One God or More? Ancient Texts Can Raise Questions of Practice
Rachel Heller
September 16, 2009
When asked if we’re monotheists, most Jews will hardly flinch before answering, “Yes.”
Category
September 16, 2009
Calendar Picks and Clicks September 19–25, 2009
Dikla Kadosh
September 16, 2009
The inaugural Middle Eastern Comedy Festival in Los Angeles gathers some of the top stand-up comedians in the business to dispel the myth that talent from that region of the world is only applied to explosive engineering. (That was a joke.) The festival begins with the Brown Carpet Stand-Up Comedy Gala for charity, starring Maysoon Zayid (“You Don’t Mess With the Zohan”), Peter the Persian (Sultans of Satire), Ronnie Khalil (Comedy Central’s “The Watch List”) and others, hosted by Maz Jobrani. The laughs continue with “Night of 1001 Sketches … More or Less … Probably Less,” four performances of sketch comedy at Acme Comedy Theatre. The last night, a stand-up comedy showcase at the Laugh Factory, will feature more headliners and up-and-comers, followed by a closing party. Opening Night: Tue. 7:30 p.m. $40-$50. Laugh Factory, 8001 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Through Sept. 25. For details, visit mideastcomedyfest.com.
Behind the Scenes With Hitler’s Elite
Tom Tugend
September 16, 2009
Cornelius Schnauber’s father joined the Nazi Party early on, when it was still a fringe movement, and the son has been wrestling with this legacy ever since, as an academician and playwright.
Cabaret for Cancer Cure
Dikla Kadosh
September 16, 2009
Jo Levi DiSante, a Hollywood producer, was 28 when her sister’s breast cancer metastasized to her spine and bones and she was given three to five years to live. Two weeks later, DiSante’s mother also was diagnosed, for the second time, with breast cancer. “I was an executive in the film industry,” DiSante wrote in an online bio, “where every day I reminded myself and my peers that although we might experience blows from our egotistical studio head bosses as earth-shattering, we were not curing cancer.”
Remembering Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk
Jewish Journal
September 16, 2009
For me, and for the nearly 2,000 rabbis, cantors, educators, communal professionals and scholars trained during his tenure as president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, no rabbi commanded greater respect and awe than our teacher and rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, who died Sept. 12. His life and accomplishments were legendary. His deepest commitments were to humanity, the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
David, ‘Seinfeld’ Cast Reunite, Rant
Naomi Pfefferman
September 16, 2009
In its last two seasons, Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” pushed politically correct notions of Jewish identity and race to cringe-worthy and hilarious extremes. David, playing an exaggerated version of his misanthropic self, briefly made nice when he mistakenly believed he had been adopted and was not born Jewish, then he returned to his callous self when his wife — now estranged — took in an African American family that had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. “So your last name is Black,” he says to the family upon their first meeting, arriving late to pick them up at the airport. “That’d be like if my last name were Jew: Larry Jew.”
New Articles
Israeli Singer Eden Golan Advances to Grand Final of Eurovision
Brian Fishbach
May 10, 2024
Brave-ish wins Literary Titan Gold Book Award
Lisa Ellen Niver
May 10, 2024
Proud Jews, Despite Everything
Chaim Steinmetz
May 10, 2024
ADL, Brandeis Center File Complaints Against Occidental, Pomona College Over Antisemitism
Aaron Bandler
May 9, 2024
Beit Issie Shapiro’s Global Impact: Transforming Lives and Communities
Ayala Or-El
May 9, 2024
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.