Europe? Sander Gilman of Emory University explores these questions in a lecture presented by New York University’s Center for Media, Culture and History. Dean’s Conference Room, 721 Broadway, 12th floor; March 30, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.; free. (212-998-3759)
Music
Operatic: Opera diva Regina Resnik performs Covert or Convert?: A Powerful Expression of the Jewish Spirit. The concert includes work by both famed and unknown musicians who either converted to Christianity or wrote music secretly during the Spanish Inquisition, under communism and during the Holocaust. The program includes works by Felix Mendelssohn, Anton Rubinstein and Otto Klemperer. Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Edmond J. Safra Hall, 36 Battery Pl.; April 2, 2:30 p.m.; $20, $15 for seniors, $10 for students and members. (646-437-4202 or www.mjhnyc.org)
Passover
Progressive: Renowned klezmer trumpeter Frank London and Yiddish theater star Joanne Borts are among the performers who will appear in the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring’s 73rd annual progressive Seder. The event, which features New Jersey’s Democratic Rep. Rush Holt as a guest speaker, includes performances by the New Yiddish Chorale and the Workmen’s Circle Chorus. Dietary laws will be observed. Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, 257 W. 88th St.; April 2, 3:30 p.m.; $125, $100 for members; reservations requested. (212-889-6800, ext. 225)
CALIFORNIA
Sing Out Loud: Warm up your pipes at a family concert and sing along with Gerry Tenney, who performs Yiddish Songs of Work and Play for Families at an event presented by the Bureau of Jewish Education Jewish Community Library. Tenney is the director of East Bay Kindershul, where he is also a music teacher. At the event, he leads and performs with the ensemble California Klezmer. BJE Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis St., San Francisco; April 2, 2 p.m.; free. (415-567-3327 or www.bjesf.org)
MASSACHUSETTS
‘The Rosenbach Company’: “The Rosenbach Company,” a pop musical written by cartoonist and Forward contributor Ben Katchor and musician Mark Mulcahy, makes its New England premiere in April. The show, which tells the life stories of rare-book dealer Abe Rosenbach and his brother, Philip, a decorative arts dealer, examines the duo’s obsession with collecting literary ephemera. The production blends projected images of Katchor’s work with live performances by actors, singers and musicians. The National Yiddish Book Center, Hampshire College, 1021 West St., Amherst; April 6, 7:30 p.m.; $12, $6 for students; reservations suggested. (413-256-4900 or www.yiddishbookcenter.org)
NEW JERSEY
On Screen: Films from Israel, France, Mexico, Germany and the United States are featured in the sixth annual New Jersey Jewish Film Festival, presented by the JCC MetroWest. Fourteen of the films are New Jersey premieres, including Radu Mihaileanu’s “Live and Become” (2005). The film tells the story of a non-Jewish Ethiopian boy who is hidden by his mother among Jewish refugees and airlifted to Israel during Operation Moses. Another premiering film is Debbie Brukman’s “Perla: The Last of the Seven Dwarfs” (2004). Set in Europe in the 1930s, the movie focuses on a family of religious dwarfs who are successful in show business and then taken as subjects for experiments by Dr. Josef Mengele. The screenings are presented at venues throughout Essex and Morris counties. New Jersey Jewish Film Festival; March 23-April 2; $12, $10 for seniors, students and JCC members; for schedules and locations, call the listed number or visit the Web site. (973-530-3444 or www.njjff.org)
VERMONT
Accompaniment: Pianist Gary Lucas plays his original score to the 1920 silent German Expressionist film “The Golem.” Directed by Carl Boese and Paul Wegener, the film is based on the 16th-century legend of Rabbi Loew, who brings a clay figure to life to protect the Jews of the Prague Ghetto. The performance and screening are presented by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. FlynnSpace, 153 Main St., Burlington; April 1, 4 p.m., 8 p.m.; $20. (802-863-5966 or www.flynncenter.org)
WASHINGTON, D.C.
‘Sentenced to Marriage’: Filmmaker Anat Zuria documents the plights of three Israeli women who wish to get divorces but are unable to do so in the religious courts of Israel without their husbands’ consent. “Sentenced to Marriage” (2004, in Hebrew with English subtitles), which was filmed over the course of two years, portrays the stories of Tamar, Sari and Smadar. The women were helped by a group of female Orthodox rabbinical advocates. Zuria will speak about the film in a discussion following the screening. Library of Congress, Madison Building, West Dining Room, sixth floor; March 30, 12 p.m.; free. (202-707-2905)
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