Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 5, 2020

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday warned against Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank, saying the move would lead to confrontation, anarchy and hopelessness.

Safadi made the statements to an international summit discussing the Islamic State, Channel 13 reported.

As part of the war on terror, we must act quickly to prevent Israel from annexing one-third of occupied Palestine and the consequences of this decision, Safadi said. Instead, negotiations must be resumed in order to achieve piece on the basis of a two-state solution.

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Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates envoy to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, in recent weeks warned senior White House officials against allowing annexation to go forward.

The response by the UAE and the Gulf states to Israeli annexation in the West Bank will not be restrained like after the American embassy was transferred to Jerusalem. This is a fundamentally different case, he said, according to Channel 13. Israeli annexation will lead to an escalation in the Middle East.

Amid the warnings and protestations from his international counterparts, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told Foreign Ministry employees Thursday that the ministrys most central role was to strengthen Israels national security, including by fostering relations with friendly regional countries and the US.

The statements come amid a wave of regional and international criticism of the planned Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank under the peace plan being advanced by the Trump administration in the US.

Sergey Lavrov and Sameh Shoukry, the foreign ministers of Russia and Egypt, respectively, warned Israel against annexation on Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks to the media during a press conference in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2019. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Lavrov and Sameh made the announcement after a call they said addressedregional issues. Lavrovs office said that the call had been planned at Shoukrys initiative.

The ministers noted annexing sections of Palestinian land on the West Bank of the Jordan River will threaten the prospects for the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli problem and could provoke a new and dangerous round of violence in the region, Lavrovs office saidin a statement.

Russia recently announced its willingness to host Israeli-Palestinian talks in Moscow in a bid to prevent annexation and restart the peace process. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki said in a statement on Tuesday that he would be willing to attend bilateral talks in Moscow under Russian auspices.

Shoukry cautioned against unilateral annexation, saying that it would lead to an increasingly complex situation and affect security and stability.

Both parties affirmed their commitment to a two-state solution.

Jordanian officials, including the kingdoms prime minister and foreign minister, have threatened to reconsider their treaties and agreements with Israel in the event of annexation.

We will not accept unilateral Israeli moves to annex Palestinian lands and we would be forced to review all aspects of our relations with Israel, Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz told Jordanian state news agency Petra in late May.

Razzaz made his statement mere days after Jordans King Abdullah II warned in an interview with Der Spiegel that if Israel really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Despite the steady drumbeat of Jordanian statements against annexation, Cairo has remained relatively quiet. Shoukrys statement did not indicate if Egypt would consider reviewing its own treaty with Israel.

Egypt and Israel have had a peace treaty since 1978, when Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and prime minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords.

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Jordanian FM says annexation will lead to 'confrontation and anarchy' - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 5, 2020

The location and condition of over 350 Jewish heritage sites in Iraq and Syria have been identified by a major new research project. But most of them are said to be ruined or nearly so, often because of neglect or redevelopment work.

The 18-month study conducted by the Jewish Cultural Heritage Initiative (JCHI) catalogues and assesses sites from antiquity to the present day in once-vibrant centers of Jewish life in the Middle East.

But an accompanying report published this month warns that nearly 90 percent of the sites in Iraq and more than half of those in Syria are beyond repair or in a very bad condition.

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It also identifies four Iraqi sites where it believes emergency relief could be critical to preserving them. They include the last functioning synagogue in the country and a Baghdad cemetery where the remains of Jews who were publicly hanged in the 1960s on charges of spying for Israel are buried.

The JCHI is a collaboration between the London-based Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the American Schools of Oriental Research. The study was led by Dr. Darren Ashby and Dr. Susan Penacho of the US institutions Cultural Heritage Initiatives. The research teamused desk-based, satellite and on-the-ground assessments.

Jewish community life in Iraq and Syria which stretched back 2,600 years to the time of Babylon was decimated by harsh repression and emigration in the second half of the 20th century, following the establishment of the State of Israel.

However, the JCHI study argues that a significant physical heritage remains.

Mosul, Iraq, synagogue as seen in a France 24 report from April 2019. (Youtube still)

The condition of the sites varies sharply between Iraq and Syria. In Iraq, researchers gave 89% of sites its lowest preservation rating of no return or determined that nothing definite could be found on its present state. The researchers believe the overwhelming majority of heritage sites classified as no information are likely to be in a very bad condition or beyond repair.

In Syria, 53% of sites are tagged as no return or no information.

Of the 11% confirmed as still standing in Iraq, nine sites are categorized as poor and 12% as very bad, the researchers say. Ten sites are listed as in a fair or good condition.

In Syria, 27 sites are tagged as being in a fair of good condition, while six are categorized as poor or very bad.

In all, 68 Iraqi sites are deemed as no return and no information was available for 198 sites. In Syria, the respective figures were 32 sites and six sites.

An undated image of Al-Bandara Synagogue or Central Synagogue of Aleppo, Syria. (public domain via Wikipedia)

A distinct difference in preservation exists between Iraq and Syria, argues the report. It notes that the 10 Iraq sites rated as good or fair represent roughly a third the number of Syrian sites, despite the overall size of the Iraqi corpus being over three times the size of the Syrian one.

But, across both countries, says the report, most of the heritage from the 19th and 20th centuries is in very bad condition or beyond repair, primarily due to neglect and urban redevelopment.

Researchers say that the project was undertaken in a challenging environment and admit that it does not represent a fully comprehensive picture. However, the 368 sites in the JCHI database, suggests the report, represent a cross-section of Jewish built heritage in Iraq and Syria from the diaspora until the present day.

The database includes the major buildings and settlements in both countries alongside a number of additional sites of regional and local significance, it says.

At a time when there is so much attention on saving heritage in danger across the Middle East, this unique research has shone a light on a forgotten aspect the remarkable ancient Jewish heritage of the region, Michael Mail, chief executive of the Foundation for Jewish Heritage, suggested in a press statement.

The Jewish community made a profound contribution and we need to ensure its heritage, and this story, is not erased

The Jewish community made a profound contribution and we need to ensure its heritage, and this story, is not erased, Mail added.

The research lists 27 sites in both Iraq and Syria which are endangered because they are in a poor or very bad condition.

Among the sites are two in Syria the Bandara Synagogue in Aleppo and the Synagogue of the Prophet Elijah in Damascus and one in Iraq The Shrine of the Prophet Ezekiel in Al-Kifl which researchers assess to be internationally significant. A further seven are listed as nationally significant and four regionally significant.

The project identifies four sites as priority candidates for emergency relief. All are in Iraq due to the continuing Syrian civil war. In the case of each, the JCHI says, urgent intervention could substantially improve their condition.

In this 1998 file photo, Tawfiq Safeer prepares for prayer in the synagogue of Baghdad, Saturday, March 21, 1998. (AP Photo/Jassim Mohammed)

The four sites are led by the last surviving functioning synagogue in Iraq, the Meir Tweig Synagogue in Baghdad. The synagogue, says the report, is also home to material from other synagogues and communal buildings that are now closed.

The Jewish community in Iraq is now believed to number as few as 10, mostly elderly, people. Through intermediaries in Iraq, the JCHI was able to make contact with members of the Jewish community in Baghdad.

The Meir Tweig Synagogue in Baghdad, seen behind a wall in Baghdad, Iraq on August 7, 2007. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Work on the synagogue, which is deemed to be in a fair condition, is highly viable, researchers believe.

The site is under the control of the Jewish community, which already has a list of preferred contractors that it has worked with on other projects, the report says. But, it adds, the main concern for the Jewish community is visibility. They do not want to draw attention to the synagogues location.

In this 1969 file photo: Sabah Haim and David Hazaquiel, both Jewish businessmen, after they had been hanged in Baghad, Iraq, on January 27, 1969, for being Israeli spies. (AP)

The three other priority sites selected by the JCHI include the Al-Habibiyah Jewish Cemetery in Baghdad. Established during the early 20th century, it has been the main location for Jewish burial in the city. Many local Jewish notables are interred there, including Jews who were publicly hanged in Baghdad in January 1969 for allegedly spying for Israel.

