When Wicked first debuted on Broadway back in 2003, the musical was a stirring, thoroughly inventive tale of an unlikely friendship and society’s cruel rejection of its misfits. Today, though, against the backdrop of campus unrest and a disturbing spike in antisemitism—both all too conveniently ascribed to Israel—the message of the just-released, box office record-breaking film version […]

In 2019, I got the insane idea that we should go to Lincoln Center for our 6th All-Star awards. Everyone told me how challenging it would be, but I didn’t believe them. The planning and fundraising kicked our butts, but the event was magical. The audience left hardly able to find words to express how […]

Good evening and welcome to JITC’s 2nd Jewish Media Awards: The Greatest Night in Jewish Representation. Welcome esteemed honorees, presenters, and studio executives joining us here tonight from Disney, Paramount, Amazon, Sony, and Netflix. The last time we gathered in this prestigious hall for a night of immense Jewish pride was in December 2019. None […]

It’s the eseres yemei teshuva right now – the ten days of repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It’s a time that we should be asking for forgiveness from those we wronged and letting go of hate and grudges towards those who wronged us. There are obviously different levels of hurt that a person […]

The imagery of Elul, the month we recently entered, is often associated with a King. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains through a famous parable that the King, who is usually high up and away from His subjects (i.e. God) is, “in the field.” As in, He’s close to and among us, available for us […]

During the Days of Awe, the blasts of the shofar are meant to awaken our slumbering soul. As Maimonides writes: In the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana, there is an allusion, as though saying: Awake you sleepers from your sleep, and slumberers arise from your slumbering…All who forget the truth in the follies […]