Making The Case For The Arts As A Jewish Communal Priority

Posted: Tue, 06/18/2013 - 11:58 | Posted by: Joshua Ford | Well Versed

It is vital for arts institutions in the Jewish community, Jewish artists and the current generation of philanthropists that support the arts to begin articulating the argument that the support of the arts is not a distraction from the values the next generation of philanthropy seeks to support, but central to them.

Stepping Out In Yiddish

Posted: Wed, 06/12/2013 - 13:15 | Posted by: Sandee Brawarsky | Well Versed

Never has gefilte fish sounded so sexy.

Eleanor Reissa belted out a number from the Yiddish theater, “ Borsht and Gefilte Fish ,” swaying her hips as she sang, as part of this year’s National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene’s gala concert at NYU’s Skirball Center, honoring financier, philanthropist and communal leader Morris W. Offit, 76. Tom Brokaw presented his friend with the award.

A Showcase Of Arts And Texts

Posted: Mon, 06/10/2013 - 09:43 | Posted by: Susan Reimer-Torn | Well Versed

How does an Orthodox center for rich and rigorous Jewish learning reach out to self-styled artists who are often in the margins of communal life?

Last Chance: Palestinian-Israeli Harmony … At The Metropolitan Room

Posted: Fri, 06/07/2013 - 10:57 | Posted by: Sandee Brawarsky | Well Versed

Peace seemed not only possible, but was palpable this week at the Metropolitan Room as Mira Awad sang her own compositions in Arabic, Hebrew and English. Her words are earthy, her voice transcendent and the yearning for something better remains in the air.

A Rabbi And A Monk Walk Into A Courtyard

Posted: Fri, 06/07/2013 - 00:41 | Posted by: Angela Himsel | Well Versed

With the almost invisible strings of Fort Washington’s eruv stretching from pole to pole above us, we followed Rabbi Adam Mintz and Brother John Glasenapp, OSB up the hill where we found welcome refuge from Manhattan’s May heat inside the medieval walls of The Cloisters. An unlikely tag team, the rabbi and the monk were leading a group of 25 on a two hour walk and discussion sponsored by Yeshiva University Museum and The Cloisters museum to tease out the public/private nature of the eruv and Cloister, and how they create religious structures and community.