The report says the cemetery is in a worse condition than the Meir Tweig synagogue. The interior of the walled property is overgrown with vegetation in multiple places and the space is used as a dumping ground for trash by people on the adjacent properties. Many of the graves are in poor condition, it notes.

In northern Iraq, the research highlights two candidates for urgent work in an area of the country where significant post-conflict reconstruction work is underway.

Mosul, Iraq, synagogue as seen in a France 24 report from April 2019. (Youtube still)

Built in 1902, the Sasson Synagogue in Mosul was the main synagogue in the city during the 20th century thanks to its central location in the Jewish Quarter. Researchers believe that, though it is in a very bad condition, it is nonetheless the best-preserved Jewish heritage in Mosul.

The roof of the synagogue has collapsed in multiple places, exposing the interior decoration, including wall paintings, to weathering and increasing the risk that the rest of the standing architecture will fall, write the researchers. The property has also filled with trash and debris deposited in the building over the past decades. Further, looters have targeted the site, removing some Jewish cultural property.

.. Sassoon Synagogue in Mosul

( ) 186/2 , , (1.5) (21.2) (0.50) . () .Sasson Synagogue(The last synagogue in Mosul out of 5 existed until the mid-seventies)Plot No. 186/2 Jewish neighbourhood.The outer entrance is located at the corner of the south-eastern building and the entrance is reduced by 1.5 m from the straightness of the alley. (2 1.2 m), which is also reduced by 0.50 m from the wall of the exterior facade and has an iron door with two modern-made signs.In the middle of the 1970s, after the last Jews of Mosul left, it has occupied by a neighbor, in the mid-1980s and with a decision by the Revolutionary Command Council to liquidate the property of Iraq's absentee Jews, the school and the synagogue were sold to the family it occupies and it's a private propety now.

Gilgamesh Center for Antiquities and Heritage Protection - , 12 2018

Forty-five kilometers (28 miles) north of Mosul lies the Shrine of the Prophet Nahum in the town of in al-Qosh in Iraq. It dates back to at least the 12th century CE and was an important pilgrimage site for the Jewish community of both Mosul and the surrounding region, especially during Shavuot.

The site consists of a central synagogue with the prophets tomb and a series of subsidiary buildings arranged around a courtyard.

Tomb of the Jewish Prophet Nahum in Al-qosh, Iraq. (Chaldean, CC-BY-SA, via wikipedia)

Local Christians attempted to maintain the shrine after the departure of the Jewish community and it has also been the focus of international preservation efforts over the past decade. It is now deemed to be in a poor condition. However, after stabilization work was conducted in late 2017, a restoration project led by the Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage is commencing. It is supported financially by the US government, the Kurdish regional government and private donors.

The researchers believe that, while many factors account for the higher levels of preservation in Syria than Iraq, two interconnected factors stand out: government policy towards the Jewish population and the timing of Jewish emigration from the two countries.

In both Syria and Iraq, anti-Semitic violence and state repression provoked large-scale Jewish emigration following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

FILE This Sunday, April 20, 2008, file photo, Syrian Jews celebrate Passover at the al-Firenj Synagogue in downtown Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File).

For those Jews who remained in Syria the level of repression fluctuated over time and, by the mid-1970s, they were largely left to manage their own religious, social and economic affairs. However, tight restrictions on Jewish emigration were in place until the early 1990s.

In Iraq, emigration was similarly restricted and banned altogether in 1952. But further emigration was allowed some 20 years earlier than in Syria, with much of the remaining Jewish community leaving the country in the early 1970s.

The different levels of repression and timelines of community departure impacted the preservation of Jewish built heritage, says the report. In Syria, a portion of the community was forcibly kept in the country but maintained a degree of control over communal property, particularly synagogues.

FILE This Friday, January 21, 2000, file photo, Youssef Jajati, a Jewish community leader in Syria, points out the Torah holy book preserved in a silver container in Joubars Synagogue which dates back to 718 BCE. (AP Photo/ Bassem Tellawi, File)

Even with the departure of much of the remaining Jewish community after 1992, however, the Syrian government continued to preserve sites for its own political purposes. This, the report argues, led to the protection of Jewish heritage in the major cities of Damascus and Aleppo despite the absence of a Jewish community dedicated to their preservation.

The picture in Iraq, the researchers continue, was somewhat different. Nearly all Iraqi Jews left Iraq by the mid-1970s and most communal Iraqi Jewish built heritage passed into the control of the Iraqi state, which neglected it, repurposed it, or passed it on to private individuals for their own use or redevelopment.

As a result, most Iraqi heritage has deteriorated significantly, been substantially modified, or been torn down completely, state the authors.

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Iraq's Jewish sites almost all ruined beyond repair, new heritage report finds - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 5, 2020

As protests demanding action against racist police misconduct continue across the country in the wake of George Floyd's death, there's no better time to watch films that educate us about civil rights leaders, social justice movements, and events throughout history that echo our current moment. Below, we've listed some documentaries you can stream online, from I Am Not Your Negro to The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, as well as other movies being streamed by local theaters this weekend, like Northwest Film Forum, which is donating all proceeds this month to organizations like the Black Lives Matter Seattle Freedom Fund.

13thDirector Ava DuVernay (Selma, When They See Us) explores the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States in this Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary titled after the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States. Available via Netflix

CopwatchNominated for Best Documentary at theTribeca Film Festival, this film spotlightsWe Copwatch, a group of civiliansdedicated to filming the policeand who captured the original videos of the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray. FilmmakerCamilla Hall follows the group's founder,Jacob Crawford, from his home in Oakland to the sites of those murders. Available via Amazon Prime and Kanopy

The Death and Life of Marsha P. JohnsonUsing archival footage and the investigative work of NYC Anti-Violence Project's Victoria Cruz, David France's film explores the unsolved 1992 death of the highly influential transgender activist and Stonewall veteran Marsha P. Johnson. The film also features footage of Johnson's friend and fellow activist Sylvia Rivera, who "reminds us that transgender people and gender-nonconformists blazed a trail for civil rights, leaving a legacy that must be defended rigorously in the spirit of these two pioneers of the movement." Available via Netflix

Do Not ResistMen in camouflage carrying assault rifles looking on as a group of teenagers march past them holding protest signs. A mine-resistant military vehicle passing through a quiet neighborhood. State agents smashing the windows as they raid a family's home. No, this isn't Syria or North Korea or Bahrain. This is America and its police forces, as shown in the chilling and superb new documentary Do Not Resist. ANSEL HERZ Available via multiple platforms

Hell You TalmboutThis short film selection from the 2018 Social Justice Film Festivaltells the story of a social justice-inspired dance troupe in Seattle, formed in the wake of the 2016 shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Available via Vimeo

I Am Not Your NegroSixteen years after Lumumba, Raoul Peck, who is Haitian, has directed I Am Not Your Negro, a documentary about one of the greatest writers of 20th-century America, James Baldwin. Now, it's easy to make a great film about Baldwin, because, like Muhammad Ali, there's tons of cool footage of his public and private moments, and, also like Ali, he had a fascinating face: the odd shape of his head, the triangle of hair that defined his forehead, and his froggy eyes. Just show him doing his thing and your film will do just fine. But Peck blended footage of Baldwin with dusky and dreamy images of contemporary America. These images say: Ain't a damn thing changed from the days of Baldwin and the Civil Rights Movement. But they say this with a very deep insight about the nature of time. CHARLES MUDEDE Available via multiple platforms

Just MercyDestin Daniel Cretton directs this legal drama starringMichael B. Jordan as civil rights attorneyBryan Stevenson as he travels to Alabama to defend Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx) against a wrongful conviction.Warner Bros. Pictures is making the film available to rent for free through the end of June. Available via Warner Bros. Pictures

