On the third day of Sukkot, Jews welcome the spirits of Jacob and his first wife Leah, the “baby momma” for most of his children and older sister of his true love Rachel (who visits us tomorrow). Rabbinic and scholarly commentaries across the centuries are rife with interpretations about Jacob’s relationship with his wives.
Read MoreIsaac and Rebekah, the ushpizin (sacred ancestral spirits) Jews welcome on the second day of Sukkot, are notorious for the all-too human dimensions of their relationship. The Torah describes Rebekah atop a camel, beautifully dressed, on her way to meet Isaac for the first time. She is so smitten by him that she falls off the camel, a veritable victim of love at first sight.
Read MoreThis week, Jewish communities all over the world are exhaling, having made it to the end of the High Holiday season. Today begins Sukkot, an eight-day festival filling a number of purposes: the Biblical account of surviving 40 years in the wilderness; the bounty of the fall harvest; and, perhaps most importantly, the miracle of life in all its fragile, temporal beauty.
Read MoreThe last couple of months I spent a significant amount of time in South America, and the majority in Chile. Unsurprisingly, the legacy of the dictatorship is still very present in the politics and culture of the country, and specifically on the streets of Santiago where during the wintertime students and other activists take to the streets.
Read MoreThis is a song called “Seriously” written by Sara Bareilles and performed by Leslie Odom Jr. It’s supposed to be an imagining of what then president Barack Obama might have been thinking during the 2016 election but was not at liberty to say.
Read MoreThis is a song from the Hamilton Mixtape, which I believe is pretty well known and popular at the moment. (I don’t even totally know, I live in Europe!) It’s a song that is sung by George Washington in the original show and is an insightful, touching song about how history is written.
Read MoreFor my first song I’d love you to listen to “Abortion Is Illegal by Hanns Eisler/Brecht. For me it is shocking that this was written in the 1930s, not because it was necessarily so ahead of its time, but because it could have been written today as well.
Read MoreReturning to New York Festival of Song this month in two tour performances of Arias and Barcarolles and other Bernstein Songs, and in December’s performances of A Goyishe Christmas to You!, Joshua Jeremiah is a “rich-voiced” baritone (The New York Times) and our Artist of the Month! You have performed in NYFOS’s annual holiday show A Goyishe Christmas to You! […]
Read MoreAnyone who glances at my social media platforms will quickly realize that my niece Dahlia is the center of my universe. As such, when I am home, every element of my life is at her beck and call, particularly television and music. Though a lover of opera and orchestral works (isn’t every five year old […]
Read MoreThree hours in NYC never fails to be exciting endeavor, one with no shortage of music. Journeying from Grand Central to Times Square/Port Authority, I heard no less than five new performers and ten different pop hits of today and yesteryear. There is an almost overwhelming fusion of marketing, visual art and music throughout the city that pierces all the senses synonymously.
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