On the eve of the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht, Music of Remembrance will begin its 12th season with a concert that commemorates Jewish acts of heroism during the Holocaust. The Nov. 9 fall program, “Cantillations,” incorporates contemporary pieces as well as works from Holocaust-era composers to remember the past andContinue Reading
A Serious Man, the most Jewish and the most personal film in the Coen Brothers’ 25-year career, is pitched squarely between the musical magnetic poles of Ukrainian-born vocalist Sidor Belarsky and Haight-Ashbury’s Jefferson Airplane. Belarsky’s regal, soothing tenor provides an unexpected anchor for secular Midwestern physics Professor Larry Gopnik asContinue Reading
It’s been nearly eight years since Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Pakistan. In that time, his family and friends, along with many others, have built a powerful and effective organization dedicated to his memory, The Daniel Pearl Foundation. While it goes about its educationalContinue Reading
The easygoing matriarch of a fictional Jewish family, Molly Goldberg was simultaneously the salt of the earth and doggedly Herculean. But her gently insistent persistence paled next to that of her creator Gertrude Berg. An influential yet largely forgotten figure in the annals of both American broadcasting and American Jewry,Continue Reading
Two guys whose careers are based entirely around the neuroses of Jewish families are about to hit it big. Sam Wolfson and Bryan Fogel, creators and stars of the off-Broadway hit Jewtopia are back on stages around North America, just before their creation heads to the silver screen. Their latestContinue Reading
After almost a decade, singer, songwriter, musician and choreographer Daniel Alpern has returned to Mercer Island to revitalize the Stroum JCC’s Center Stage theater program. The program is aimed at theater enthusiasts of all ages, from elementary schoolers to their parents and grandparents. Center Stage kicks off this fall withContinue Reading
Explaining Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Days of Awe, to children is both difficult and simple. Difficult, because deeper levels of spiritual understanding must await a more mature approach; simple, because even very young children can delight in the tastes, sounds and symbols of these days. Then, as theyContinue Reading
One day, early last December, many extremely wealthy people around the world, a large percentage of them Jewish, went about their business unaware that the next morning the vast amounts of money they believed they had amassed would disappear in a puff of smoke. These people had entrusted their netContinue Reading
Generations is an across-the-world e-mail conversation between 30-something writer Masada Siegel and 70-something author Stefanie Zweig. From: Masada Siegel Wed., Sept. 24, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. To: Stefanie Zweig Subject: Partying too much? Hi Stefanie! Have you been having too much fun celebrating your birthday? Have you been really annoyedContinue Reading
We are lucky to live in a time and in a society that expects each of us to fill at least some of the limitless promise with which we are born, whether we are male or female. We also know that many people fail to fulfill this promise. How doContinue Reading
It’s a fool’s errand to criticize Quentin Tarantino for historical inaccuracy or chronic amorality. Everybody knows his movies are inspired by and respond to other movies, not real life. So there’s no percentage in railing against Inglourious Basterds as blathering, self-indulgent drivel that (among many examples of its creator’s hubris)Continue Reading
Karen Kosoglad stores memories of her former figure models, her Jewish immigrant-turned-printing-mogul-father and her loving mother, within layers of finished and unfinished paintings in her home art studio. Occasionally, she brings them out for the public to view. Most recently, Kosoglad’s show at the Lisa Harris Gallery in the PikeContinue Reading
Woody Allen once quipped that every time he listened to the music of Wagner, he got the urge to invade Poland. Woody isn’t alone. Many people can’t hear Wagner’s music without thinking of Nazism and Hitler. Some Jews can’t bear to listen to it at all. Seattle Opera is presentingContinue Reading
Musician Dan Reed may not be Jewish, but that didn’t stop him from spending nine months studying at a yeshiva while living in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood outside of Jerusalem. “I met some of the rabbis in the neighborhood, and they invited me down to check out the yeshiva. So IContinue Reading
Finding himself with a free hour in Washington, D.C. not too long ago, Max Mayer visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He boarded the elevator with the crowd to go to the permanent exhibit, when something unexpected happened. “The last thing, just before they close the doors, they ask, “˜WhoContinue Reading
When the Idan Raichel Project came to Hillel at the UW four years ago, I was blown away — and I wasn’t alone. I hadn’t seen so many Israelis since being stuck in a traffic jam in Tel Aviv. Seeing the Project again, this time in their home country ofContinue Reading
Working as a performance artist, it didn’t take Susannah Perlman long to discover she wasn’t the only nice Jewish girl trying to make a living by doing things on stage of which her mother did not approve. “I do comedy and music and I have hosted burlesque,” she recalled. “AndContinue Reading
Nearly 200 guests filled the Museum of History and Industry’s McEachem Auditorium on June 14 to see the world premiere of Unsilenced, a 40-minute documentary that highlights the 10-year history of Music of Remembrance, and to hear the exquisite music that has inspired musicians and audiences alike. Unsilenced features performancesContinue Reading
Composer Aaron Kernis recently completed “Symphony of Meditations,” based upon the translation of a Hebrew poem by 11th-century poet Solomon Ibn Gabriol. Zach Carstensen, principal writer for “The Gathering Note” local music blog and government affairs director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, interviewed Kernis via e-mail about theContinue Reading
When you cram 15 to 20 Jewish books into a six-week reading period, unifying themes often emerge. Like pairing food with drink, here are some fiction and non-fiction book pairs that give each other an added dimension. Let’s first consider Aharon Appelfeld. At 77, he is one of Israel’s mostContinue Reading