Keepers of the Dream: Seattle Women Black PanthersFollowing its Oakland progenitors, Seattle was one of the first cities to form a branch of the Black Panther Party. Scored by SassyBlack, this series of fiveshort documentaries, produced by Patricia Boiko and Tajuan LaBee, serves as an introduction to the courageous actions of women Black Panther activists, from Frances Dixon to Phyllis Noble Mobley. Available via Seattle Channel

Let It Fall: Los Angeles 19821992The beating of Rodney King by five white police officers in Los Angeles in 1991 was one of the first viral videos of racist police violence, and it highlighted the long history of friction between the LAPD and the city's black and Latinx communities. This documentary traces that history, as well as the riots that followed the incident. Available via Netflix

Losing GroundLosing Ground was one of the first feature-length dramas since the 1920s to be directed by a Black woman. After being screened at various film festivals,Losing Groundnever got a wide-theatrical release during Collins' lifetime, which was tragically cut short by breast cancer at the age of 46 in 1988. In the time since, the film has been rediscovered and cherished widely by critics and Black filmmakers alike.Dreamy, meaty, and deeply intellectual,Losing Groundis remarkable because of its focus on the interior lives, class and gender dynamics, emotions, and dreams of the Black characters it depicts, specifically regarding the woman at the center of the film, Sara Rogers (played perfectly by Seret Scott).Despite the film's extremely small budget, the cinematography by Ronald K. Gray gives the visual palette a lushness that feels decadent; the deep greens of the trees upstate, Sara's colorful wardrobe, the wind-whipped roof on top of a building makes the film reflect the deep sensuality explored by its characters.Losing Groundis, as Charles Mudedesays, "one of the most important and original American films of the second half of the 20th century." JASMYNE KEIMIG Available via Criterion ChannelSee here for more films highlighting black lives streaming for free on the Criterion Channel.

Whose Streets?Most of us remember scrolling through news about the Ferguson protests on Twitter in 2014, but Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis directorial debut Whose Streets? fills in the blanks of the story, offering a humanizing, much-needed portrait of those involved. Dedicated to Michael Brown, the film captures the aftermath of the shooting of the unarmed 18-year-oldby a white police officer, while the Black young man had his hands in the airusing unflinching interviews with the still-grieving Ferguson residents whove seen their community unify against police brutality. JENNI MOOREAvailable via Northwest Film Forum

You can also find several films about social and systemic injustice (including 2013's Let the Fire Burn, about the 1985 state-sanctioned eviction and subsequent burning of a Philadelphia row house) on Kanopy, a free streaming service for library cardholders. Check out our resistance & solidarity guide for more anti-racism resources.

15th Annual HUMP! Film Festival 2020Our colleagues, the creators of HUMP!, were crushed to cancel their originally planned spring re-screening. But after receiving enthusiastic support and permission from the filmmakers to show their films online, they knew that the show must go on! Even if we cant watch together in movie theaters, we can still watch the 16 all new, sexy short films, curated by Dan Savage, in the privacy and safety of our homes. Dan will introduce the show, and then take you straight to the great dirty movies that showcase an amazing range of shapes, colors, sexualities, kinks and fetishes! BOBBY ROBERTSAvailable via The StrangerSaturday only

CoFF - Confinement (online) Film FestivalWith everyone cooped up in their respective abodes, The Stranger challenged artsy laypeople everywhere to submit short films that express our current reality of social distancing and self-quarantine. From poignant vignettes todystopian nightmares to sexy stuff tomini-dramas, the results are just as varied as you might expect. Watch it live online and vote online for your favorites. (The categories are "Most Creative," "Funniest," "They Lost Their Goddamn Mind," and Most Poignant.") Available via The StrangerFriday only

CunninghamAlla Kovgan traces the career of Merce Cunningham, a Cornish alum who emerged from a struggling dancer in New York to avisionary modern choreographer. In addition to interviews with those who knew him and a peek into his gorgeous love-letter correspondence with his longtime lover and collaborator John Cage (e.g. "I have nothing to say, and I am saying it. And that is poetry as I need it."), this documentary has some great excerpts of Cunningham's workincluding a piece performed in the middle of a forest.Available via Northwest Film Forum

Hail Satan?"Sorry about the mess," Lucien Greaves, the co-founder of the Satanic Temple, says to the crew of Hail Satan? as he welcomes them into the organizations headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts. Like the Satanic Temple, director Penny Lanes Hail Satan? isnt quite what it seems: Yes, Lanes affectionate and funny documentary does feature some pig heads getting slammed onto spikes, and yes, there are some naked writhing people. But Hail Satan? is more interested in the organizations vision of contemporary satanismone that doesnt include worshipping the devil but does include progressive activism and providing a sociopolitical counter-myth in a country thats too often characterized as a Christian nation. [Greaves:] "We are a secular nation. We are supposed to be a democratic, pluralist nation. Thats a fact that seems ominously and increasingly forgotten in Trumps America, so forget about the question mark. Hail Satan. ERIK HENRIKSEN Available via SIFFOpening Friday

My Sight is Lined with Visions: 1990s Asian American Film & VideoTo round out Asian American Heritage Month, see an eclectic program of short films from the 1990s to the early aughts by filmmakers across the Asian diaspora. Highlights includeRichard Fung's "Dirty Laundry," which explores expressions of sexuality amongChinese Canadians in the 1800s (through the lens of a modern-day fictional magazine writer as he travels through Canada by train);Shu Lea Cheang's campy experimental film "Fresh Kill," abouttwo young lesbian parents who fight against environmental racism in the form of radioactive fish lips; andJon Moritsugu's stereotype-bucking satire "Terminal USA." Available via Northwest Film Forum

ShirleyRenowned horror writer Shirley Jackson (whose most famous works include The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle) is in the middle of writing her masterpiece when a young newlywed couple shows up and throws herand her already-rocky relationship with her philandering husbandoff track. It looks devious and kinda juicy.Available via Northwest Film Forum and SIFF

TangerineAfter hearing that her boyfriend/pimp cheated on her while she was in jail, a trans hooker and her best friend set out to find him and teach him and his new lover a lesson.Sean Baker's award-winning 2015 film wasshot on threeiPhones.Available via Northwest Film Forum

TommasoIf you loveWillem Dafoe to no end, you're in good company withItalian director Abel Ferrara, who, in addition to this latest film, cast the lighthouse keeper/Green Goblin/kindly motel proprietor as the lead in his 2014 biopic Pasolini. This time, he plays an American expat artist living in Rome with his young wife and daughter.Available via Grand Illusion Opening Friday

The WildDocumentary filmmaker Mark Titus (The Breach) returns to the Alaskan wilderness, where the people ofBristol Bayand the world's largest wild salmon runs are in danger of environmental devastation from Pebble Mine, a massive copper mine slated for construction.Available via SIFFOpening Friday

Yourself and YoursHong Sang-soos 18th featureall of them absurdist but humanely perceptive variations on the intractable nature of romance between men and womensees him dolefully refining his abiding conceit, as ever played out over long, fumbling conversations fueled by soju and beer. Youngsoo, an artist whose mom is dying, is faced with jealous doubts after his imbibing girlfriend Minjung is rumored to be fooling around with other men. Hong envisions desire as its own form of duplicity, which structurally plays out in the films elusive and illusory replication of Minjung, who singularly (or collectively?) busts the myth of a truly impressive man. JAY KUEHNERAvailable via Northwest Film Forum

A Beautiful Day in the NeighborhoodIts unusual to witness real cinematic magic these days, but the Fred Rogers biopicA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhoodabsolutely has it. Director Marielle Heller(Diary of a Teenage Girl,Can You Ever Forgive Me?) wisely avoids the visual slickness one might expect from a Tom Hanks-centric melodrama, instead employing a lived-in style and scene transitions that consist of miniature cities harkening back to the opening ofMister Rogers Neighborhood. Hanks is totally committed to Rogers appearance and manner, butA Beautiful Dayis more about Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) a fictional journalist profiling Rogers. (Vogels work is based on a 1998Esquireprofile by Tom Junod; as is the case with the film, Junrods piece sketches a beautiful yet enigmatic image of Rogers.) Where Hellers film becomes transcendent is in its cinematic pressure points: The striking slowness of the narrative (its meant to emulate the pace of Rogers show, and you get used to it), the mirroring of Rogers and Vogel in their interview styles and drawn-out reaction shots, and a profound moment of silence that grips your heart like, Did that really just happen? Why was that so intense?SUZETTE SMITH Available via Starz and other platforms

