Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing one of the most acute dilemmas since his return to power last March: how to respond to the U.N.-sponsored Goldstone report’s charges that Israel may have committed war crimes in the Gaza war last January.
For a scare steeped in Jewish mysticism this Halloween, REDCAT is bringing Paul Wegener’s “The Golem” to the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater on Friday and Saturday night. But the screening of the 1920 silent horror classic, which recounts the Eastern European legend of a large clay figure brought to life to protect the Jews of Prague, will be accompanied by the debut of an improvised musical score by Brian LeBarton.
Uninhibited author Jonathan Ames — creator of HBO’s quirky detective comedy, “Bored to Death” — once followed a pursuit he describes as “religious cross-dressing”: primping his blond hair and donning blazers to “infiltrate WASP society” in his 20s. While at Princeton University, Ames had become smitten by what he calls “the aesthetics of the WASPy young gentleman” as depicted in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and W. Somerset Maugham. When this charade put him in hearing distance of an anti-Semitic remark, he often said nothing, hoping to “pass” and to be liked.
The latest film out of Israel to generate enormous buzz is the country’s official submission for the 2010 Academy Awards. “Ajami,” which won a special mention during the Camera d’Or competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, zooms in on the Ajami neighborhood within the Israeli city of Jaffa, a gritty jumble of cultures, religions and factions struggling for power and control. Co-directors, producers and writers Scandar Copti, a Palestinian resident of Ajami, and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew, used local amateurs, not trained actors, and guerrilla filmmaking that blurred the lines between documentary and fiction. This screening, part of AFI Fest, which runs Oct. 30-Nov. 7, is the first opportunity for Angelenos to see this provocative film. Sun. 10:30 p.m. Free tickets can be reserved online or over the phone. Mann Chinese 6, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood and Highland Center, Hollywood. (866) 234-3378. afi.com.
In most instances, families relocate due to a measure of dissatisfaction with where they live currently and a degree of hope for where they might arrive. The Torah portion of Lech-Lecha presents the beginning of the epic Israel-bound family journey of the Jewish people. It is distinct in various respects from all other family relocations recorded in the Book of Genesis or elsewhere in the Torah. A journey that continues still today, it retains central purposes that date back to Abraham’s formative travels even as its unfolding, historic itinerary inspires travelogue entries and reflective commentary with each passing day of the Jewish present.
Obituaries ranging from June 4-Aug. 29, 2009
How does it happen that thousands of Israelis travel each year to Cyprus and Eastern Europe to get married? Is this an Israeli custom, to elope? Not at all.
Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Tuesday he would join a Republican filibuster to block the final vote on any health care bill that has a government-run public health insurance option.
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