By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound What happens when a white Jewish girl from Seattle falls in love with an African-American Christian man from South Carolina? In the case of Miriam Sternoff and O’Neal McKnight, shenanigans. As their cultures collided again and again, McKnight, a comedian, didContinue Reading
By Tom Tugend, JTA World News Service LOS ANGELES (JTA) — “You survive, you honor us by living,” said Martin Greenfield, now a New York master tailor, recalling his father’s words after he was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp. The quote could easily be taken as the theme ofContinue Reading
By Anthony Weiss, JTA World News Service LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In the first episode of “Kosher Soul,” O’Neal McKnight, a Southern-raised African-American man about to marry a white Jewish woman from Seattle, has an epiphany about his upcoming marriage — it’s like a black-and-white cookie. “It’s all about the whole cookie,” heContinue Reading
(JTA) — Jon Stewart will be stepping down from his post behind the desk of “The Daily Show” later this year, ending a 16-year run. Stewart, 52, announced his plans to leave during Tuesday’s taping of the show, a move that was confirmed by a statement from Comedy Central. AlthoughContinue Reading
By Gigi Yellen Kohn, Jewish Sound Correspondent With some 20 albums to her name, countless awards and glowing reviews from festivals, clubs and concerts worldwide, jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen’s work as bandleader, soloist, and “sideman” is as influential as a music career can be. Born and raised in the 1960sContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound “Is it something from which you wake? A nightmare or a fairytale? No! It really happened. No! We were there.” –Farewell, Auschwitz When Music of Remembrance premiered its commissioned work “Farewell, Auschwitz” last spring, the reception was astounding. “The audience was soContinue Reading
By Dan Aznoff, Jewish Sound Correspondent Watch out, Oscar Wilde. Move aside, George Bernard Shaw. Here comes Danielle Kohorn. A short play written by the 12-year-old Jewish Day School middle school student has been selected by the Washington Ensemble Theater and will be staged this spring during the annual YoungContinue Reading
By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA World News Service (JTA) — An attack on the Paris headquarters of a French satirical magazine has left at least 12 people dead, including the Jewish caricaturist Georges Wolinski. Two of the reported fatalities in Wednesday’s attack were police officers, according to the French daily newspaperContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Correspondent “It’s an interesting lens of the 20th century, but through the eyes of one world,” says Laura Ferri, director of “Letters to the Editor,” Book-It Repertory Theatre’s performance that brings our state’s Jewish community to life on the stage — through the pages ofContinue Reading
By Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JTA World News Service (JTA) — Surely the Torah’s redactors never imagined that their Dinah — voiceless daughter of Jacob and Leah, rape victim avenged by her brothers — would one day be portrayed on the small screen as a lusty young midwife’s apprentice who takesContinue Reading
By Tori Gottlieb, Jewish Sound Correspondent If you’ve ever heard the Hanukkah song “Ocho Kandelikas” (“Eight Little Candles”) you’re familiar with Flory Jagoda’s music. Next week, the 90-year-old Sephardic songstress will visit Seattle to perform that and other songs — some her own, and some passed down from generation toContinue Reading
By Masada Siegel, Special to the Jewish Sound “Israel had a big effect on me,” says Ruchama King Feuerman. “It’s the kind of place where outrageous stories are handed to you on a platter, and then you have to tone them down to make them believable.” Much like the charactersContinue Reading
By Batya Ungar-Sargon, JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — As the last generation of Holocaust survivors ages and dies, efforts to capture their final, untold stories have abounded. But in her new book “Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind,” Sarah Wildman has turned insteadContinue Reading
By Peter A. Klein, Special to The Jewish Sound It may surprise some to see the words “Schoenberg” and “Romantic” in the same sentence, but it’s not a misprint. Before he invented the modernist 12-tone method of composition, the Vienna-born composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was steeped in the late RomanticismContinue Reading
Boris Kurbanov, Special to The Jewish Sound Chilling and utterly compelling, Vanessa Lapa’s new documentary “The Decent One” uses narrated excerpts from a cache of SS Chief Heinrich Himmler’s letters and diaries — including those of his wife, Marga, his parents, mistress and even daughter Gudrun — to illustrateContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound How do you see Torah? That’s the question Nancy Current and Jeremy Alk will be asking upon the launch of their new class, “The Genesis of Creativity: Using Visual Midrash to Capture the Jewish Imagination.” It’s not exactly a new question.Continue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Art Spiegelman has a hard time explaining his new production. It’s “somewhere between intellectual vaudeville” and “a lecture run amok” inspired by woodcut novels, the musical genius of Phillip Johnston, and an opportunity to use the Sydney Opera House. Whatever it’sContinue Reading
By Boris Kurbanov, Special to The Jewish Sound Last October, America’s favorite travel guru Rick Steves left for Israel with one goal: To “show both narratives” and help people in the West better understand the players involved in the Holy Land. There, he filmed his latest TV travelogue, “Rick Steves’Continue Reading
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joan Rivers, who broke barriers for women in comedy and on television, has died. Rivers, 81, died Thursday a week after being rushed to Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital after her heart stopped during throat surgery at a clinic. Doctors at the hospital put her in an inducedContinue Reading
By Dikla Tuchman, Jewish Sound Correspondent On Sunday, August 31, South Seattle’s newly formed Eruv Cooperative hosted SPARK, an outdoor Jewish music festival in Seward Park. Hundreds of community members and Jewish music appreciators piled into Seward Park Amphitheater to enjoy artists like singer-songwriter Ari Lesser, local Seattle-based recording artistContinue Reading