CabaretChristopher Isherwood, who wrote the novel that became a play that became the Kander and Ebb musical that became Bob Fosse's award-winning 1972 movie, lived in Berlin from 1929 to 1934. He got out when he detected "terror in the Berlin air." He started having "mild hallucinations." He heard wagons pull up to the building that weren't there and started seeing swastikas in the wallpaper of his room. So what did he do? He moved. He got out of there. He relocated to Los Angeles, to the United States, where nothing like creeping autocracy would ever happen.CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE Available via HBO Max

DearThis heartwarming-looking docuseries profiles American cultural figures like Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinman, Spike Lee, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and others through letters written by their biggest fans. New episodes stream on Apple TV every Friday. Available via Apple TV

DreamlandThe director and star of the cult horror classic Pontypool, about a zombie virus that plagues a Canadian town, team up again in this thrillerabout a gang boss who recruits a killer to retrieve the finger of a jazz legend.If youve never seen a movie luxuriate in eccentricity as thoroughly as a cat basking in a sun puddle, then you need to watch Dreamland," reads a New York Times review. Available via VOD

The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirThere were a bunch of people who considered HBO Max having Friends at launch to be a very, very big dealnot least of which being the millionaire CEOs at Warner Bros. But funny enough, in the short amount of time that HBO Max has been around, the beloved '90s-era sitcom warming hearts and prompting nostalgia-fueled binge-watches isn't the one with Ross & Rachel. It's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the TV show that made Will Smith into WILL SMITH, and more importantly, gave millions of people the gift of James Avery as Uncle Phil. Oh, and the Carlton-dance, too! And the theme song! Which is now stuck in your head. You know what the only way to get that out of there is, right... BOBBY ROBERTS Available via HBO Max

Inside ManIn advance of their debuting the latest Spike Lee joint (Da 5 Bloods, a Vietnam War movie starring Chadwick Boseman, coming June 12) Netflix has just added what is probably Lee's most (for lack of a better word) "Pop" movie. That's not to say Inside Manisn't thoughtful, carefully considered, and most of all very well-acted (thank you, Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Jodie Foster). It's very much all those things! But it's all those things in service of a potboiler bank heist plot. So when you stack it up against Do the Right Thing or BlackKklansman or Malcolm X or 25th Hour, it may seem sort of slight by comparison. But when you're watching it? It's a remarkably tight thriller that grabs you from frame one and tries to stop you from taking a breath until the end credits start rolling. BOBBY ROBERTSAvailable via Netflix

Lady BirdLady Bird (Saoirse Ronan, never better) is a teenage girl striving to find a self she can live in while stranded in moribund, lower-middle-class Sacramento, "the Midwest of California." Her efforts begin with that name, which she bestowed upon herselfChristine was too normaland loudly demands that everyone call her at all times. The crusade also manifests in the form of hair dye, petty crime, habitual lying, sexual experimentation with unworthy boys, and musical theater.SEAN NELSON Available via Netflix

Queer Eye: Season 5oWatch Antoni, Bobby, Jonathan, Karamo, and Tan publically zhuzh up the lives of 10 Philadelphians in the fifth season of the hit reality show Queer Eye. Available via NetflixPremiering Friday

Spelling the DreamWhile some of you were looking to slake your thirst for sports by mainlining episodes of that 10-part Air Jordan commercial on ESPN, othersaficionados of real competition and compelling true-to-life-dramawere waiting for this documentary to hit Netflix. Spelling the Dream shuffles to the mic and confidently fills the void left by the 2020 Scripps National Spelling Bee cancellation, and tells the story of four children seeking to win that very championship; and through those stories, investigates how the Bee not only became must-watch television every year, but how the Indian-American community has made the Bee the national tradition it's now become. BOBBY ROBERTS Available via Netflix

V for VendettaLast week, HBO Max launched, and there's a ton of inarguably great stuff to be found there alreadymany of Akira Kurosawa's finest films, a huge archive of classic Looney Tunes cartoons, the epoch-defining wonder of the Critters franchisebut a lot of people are subbing solely for that sweet DC comics content. But one of the best comic book movies ever, one that came from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, isn't there! It's on NETFLIX now, and V for Vendettahas almost never gotten its proper due. Upon release, it was just an entertaining-yet-pretentious follow-up to the disappointing Matrix sequels. Less than a decade later, V was so thoroughly hijacked by "anarchist" internet brats indulging in proto-Gamergate harassment tactics, that the mask became the second-biggest marker of young male dipshittery next to the fedora. But now you can stream it on Netflix and see it for the rare flower it really is: A good adaptation of an Alan Moore comic. Even more extraordinary? It improves on the source! As a book, V is a naive and clumsy work by an angry beardo just starting to wrap his head around anarchist theory. The Wachowskis, director James McTeigue, and an amazing cast (Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, John Hurt) do away with all of Moore's silliest, most immature ideas and replace his misguided rage with a more weathered, measured cynicism. Well, that and some legit stunts 'n' splosions, too. BOBBY ROBERTS Available via Netflix

West Side StoryThe racial and cultural attitudes (and Nathalie Wood as a Latina woman) may not have aged well, but Jerome Robbins's choreography and Leonard Bernstein's music make this urban Romeo and Juliet adaptation a perennial favorite. Available via Netflix

AberdeenFilmed on location in the Pacific Northwest, Colton Van Til's debut feature (that he directed at just 19!) follows a woman who tries to find a place in the male-dominated field of sports journalism by exposing the sexual assault taking place within her hometown's high school sports scene.Available via Northwest Film Forum

Americana KamikazeNYC'sinterdisciplinary performance group Temporary Distortion blends theater, film, and installation to freakily contort Japanese ghost stories and horror (aka J-Horror) through an American musical tradition. In a 2009 New York Times review of the play, Jon Weiss wrote, "Hard-core horror fans should take notice, because with Hollywoods rarely risking something truly upsetting anymore, preferring funny zombies and by-the-numbers remakes, you might have to go to the theater to see death performed live to really test your limits." Available via On the Boards

BacurauIn this Cannes Jury Prize-winning sci-fi tale of predation and resistance, a small Brazilian town bands together to repel murderous mercenaries and mysterious forces that want to drive them from their homes and erase the memory of their existence. Available via Ark Lodge

Best of CatVideoFest: Creature Comforts EditionLocal feline enthusiast and Henri the Catcreator Will Braden, bless his heart, has plucked 40 minutes of quality content from SIFF's CatVideoFestan annual celebration of the divine conjunction of cats and internetfor your viewing pleasure. Available via SIFF

BlackfishOrca-lovers beware: This ain't Free Willy. Gabriela Cowperthwaites searing indictment of Sea World's cruel exploitation of killer whales and the inhumane practice of confining these magnificent creatures is heartbreaking and enraging. From Puget Sound's barbaric history of capturing calves in the 1970s to the abuses that most likely drove bull orca Tilikum to kill two different trainers, this gripping documentary stirs up many of the same emotions the Oscar-winning The Cove did in 2009. While theme-park corporate flunkies blame accidents and deaths on trainer error, Cowperthwaites doc asks: Just how much suffering is our need for entertainment worth? JEFF MEYERSAvailable via SIFFFriday-Sunday

Csar and RosalieIn Claude Sautet's classic romantic drama Csar et Rosalie, two men (the wealthyCsar and David, an old flame) battle for the affections of a beautiful, recently divorced lady (played by Isabelle Huppert in her first film role).Available via Ark Lodge

