Stories about how we look at Jewish artists and how Jewish artists look at the world.
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Culture These filmmakers are putting Asian-American Jews on camera. Here’s what they want you to know
It’s a precept you’ve probably heard, no matter what form your Jewish education took: “You shall not oppress the stranger, because you know what it’s like to be strangers in the land of Egypt.” Found in the Torah portion mishpatim, that sentence is often cited as a command for compassion rooted in Jewish values. But…
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Culture Between a shtetl-born painter and a Dutch expressionist, remarkable parallels
With his canvases depicting remote villages, blood-soaked carcasses and portraits of ordinary people, Chaïm Soutine was Willem de Kooning’s favorite–hands down. “I’ve always been crazy about Soutine — all of his paintings,” the Dutch-born artist once said. Now visitors to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia can see how the shtetl-born Jewish artist inspired de Kooning…
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Culture New technology can bring Anne Frank to life — but should it?
A yellowed photo of a man in round glasses glances up and smiles sadly at you before turning to stare into the distance. He has mussed hair and a mustache, and is wearing an old fashioned shirt, his expression melancholy. It seems like something out of Harry Potter, or even a horror movie, but it’s…
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Culture How celebrated illustrator Peter Sís found a Holocaust hero in his own backyard
The day after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, the author and illustrator Peter Sís met with his editor to discuss a new book. The former president’s rise was already drawing comparisons to the crises of the 20th century. Still, Sís couldn’t have predicted that he would finish his latest work, a children’s tale of…
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Art An artist in exile talks Tu B’Shvat tarot and working from her childhood home
During the pandemic, Jessica Tamar Deutsch has been considering exile as she relearns how to paint. Specifically, she’s been thinking about the title character in “The Lost Princess,” a story by Rabbi Nachman, the mystic founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement, about a young woman who disappears from her home after displeasing her kingly father….
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Culture She didn’t go to Hebrew school, but she she made an extremely accurate movie about it — a conversation with Olivia Peace
The most important scenes in “Tahara” take place where the best shul drama goes down: the ladies’ lounge. Possibly the most important amenity a synagogue can offer, the ladies’ lounge features way too many wicker baskets, a selection of castoff artwork incorporating the phrase “tikkun olam” and a well-worn couch conducive to dawdling and dishing…
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Culture Mindy Weisel spent her life looking for ‘light.’ Now, she’s found it
Mindy Weisel wanted to know if I’d ever been to Kripalu. I have not. But Weisel, an abstract artist based in Jerusalem, is a longtime devotee of the Massachusetts yoga retreat. She rushed to our virtual interview after finishing a Zoom class with her favorite teacher — her exercise method of choice ever since the…
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Culture From Basra to the Chelsea Hotel — My father’s journey
My father, George Chemeche, is 87 years old. I live with him here in the Chelsea Hotel. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, I haven’t really seen him. For his safety, I occupy the bedroom of our apartment and he occupies the living room, TV room and kitchen. I order groceries for my father,…
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Theater Why is everyone laughing at Anne Frank?
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Opinion It’s time for the pro-Palestinian movement to make a radical change
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News Should synagogues remove the Israeli flag from bimahs now? How a New York shul made the decision
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Film & TV How a complete unknown created one of the most iconic music events of the 1970’s
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Opinion I was a villain on ‘Love is Blind.’ The antisemitic backlash brought me back to Judaism
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