METROPOLITAN NEW YORK
Lectures and Discussions
The Rules of the Get: Rabbi Daniel Rapp of the Beth Din of America, a visiting assistant professor at Yeshiva University, discusses “The Agunah: The Chained Woman” as part of the “Wrestling with Tradition: Jewish Dilemmas in a Modern World” lecture series. Avis/South Shore Jewish Community Center, 1297 Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island; March 19, 7:30 p.m.; $5. (718-356-8113, ext. 242)
Facing Forward: “And When Your Daughter Asks: Feminist Reflections on the Passover Holiday” is a reading and discussion with a feminist eye turned to the Haggada with Esther Broner, Phyllis Chesler, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Ruth Messinger, Carol Ochs and other contributors to “The Women’s Passover Companion” and “The Women’s Seder Sourcebook.” Congregation Ansche Chesed, 251 W. 100th St.; March 23, 1 p.m.; free. (212-865-0600, ext. 413)
Performance
A Boy’s Tale: Brad Levinson’s drama “A Ritual of Faith,” presented by the Emerging Artists Theatre under the direction of Igor Goldin, is a fictionalized account of the true story of a 6-year-old Italian Jew during the mid-1800s who was taken from his family and raised as a Catholic by Pope Pius IX. The Lion Theater, 410 W. 42nd St.; through April 6, Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.; $25, reservations suggested. (212-279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com)
Over the Border Line: The Praxis Theatre Project presents the American premiere of Karen Sunde’s drama “How His Bride Came to Abraham,” about a Palestinian woman and an Israel Defense Forces lieutenant who find themselves drawn together despite their immense differences when they are forced to spend the night together in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon. Looking Glass Theater, 422 W. 57th St.; March 20-April 12, Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m.; $15, March 23 gala benefit, 7 p.m., $25. (212-206-1515 or www.smarttix.com)
Music
The Hills Are Alive: Under the baton of Matthew Lazar, the Zamir Chorale of New York performs music from across the choral spectrum. Forest Hills Jewish Center, 106-06 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills, Queens; March 23, 8 p.m.; $25-$36. (718-263-7000)
Film
Shorts from the Jewish State: “Films on One Foot,” an evening of Israeli shorts, includes a selection from the Ma’ale School of Communications, the only Orthodox Jewish film school in the world. Audience members may cast their votes for the evening’s “Best in Show.” The evening is part of the Jewish Film Festival of Westchester. Bendheim Theatre, Jewish Community Center of Mid-Westchester, 999 Wilmot Road, Scarsdale; March 22, 8 p.m., $10, $5 students, please contact JCC for other festival programs. (914-738-6008)
Hitler, the Early Years: In Menno Meyjes’s “Max” (U.S.A., 2002), John Cusack is art dealer Max Rothman, whose relationship with a young artist named Adolf Hitler is at the locus of this film. Makor-Steinhardt Center, 35 W. 67th St.; March 17-March 19, 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.; March 20, 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.; $9, except for early March 20 screening-discussion, $15. (212-601-1000)
CALIFORNIA
The Art of World Markets: The exhibit “Spice of Life: Jewish Markets and Merchants the World Over” features roughly 40 photographs from around the world taken over the course of two decades by Rabbi Joshua Plaut, executive director of the Center for Jewish History in New York. These images portray the carnivals of color where people come together to buy and sell in Central Asia, Israel, Turkey, Greece, France, Morocco, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles; through April 27, Tue.-Sat. noon-5 p.m. and Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; free. (310-440-4500 or www.skirball.org)
Laughing at the Past: Avi Hoffman is back in Los Angeles, and this time he’s got not one but two “Too Jewish” shows, his original “Too Jewish” and its successor, “Too Jewish, Too,” with the first a comic crowd-pleaser tracing the immigrant experience and the rise of Yiddish theater and the second taking a laughing look at the Borscht Belt humor of the 1940s through the 1960s. Hoffman has been onstage since age 10, when he made his debut with the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater. Coronet Theatre, 366 N. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles; previews March 21-March 22, opens March 22, through April 13, please call for times; $20-$60. (310-657-7300 or Ticketmaster 213-365-3500)
ILLINOIS
Sentimental Strings: The Russian-born cellist Nina Kotova presents a musical evening that includes works by Ernest Bloch and Max Bruch. Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, 618 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago; March 23, 2 p.m.; $15, $10 members, reservations required. (312-322-1769 or www.spertus.edu)
Telushkin Talks: On behalf of the 2003 Jewish United Fund Annual Campaign and the Israel Emergency Campaign, Temple Sholom hosts a dinner-lecture with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, whose books include “The Book of Jewish Values” and “Jewish Literacy.” Donations to both the fundraising campaigns encouraged. Temple Sholom, 3480 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; March 25, 6:30 p.m.; $25, reservations suggested. (312-444-2826)
MASSACHUSETTS
‘Words on Fire’: “Women of the Book: Jewish Artists, Jewish Themes” features the work of some 80 Jewish women artists from around the world. The exhibit is part of the New Center for Arts and Culture’s “Words on Fire” festival, which marks the 70th anniversary of the massive 1933 Nazi book burning in Berlin and features eight weeks of arts and humanities programming throughout the Boston area as part of a celebration dedicated to freedom of expression. The organizing center seeks a permanent home. Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, Starr Gallery, 333 Nahanton St., Newton; March 23-May 18, please call for times; free. (exhibit 617-558-6484, festival information 617-558-6593 or www.wordsonfireboston.com)
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