DeerskinWacky director Quentin Dupieux (Rubber) is back with Jean Dujardin (The Artist) in a movie described as "a comic character study in which clothes make the manmad."Available via SIFF

Diana Kennedy: Nothing FancyProlific cookbook author andJames Beard Award winner Diana Kennedy (known by some as "the Julia Child of Mexico") is the star of this fun documentary for food lovers. It features interviews with famed chefs Jos Andrs, Rick Bayless, Gabriela Camara, and Alice Waters, too. Available via Northwest Film ForumSaturday only

DrivewaysFollowing up his 2016 queer indie gem Spa Night, Korean American director Andrew Ahn's Drivewaysfollows a shy little boy as he adjusts to a new town, where his mom has relocated them to clean out the house of her estranged, recently deceased sister. Finding little luck among his peers, he befriendsDel, his elderly Korean War vet neighbor.Available via SIFF

Fantastic FungiAt its worst,Fantastic Fungigets too woo-woo wacky for its own good (when the films discussion turns to magic mushrooms, the visuals turn into what is, as far as I can tell, a psychedelic screensaver from Windows 95), but at its best, the doc pairs fantastic time-lapse imagery with a good dose of actual, mind-blowing science. Affable, passionate mushroom researcher Paul Stamets is joined by talking heads Michael Pollan, Andrew Weil, and narrator Brie Larson to examine everything from massive fungal networks that carry signals between disparate, distant plants to the psychological benefits of psilocybin. Its an uneven trip, but a good one. ERIK HENRIKSEN Available via Ark Lodge

The Ghost of Peter Sellers The behind-the-scenes footage of Peter Medak's unreleased 1973 filmGhost of the Noonday Sun,starring Peter Sellers (The Pink Panther, Dr. Strangelove), is definitively more entertaining than the film itself, which organizers describe as an "outrageous pirate comedy" set in the 17th century, and which Medak would describe as "the biggest disaster" of his life. The director brings it all back in this documentary. Available via SIFF

The Grey FoxA stagecoach robber is released from prison in the early 1900s, only to get inspired for his second wind by the 1903 Western TheGreat Train Robbery. This 4K restoration ofPhillip Borsos's 1982 film was partially filmed right here in Washington. When it came out, Roger Ebert called it "one of the loveliest adventures of the year." Available via Grand IllusionFriday-Sunday

The InfiltratorsIn this docu-thriller, two young immigrants purposely get themselves thrown into a shady for-profit detention center to dismantle the corrupt organization from the inside. Their detainers don't know that they're members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, a group of radical DREAMers who are on a mission to stop unjust deportations. Available via Northwest Film Forum

Lucky GrandmaIn this crime caper set in New York's Chinatown, a recently widowed 80-year-old woman follows a fortune teller's advice and heads to the nearest casino to win some big bucks. But things don't go so great, as they often don't at casinos. When two gambling gangsters show up at her door and start demanding money, she and her newly acquired bodyguard do what must be done: kick ass for the duration of the film.Available via Grand IllusionThursday only

Military WivesKristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, Gosford Park) and Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe) lead a group of English women who start a choir to cope while their spouses are away serving in Afghanistan, and boy does it look wholesome and heartwarming. Available via SIFF

Now I'm FineSean Nelson wrote, "Ahamefule J. Oluo, of Stranger Genius Award winning band Industrial Revelation, remounts his autobiographical odyssey, a harrowing, hilarious personal story punctuated by astoundingly strong songs, brilliantly arranged and performed by several of the most talented musicians in Seattle." Originally staged at On the Boards, Now I'm Fine received rave reviews during its recent New York run, and will now be screened online.Available via On the Boards

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The BandWithOnce Were Brothers, Roher presents a conventional contextualizing rock doc with marquee-name talking headsVan Morrison, George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen, et al.and efficiently reveals Robertson's early family life (his mother was indigenous, his father Jewish) and musical evolution. Robertson is an articulate, passionate memoirist; the film is based on his 2016 autobiography,Testimony. With equanimity, he registers the Band's soaring highs and devastating lows, while his French ex-wife Dominique adds crucial observations about the inter-band dynamics and substance abuse that dogged the members. Tracing a story of relentless, upward mobility through the music industry, the doc emphasizes Robertson's inner strength and boundless ambition, which helped him to avoid the booze- and drug-related pitfalls that afflicted his mates. For fans of the Band, this film will inspire tears of sorrow and joy, if not rage. Now more than ever, their music stirs emotions with a profundity that feels religious, but without the stench of sanctimony. DAVE SEGALAvailable via Ark Lodge

Our MothersCesar Diaz's debut, the winner of the Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or in 2019, is set in the aftermath of Guatemala's bloody 20-year civil war. It followsErnesto, a young anthropologist who's determined to track down his father, a guerillero who disappeared during the war. "Dazs approach is plain and solid, like a well-built wooden chair before varnishing," wrote the New York Times'Glenn Kenny.Available via SIFF

The Painter and the ThiefIn this dark, time-jumping documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Benjamin Lee, the Czech painterBarbora Kysilkova develops a friendshipor at least a mutual fascinationwith a man who stole some of her paintings from a gallery (and proceeded to lose them).Anthony Lane wrote inThe New Yorker, "The two of them arrive at a happy ending, of sorts, yet I find myself worrying more about Barbora, and the shape of her future, than I do about Bertil. Other viewers will disagree, and thats why The Painter and the Thief is such a good lockdown movie, to be watched in the early evening and then argued about over spaghettiorwithspaghetti, if the discussion gets intense." Available via SIFF

Police BeatPolice Beat, a fictional film I made with the director Robinson Devor (we also madeZoo), is also a documentary about a Seattle that's recovering from the dot-com crash of 2000 (a crash that sent Amazon's shares falling from nearly $100 apiece to $6they're now around $2,400), and entering its first construction boom of the 21st century (between 2005 and 2008).The hero of my film, the police officer Z (played by the beautiful but sadly late Pape Sidy Niang), could actually afford a little Seattle house on his salary (around $45,000). The median price of houses in 2003 was a lot (about $300,000) but not out of reach for a middle-class immigrant with a stable job.Lastly, the film is a documentary about Seattle's beautiful and virid parks. How I love them all and wanted to film them all: Volunteer Park, Freeway Park, the Washington Park, Madison Park, the parks on either side of the Montlake Cut. So green,so urban, so natural. CHARLES MUDEDE Available via The Stranger

RBGAll hail Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Better known as RBG to her fans (and Bubby to her grandkids), at 85 years old, the US Supreme Court justice still has a fierce intellect, a duty to the law, and an immense inner and physical strength. Over the long course of her career, RBG repeatedly defended the rights of everyone to live free from bias, but, as Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg says, Ginsburg quite literally changed life for women. And shes still doing it. With intimate interviews with family and friends, as well as RBG herself, the film captures the life of a woman with a heart none of us wants to stop ticking. KATIE HERZOG Available via SIFF

SibelIn a secluded Turkish mountain village, a young woman is ostracized for being mute and communicating through an ancestral whistling language. When locals start talking about a wolf prowling the neighborhood, she hopes to gain their approval by going on a hunt to find it, which leads her instead to an injured, armed criminal.Available via Northwest Film Forum

SIFF RetrospectiveIn place of this year's canceledSeattle International Film Festival, Telescope Film will highlight a retrospective ofall of the films that have won awards at SIFF in its 45-year history by showing you where to watch a ton of them online. From last year's winners like Amber McGinnis's International Falls and Cagla Zencirci's Sibel to Gregg Araki's 2004 indie classic Mysterious Skin, there's plenty to choose from. They'll keep the catalog up for the duration of the would-be in-person event.

