At the New York release party for Eprhyme’s first CD a few years ago, the audience was an unusual blend of angel-headed Jewish hipsters bopping along to neo-Hasidic hip-hop, along with a smaller African-American crowd which was there to check out the new record drop. Eprhyme straddled two communities — the New-Jew one, and the…
The Internet can be a nasty place. Whether due to the replacement of visceral human relationships with a cold, lifeless screen, or because people have learned to type faster than they think, something about Internet conversation seems to bring out the worst in human discourse. As my Forward colleague Jay Michaelson pointed out in his…
The past year has seen a bumper crop of Jewish-themed graphic novels, with subjects ranging from the recent history of the Middle East (Joe Sacco’s “Footnotes in Gaza”) to the ancient mythology of the Middle East (R. Crumb’s “Genesis”) to the poets of the Beat Generation (Harvey Pekar and Ed Piskor’s “The Beats”). Still, the…
The Brooklyn-based music label Shemspeed attracted international attention recently with their “Israeli remix of the Keffiyeh” (more of a tempest in a teapot, really, than a full-blown controversy), but that shouldn’t distract anyone from what the Jewish music production company spends most of its time doing: producing music. Shemspeed has put out no less than…
Two fabulous Jewish magazines have new issues out that are must-reads for anyone interested in Judaism and gender. The first is Lilith’s new issue, which proclaims, in big black letters on a red background, that “Boys are the New Girls.” It’s an interesting premise, highlighting the much-needed attention paid lately to boys. Boys — and…
Who’s afraid of Jerusalem? Who loathes and despises her? Who execrates her, heart and tongue? Who says, What am I doing in this city of black hats And maniacs This city of blood and enmity Where Hillel the Elder pursues peace Amid the broken cups and carnage? Who hates Jerusalem For the love wherewith he…
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