One year ago today, our organization made history by launching the first and only Jewish Hollywood Bureau to advocate for authentic depictions of Jews directly to the studios. Every other group has had one of these Bureaus for decades or at least many years. In only one year, we have: Met nearly every studio in […]
Tevye, from Fiddler on the Roof, is beloved by all who have the chance to be embraced by his sweet nature and boisterous spirit. Chaim Topol, the Israeli actor who played the character in the 1971 film adaptation as well as the musical, has much of the same effect. Large audiences are in agreement — he […]
The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical movie, did not win a single Oscar last night, which is a shame. Though the actors cast to play his parents are not Jewish (something I would have preferred) and the fact that the Spielbergs grew up Orthodox wasn’t mentioned (which would have been a neat chance to normalize Orthodoxy), this […]
The Talmud tells us to do something strange on Purim: drink until you don’t know the difference between “blessed is Mordechai” and “cursed is Haman” (“ad d’lo yada”). This is a surprising statement. Judaism generally doesn’t promote getting drunk. And why would we want to be confused about not knowing the difference between blessing Mordechai (the […]
Two brothers, ages 4 and 6 were rammed by a terrorist in a car in Israel, while walking with their father and brother two weeks ago. Both boys were killed. Last I heard, the father was in critical condition. I have two boys who are two years apart. Seeing those sweet, smiling faces beneath their […]
The following movie review began with angry texts I sent to friends and colleagues yesterday, as I was watching You People, the number one movie now streaming on Netflix. It premiered on Holocaust Remembrance Day, and I’ve got to hand it to them on the timing: nothing says #neveragain like #rightnow. There are numerous spoilers […]