Slay the DragonBarak Goodman and Chris Durrance's documentary investigates howgerrymandering has damaged our democracy, and how citizen-led activist groups have been crucial agents of change when bigger systems fail.Available via SIFF and Ark Lodge

Spaceship EarthMatt Wolf's oddly uplifting documentary tells the true story of Biosphere 2a self-engineered replica of the Earth's ecosystem inspired by a project that began in the 1970s, and in which eight people (self-described "biospherians") attempted to quarantine themselves for two years in the early '90s. While the experiment was cut short, the fact that this film chronicles daily existence in the face of a life-threatening ecological disaster makes this a timely online release. Available via SIFF and Ark Lodge

SPLIFF 2019 & 2020A new vibe of stoner entertainment is emergingwitness the rise of Broad City, High Maintenance, and basically every TV show created on Viceland. And, most importantly, The Stranger presents SPLIFF, your new favorite film festival created by the stoned for the stoned. Because we can no longer congregate in person, we're rescreening the 2019 and 2020 festivals (the latter of which is hosted by Betty Wetter and Cookie Couture) online! Got some weed on hand? Check it out from the comfort of your home. All contributions received will be shared with the filmmakers.Available via The Stranger

Thousand Pieces of GoldBased on the novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn (with a screenplay by novelist and filmmaker Anne Makepeace), this 1990 film follows a young Chinese woman (Rosalind Chao) whose family ships her to an Idaho mining town to be sold as a bride. To make matters worse, she's bought by a gross barkeeper in an Idaho mining town who forces her into prostitution. Available via Northwest Film Forum

The WhistlersFestival favorite Corneliu Porumboiu (The Treasure, Police, Adjective) delves into the noir genre, complete with a beautiful crook, a crooked inspector, and...a secret whistling language?Available via SIFF

A White, White DayIn Hlynur Plmason's follow-up to Winter Brothers, an off-duty police chief ina remote Icelandic townbegins to suspect a local man of having had an affair with his late wife. In thriller-meets-Nordic-art-house fashion, the man becomes obsessed with finding the truth, at the expense of his (living) loved ones. Available via SIFF

The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo)This eerie, dreamlike claymation fairytale is inspired by Colonia Dignidad,an isolated colony established in post-World War IIChile byemigrant Germans, which became a site for the internment, torture, and murder of dissidentsduring the militaryregime of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s. FilmmakersJoaqun Cocia and Cristbal Len imagine the film as a means of indoctrination made by the leader of the sect. The New York Times called it "visually stunning and horrifying." Available via Northwest Film Forum

ZanaDocumentary filmmaker Antoneta Kastrati's debut feature follows aKosovar bride whose family sends her to mystical healers, where she's subjected her to strange rituals meant to cure her of "black magic," the alleged culprit of her infertility. But when she finally becomes pregnant, her suppressed wartime past comes back to haunt her and her unborn baby. Available via Northwest Film Forum

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The Best Movies to Stream This Weekend in Seattle: June 4-7, 2020 - TheStranger.com

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Posted By admin on June 4, 2020

I was at the riots in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. So much important work was done that day. So much went rightand then there were the things that went terribly wrong. For many Jews, the worst news of the day was vandalism against a number of synagogues and other identifiably-Jewish targets. These scenes are so historically familiar and so clearly dangerous.

If there is one thing that I want to broader Jewish community to know about these riots it is this: There is a remarkably complex set of actors and stakeholders on the ground, and most of them are our natural partners and allies in liberation, not people to be feared.

Let me tell you what I saw.

There is a remarkably complex set of actors and stakeholders on the ground, and most of them are our natural partners and allies in liberation, not people to be feared.

I passed by Congregation Beth Israel around 5 p.m. on Saturday May 30. By then, the riots had already begun. As I approached the synagogue, I prayed that it would be unharmed. It was. All around it, buildings had been tagged with graffiti and windows had been broken. But people had known to leave the synagogue untouched. Sometime later that day or night, that changed.

I saw white protesters escalating in ways that were unwise and unhelpful. Black protesters bemoaned: Its always the white people who start sh*t, but you wont be the ones who get shot over it. I have heard second hand that this was also the way in which at least one synagogue came to be tagged.

Most of that day I wore a kippah and my friend carried a Jews for Black Lives sign. Everyone was supportive. Not once was I made to feel unsafe as I walked among people who burned police cars and shattered storefronts.

Protesters in Los Angeles. (Source: Adva Reichman.)

No, I didnt riot or loot. I have no temptation to do so. I have enough money and I have never been the personal target of police brutality. Thats a privilege that I have. For those who dont have that privilege, I respect what these acts mean to them.

In 1967, Dr. King spoke of what motivates a person to loot: Alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people, he is shocking it by abusing property rights.

As frightful as that reality may be to those of us who benefit from the American concept of property rights, we cannot deny that this is a natural response to a system that has made it impossible for communities of color to liberate themselves by peaceful means. After five centuries of unfathomable subjugation most especially of the native and black communities one would think that our society would recognize their undisputed moral authority to call attention to their own oppression. And yet, four white police officers in Minneapolis couldnt even summon the decency to listen to the words, I cant breathe.

George Floyd was lynched at the hands of police. For days, the American media and the white community equivocated. It was only when riots gripped the nation that consensus began to form around his death. Make no mistake: This consensus was a response to the riots. It took the form of, I agree with the protests, but the riots have to stop.

The irony of it is, this proves just how effective the riots have been at shifting the center of gravity of the national consciousness.

The irony of it is, this proves just how effective the riots have been at shifting the center of gravity of the national consciousness. Dr. King was right: Our society is prepared to pay lip service to human lives in order to protect property.

Now the Jewish community is perplexed, as we try to find our own place in this much larger struggle.

Synagogue Congregation Beth El on Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles. (Credit: Lisa Daftari, Twitter)

The safety of our houses of worship is entirely connected with the alignment of our community on the right side of this issue and of history. We cannot expect others to honor our intergenerational traumas if we do not appreciate their contemporary ones. At this moment, it is crucial for white Jews to humbly listen to the voices of black Jews and other Jews of color.

It is also important to recognize our own role as a historically persecuted and vulnerable people, wherein we find common cause with the black community. Let us not forget that our ancestors, for thousands of years, were arbitrarily persecuted by the powers that be including law enforcement.

It has been tragically common to see the Jewish and black communities divided against one another. On Sunday May 31, I saw a picture that pained me. I do not know the full story, but the optics were that a predominantly white and highly militarized police force used heavy handed tactics to protect a synagogue from a predominantly black crowd. Such images do our community no favors.

This is the time for action and unity. Already, young Angeleno Jews are mobilizing to form Jews for Black Lives, an organization that will work for racial justice in a way that honors Jewish history, tradition, and contemporary practice.

Will you heed the call?

Yonathan Reches lives in El Segundo and is a member of the IKAR community in Los Angeles. This article does not necessarily represent the views of IKAR.

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I'm a Jew Who Attended the Protests Where a Synagogue Was Vandalized, This Is What I Saw - Jewish Journal

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Posted By admin on June 4, 2020

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) Before the social unrest erupted here in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Philadelphia struggled mightily with the coronavirus pandemic as one of the nations largest hot spots.

Like elsewhere in the country, this meant closing the citys theaters, performing arts venues and Jewish institutions beginning in mid-March. Even with some places, like outdoor camps and food trucks, set to reopen soon, the city is still dealing with the repercussions.

Here are some of the Jewish musicians, artists, clergy and others in the Philadelphia area who are finding ways to stay creative during this unprecedented time.

A creative shul gets more creative

Rabbanit Hadas Fruchter started the South Philadelphia Shtiebel synagogue in 2019 in a neighborhood storefront. (Courtesy of Fruchter)

Rabbanit Hadas Fruchter is a pioneering female Orthodox spiritual leader. Ordained in 2016 by the Orthodox Yeshivat Maharat, Fruchter established the South Philadelphia Shtiebel congregation less than a year ago in a neighborhood storefront that was previously the home of a scooter shop.

As she began navigating how to handle the pandemic for her congregants, she was diagnosed with COVID-19 herself.

Some of her family members and members of her community contracted the virus as well. She recovered, as did her mother, who was hospitalized.

