New England

 I read with interest Gary Rosenblatt’s column on the 10th anniversary of The Jewish Week’s breaking of the Rabbi Baruch Lanner story (June 18).

More than 15 years ago, I was a high school senior at Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass., and an active member of the NCSY youth group. It was in that capacity that once I met Rabbi Lanner, who made an appearance at the New England Region’s Spring Regional in West Hartford, Conn., I believe. 

If you prefer the strains of Mozart and the strokes of Picasso to the feeling of sand between your toes, head to the Berkshires this summer.

New England’s most storied arts retreat is nestled into the deceptively rural swath along the New York-Massachusetts border, a region named for its lush green mountains. I say deceptive because the bucolic setting, with its fresh breezes and homespun clapboard buildings, has a low-key vibe that belies the intensity of its fine-arts scene. 

 
My first adventure abroad was a summer in the lovely medieval town of Siena, Italy. I was 17 and had never left the East Coast of the U.S., but I made the transition quite easily: Italian food and culture are hardly unknown to New Yorkers, and a background in French and Spanish made the language barrier a non-issue.
 

 
When Linda Russ and her husband, Len, decided to move out of Manhattan, they were looking for a backyard, more space and — above all — freedom from hefty private-school tuition bills.
 
“We had no intention of moving to Connecticut and sending our children to private school,” recalls Linda with a laugh. But just to pacify her father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, the couple visited Bi-Cultural Day School in Stamford, a 53-year-old institution that caters to Jews of all backgrounds.
 

Of the elite jazz musicians working in New York, pianist Bruce Barth is probably the only one who can claim a klezmer pedigree.

Barth, 46, who has emerged as one of his generation’s most compelling pianists and will share the stage Monday at Merkin Hall with the legendary Cedar Walton in a two-piano duet, developed an ear for klezmer in high school in Harrison, N.Y. It was then that his brother introduced him to a clique of New York bluegrass musicians, including mandolinist/clarinetist Andy Statman and banjoist Tony Trischka.

Of the elite jazz musicians working in New York, pianist Bruce Barth is probably the only one who can claim a klezmer pedigree.

Barth, 46, who has emerged as one of his generation’s most compelling pianists and will share the stage Monday at Merkin Hall with the legendary Cedar Walton in a two-piano duet, developed an ear for klezmer in high school in Harrison, N.Y. It was then that his brother introduced him to a clique of New York bluegrass musicians, including mandolinist/clarinetist Andy Statman and banjoist Tony Trischka.

The nugget of philosophy emerged on a walk in a verdant field below the hills of the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Tivon. It was just a few weeks before Israel’s 50th birthday and I asked a friend, an Israeli commando veteran and a prize-winning military engineer, what Zionism meant to him.

“What is Zionism? This is Zionism,” he said pointing to the lanes of blooming wildflowers, and dozens of others catching the late winter-early spring spectacle.

Years ago, I wrote a short story called "The Institute for Lenny Bruce Studies." The idea was that a wealthy Jewish donor created a think-tank on a sleepy New England campus, dedicated to jump-starting the "secular Jewish prophethood" that inspired him as a young radical. Institute Fellows would come from the fields of academics, politics, religion and stand-up comedy, and the two-year curriculum would include the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, the songs of Bob Dylan and, of course, the routines of Lenny Bruce.

North Conway, N.H. — Karen Eisenberg brought the homemade chopped liver. Joan Kurz brought a bagful of bottled gefilte fish. Suzie Laskin, the charoset.

And other women came to Maestro’s Italian restaurant last week, carrying yom tov staples, as the sun set over the White Mountains.

It was time for the second-night seder of Chavurah HeHarim, the Jewish community of rural east-central New Hampshire and western Maine, and the restaurant staff had prepared a meal of roast chicken, tsimmes and chametz-free chocolate cake.

The New York Jets home season will start off poorly this year for some Jewish fans. And at least one of them insists that the Jets knew about a scheduling conflict with the Jewish calendar and did not take action until now.