The Shtiebel stopped in-person programming at its physical building on March 12, earlier than most Philadelphia institutions. However, Fruchter made clear to her followers that the institution wasnt closed.

Were just being creative now, she said.

In addition to a full schedule of online programs and events, Fruchter has been teaching every day. And not only has there been more time, but she feels the importance has increased of having one-on-one calls with members.

On the one hand theres programs, she said, but on the other theres a grieving Jewish community that needs support.

Lag bKlezmer

Philadelphia musician Dan Blacksberg leads a Lag bOmer klezmer dance party on Zoom. (Courtesy of Blacksberg)

Dan Blacksberg, a Philadelphia-based trombonist and composer, is known for fusing traditional klezmer music with other genres of music for instance, he was part of Deveykus, the worlds only Hasidic doom metal band.

He also had a band called Electric Simcha, which fused early-80s hardcore namely bands like Black Flag and the Minutemen with a repertoire of old-world Hasidic melodies drawn from weddings and other religious celebrations. In fact, Blacksberg dug up an EP that Electric Simcha had recorded in 2011 and released it on May 1.

Blacksberg teaches at Temple University, where he started the schools first klezmer band. He was able to move that work online, but he still acknowledged that hes lost a great deal of income from the lack of live performances.

Still, hes trying to make it work. He curated a day of the ACT4Music Online Festival, showcasing musicians that are associated with the international klezmer scene, on May 19. And before that, on May 11, he hosted an online Lag bOmer klezmer rock dance party in conjunction with Kol Tzedek Synagogue, the West Philly-based Reconstructionist synagogue.

For me it was a lovely thing to do and connect with the community, he said.

Netflix and Zoom

Matt Bussy, manager of the Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, shows off his challah during an online cooking class. (Courtesy of Bussy)

The Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival isnt merely a film festival it also runs screenings and other events throughout the year.

Matt Bussy, the festival manager, said that in the absence of this springs live screenings, the festival has been hosting weekly Netflix watch parties in which participants watch a movie together on Netflix and chat about it through a special Google Chrome extension called Netflix Party. The series started April 27 with Jenny Slates stand-up special Stage Fright and was followed by viewings of Menashe, They Are Everywhere and The Cakemaker, and The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch.

Each film is preceded by a virtual happy hour.

The festival also has hosted weekly online programming on Facebook and YouTube, most of it related to either food or movies.Bussy, who is in the process of converting to Judaism, hosts a weekly segment called Feed Your Face Fridays, in which he shares his attempts at Jewish cooking.

A virtual salon

The Old City Jewish Arts Center is showcasing some of its art online. (Courtesy of The Old City Jewish Arts Center)

Theatre Ariel is a theater company based in Philadelphia whose website lists its mission as to illuminate the rich social, cultural and spiritual heritage of the Jewish people.

The short answer is OY!, said Deborah Baer Mozes, the theaters artistic director, when asked how theyre doing during quarantine. We spent much time planning and preparing, then in a flash it went poof! The result is a loss of significant income.

Philadelphia Jews, ranging from Hebrew school students to active seniors, took part in the theaters programs and workshops. Thats in addition to the performances that had been lined up from March until the summer.

Theatre Ariel went virtual. So far, it has proven to be very successful, Moses said.

Its had livestream performances of the plays Ethics of the Fathers AKA the Gangster and The Grandpa, which are showing on both the theaters Facebook and YouTube pages and been streamed to thousands of viewers. This was followed by a pair of lecture-performances on Crypto-Jewish stories in theater.

The Old City Jewish Arts Center, based in the historic Old City neighborhood, is dedicated to exploring the universal messages of Judaism through the universal language of the arts. It, too, has transferred its content online. This spring, the center held a virtual show featuring art hung in the gallery and a virtual tour.

Over the past 15 years we [have] always been a place where people from all walks of life gather to enjoy the warm embrace at our community monthly art exhibitions, said Rabbi Zalman Wircberg, the centers executive director, who is known as Rabbi Zash. Im not sure we can do that every month, but we plan to transition ourselves into a virtual gallery for as long as the current situation requires.

A singer-songwriter-cantors music video for the times

Jessi Roemer walks in the video for her song Walk With You. (Screenshot from Vimeo)

In early April, singer-songwriter and cantor Jessi Roemer recorded and released a music video for Walk With You, a song from her 2019 album Praise. The video features Roemer in her home and walking alone down an empty West Philadelphia street. Several friends and musical collaborators sing along in what resembles a Zoom call, although in reality the participants sent in videos of themselves from home that were edited together.

The song, with lyrics that draw from the biblical book of Isaiah, was inspired by Roemers wish for racial justice and to express solidarity with those suffering in recent years. But once the pandemic hit, she said, the words took on a new meaning, with a whole other message of solidarity that needed to be layered on top of that. Of course, in the wake of the protests over the killing of George Floyd, another layer of relevance has been added.

Roemers life, as a performer and as the cantor for Philadelphias egalitarian Society Hill Synagogue, has seen a big shift. Her album, she says, was written specifically for communal singing. Her responsibilities at the synagogue, including what she calls the ritual part, the pastoral part and the educational part, have moved online. Some of her congregants have been likensing the last two months to when the Jews lost the Temple.

Musical artists, and Ill say ritual artists as well and prayer leaders, had to very quickly start shifting and really thinking about, and reinventing, how do we go about creating intimacy and connection, in these gatherings that were creating with people online, she said.

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How Philadelphia's creative Jews are handling the coronavirus pandemic - JTA News

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Posted By admin on June 4, 2020

Amherst, NY Finegold Alexander Architects (FA) celebrates the completion of Temple Beth Tzedek. Inspired by the metaphorical connection to the wooden synagogues of Poland and the congregations wish to worship in the woods, the design conceived an all wood structure, the sanctuary having an exposure to the East and the wooded site.

The project represents the merger of two conservative congregations, Congregation Bnai Shalom (CBS) and Temple Beth Tzedek (TBT), and the new 10,210 s/f addition, including a 300-seat sanctuary, community court, and administration space links to the existing CBS building, whose spaces were repurposed for assembly.

Though modest in size, their vision for their new home was not, and we aspired to achieve that in the openness of their worship space and the connection to the outdoors which is boundless, said Tony Hsiao, principal and director of design, at FA. We took to heart their mission to foster a nurturing, inclusive and caring community in the design of this synagogue.

The wooden building is inherently sustainablewood has the lowest embodied carbon of major structural materials. Large arches shape the Sanctuary and make direct reference to the post and beam interiors of the Polish synagogues and were constructed by Unalam of Unadilla, NYa sixth-generation family business. The exterior torrefied wood cladding came from Canada, and the torrefication treatment a careful drying and reinjection of controlled moisture into the wood, provides a decades long warranty the beauty of the cladding is the wood itself. The interior surfaces and liturgical furniture are made of white ash, supporting the luminosity of the eastern wall and surrounding clerestory windows. The Ark is designed to admit natural light through translucent glass.

12 glass panels from the original TBT synagogue were relocated to this East wall above the Ark, an interpretation of the polychromatic interiors of the synagogues historic antecedents, said Rebecca Berry, AIA, LEED AP, president and sustainability director at FA, noting that a connection to TBTs former space was important. The glazed wall brings the congregation into the woodsboth visually and metaphorically. Now they can feel connected to the natural world while focused on worship and study.

The eastern European, and particularly Polish, synagogues were almost entirely destroyed in the Holocaust, said Moe Finegold, FAIA, senior principal. Mostly square in plan, their wooden exteriors quietly blended into their surroundings; their interiors, however, were a riot of color and text. We wanted to create a contemporary synagogue that honored those traditionshence a synagogue constructed of and clad inwood.

While the congregation desired to worship in the woods, said Berry, wetlands, tree conservation and site restraints rendered locating the synagogue within the trees impossible.

The community court, a space conceived of by FA and integrated into all our synagogue designs, is as a gathering space before or after services, and in this instance, due to space restrictions, combines the library, gift shop, Judaic collection, and memorial plaques together with space for study , creating a vibrant, meaningful arrival. The books and memorial walls face each other surrounding the congregants with a special texture of memory and celebration. The whole structure is surrounded by a garden wall establishing a sacred precinct and featuring plantings that reference the seven species of ancient Israel.

We are thrilled to have the privilege of designing a sanctuary that honors the past, respects TBTs values, and will inspire the congregation for many generations, said Finegold.

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Finegold Alexander Architects completes Temple Beth Tzedek; New Sanctuary in the Woods unites two Congregations - New York Real Estate Journal Online

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Posted By admin on June 4, 2020

The break-in at a small Montreal synagogue is being called an outrageous display of anti-Semitism and one of the worst incidents in Canada in recent years by Bnai Brith Canada, a Jewish rights advocacy group.

Torah scrolls were found on the floor and other religious items were stuffed in the toilets at the Congregation Sepharde Kol Yehudaa in Cte Saint-Luc, according to Bnai Briths CEO, Michael Mostyn.

Torah scrolls are considered extremely sacred in Judaism, to the extent that damaged scrolls are typically buried in a cemetery, rather than being disposed of in any other manner, the organization.

To desecrate the most sacred object we have in the Jewish faith is outrageous, Mostyn told Global News.

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It is quite rare we receive a report as disturbing as this.

It is not clear when the incident happened. The synagogue had been closed because of the pandemic but according to the organization, a congregant had gone into the place of worship to collect some items ahead of the Jewish holiday Shavuot, which marks the time that the Jews were given the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Its doubly disturbing for the community, Mostyn said.

Mostyn said the incident has been reported to Montreal Police. Police wouldnt confirm or deny the report to Global News but a police car could be seen at the synagogue on Thursday afternoon.

We hope its treated as a hate crime, Mostyn said.

Bnai Brith says its seen a rise in anti-Semitism during the novel coronavirus pandemic as some conspiracy theories tie the Jewish community to the outbreak.

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Were not connecting this in any way to what happened in the synagogue because its up to the police to determine, Mostyn said. We do know there are elevated levels of anti-Semitism and it needs to be taken seriously.

2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Montreal synagogue vandalism one of the worst incidents in Canada, says Bnai Brith - Globalnews.ca

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Posted By admin on June 4, 2020

James Mackler has been thinking a lot about certain words from the Talmud during his long-shot run for U.S. Senate in Tennessee: In a place where there are no worthy people, strive to be a worthy person.

They were especially prescient on Monday, after a weekend of nationwide protests against racism and police misconduct sparked by the alleged murder of an African-American man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

George Floyd and his family deserve justice, said Mackler, reflecting on what it means to be worthy. It took too long for Officer Chauvin to be arrested. And he had harsh words for President Trump as well: Inciting violence is not leadership.

An Iraq War veteran who served both as a combat pilot and as a military lawyer, Mackler said he would fight for reforms to the criminal justice system, including increased federal oversight of local police departments and the universal use of body cameras.

His perspectives on these and other issues are unique not only because of his law and military training, but also because of his Jewish faith. And while hes not the only Jewish candidate running for Senate, hes the only one married to a rabbi: Shana Goldstein Mackler, who helps lead Nashvilles largest congregation, a Reform synagogue called The Temple.

Theyve both struggled during the coronavirus pandemic to engage with and help people without physically being in their presence.At The Temple, a Reform synagogue, attendance at Zoom services is up compared to normal times, Goldstein Mackler said.

Mackler said hes had some success with campaign events over Zoom, and that it actually helps him to talk about his faith. In Tennessee, people want religiosity in their leaders.

Mackler felt the call to serve after 9/11, and left his law practice at age 30 to join the Army. After his first deployment to Iraq was over, he felt a similar internal call as well as a nudge from his mother to visit a synagogue. The couple met at The Temple on Simchat Torah. I thought I was going to introduce him to people and talk about the young adult community in Nashville, and he thought we were dating, she recounted.

The two decided to become an official couple after going to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to repair damaged buildings with the Jewish disaster relief organization Nechama. We went on that trip together, sitting there covered in mud and gross old water, and realized that we both had this passion for helping people, she said. I was really moved by his commitment and willingness to put his whole self into something that he believed in.

Indeed, one of Macklers goals as a senator is to incentivize young people to participate in public service programs either in the military or in civilian programs like AmeriCorps. This president, for three budgets in a row, sought to reduce or zero out service programs, he said.

Those programs should have been seen as down payments on a more robust civic system. We should be encouraging more people to serve their communities.

Goldstein Mackler said that her husbands candidacy potentially a polarizing topic wasnt affecting her work in her synagogue. Theyve known for 16 years now that I have a voice, and that a message that I speak of is often of social justice and advocacy, and so that wasnt going to change, she said.

It likely helps that Mackler frequently cites Jewish teachings on the trail and he gets much more specific than just citing tikkun olam, the repair-the-world phrase that is the limit of many Jewish Democratic politicians knowledge.

He did, however, tie the phrase to another Talmudic citation he frequently thinks about: It is not your obligation to finish the job, but neither are you free to desist from it. The fact that I cant fix everything doesnt relieve me of the obligation to go to Washington and try, he explained.

But in order to do that, he must first get elected. He will probably get the Democratic nomination in August because he has the endorsement of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which gives him access to more donations and resources. But hes facing a tough general election, likely against Trumps former Ambassador to Japan. Political prognosticators rank the state Solid Republican. Tennessee hasnt elected a Democrat to the Senate in 30 years, and when well-regarded Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen ran in 2018, he lost 55%-44%.

Mackler said he still liked his chances, noting local dissatisfaction with Trumps trade war and his response to the coronavirus. We only need 6% more in a presidential year when voter turnout will be in high tide, he argued.

And in the midst of it all, Mackler and Goldstein Mackler are also supervising their two daughters online classes. Having more time at home has been an opportunity to teach them life lessons as well, he said.

We have the devices, we have high speed internet, he said he told his children. But throughout Tennessee, there are so many families who cannot do what were doing. The reason Im running is to make sure every child has access to high quality education.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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He was a combat pilot. Hes married to a rabbi. James Mackler is breaking the Jewish political mold. - Forward

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Facebook shuts down far-right group planning to bring weapons to protests - KMOV.com

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Posted By admin on June 3, 2020

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism Associate Director Joanna Mendelson said extremist groups are participating in the protests over the death of George Floyd.

Mendelson told the Journal that although most of the protests around the country have been peaceful, there are some extremists attempting to take advantage of the situation to further their agenda. We are seeing a host of extremists rhetorically try to insert their violent agenda into this national crisis, she said.

Mendelson cited the neo-Nazi group Nationalist Social Club, whose members were handing out stickers during demonstrations in Boston over the weekend. An individual also allegedly shouted Heil Hitler! during a peaceful protest on May 29 in Denver.

According to a June 1 ADL report, right-wing anti-government groups, militias and antifa (anti-fascist) groups also have participated in protests. However, Mendelson said the ADL hasnt seen antifa behind any of the recent violence.

She noted the ADL has documented some instances of anarchists perpetuating the violence. [Anarchists] view it as a chance to destroy what they perceive as this corrupt system, Mendelson said. So, theyre not motivated by the cause [of police brutality] and much more interested in wanton destruction of society.

We are seeing a host of extremists rhetorically try to insert their violent agenda into this national crisis. Joanna Mendelson

Other instances of violence during the protests have not been ideological, Mendelson said. There are some who are interested in the thrills of the confrontation. Theyre not necessarily ideologically oriented.

She added, Were closely monitoring the rhetoric and are concerned for extremist groups to also fully embrace and engage [in the protests].

These protests emerged out of an expression of despair and anger about the perceived systemic racism and inequality, and unfortunately the violence that is devolving in protests around the nation are distracting from the clarion call for change.

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ADL Says Anarchists, Nonideological People Are Behind the Violence at the George Floyd Demonstrations - Jewish Journal

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