You’ve heard of The Three Tenors, but have you heard of The Three Cantors? Yanky Lemmer, one of the three, was born and bred in Borough Park as a Belzer Hasid. After yeshiva, Lemmer went to Israel and was paired with a kollel student to learn for an hour a day. Lemmer’s chavrusa, Elimelech, invited him […]
“They’re having auditions for a community orchestra. It’s a women’s orchestra. They don’t play on Shabbat,” my teacher informed me. It sounded too good to be true. I had trained for years as a clarinetist, earning my degree in clarinet performance. I loved music, I lived and breathed it, playing classical, jazz, learning to compose, […]
’93Queen’: Film Review | Hot Docs 2018 Forget Supergirl and Wonder Woman. To see a real female superhero in action, check out Paula Eiselt’s documentary concerning the creation of an all-female, Hasidic EMT corps. 93Queen centers on Rachel “Ruchie” Freier, the co-founder of the organization that gives the film its title, and watching this intrepid […]
Building Bridges: An Interview with Allison Josephs Allison Josephs’ website Jew in the City is all about celebrating the intersection of Orthodox Judaism and the realities and conundrums of everyday life. Browsing through this beautiful site, one encounters articles that range from the light-hearted (for instance, a recent post was titled “Why Judaism believes in […]
Meet New York’s Hasidic Jewish Bagpipe Player Not every bagpipe-playing altar boy considering joining the priesthood grows up to be a Hasidic Jew — but Ian Sherman did. Ian, known today in many circles by his Hebrew name Ephraim Eliyahu, was born to a Scottish Catholic mother and an Eastern European Jewish father, and was […]
Triple Crown Champs Racing Manager is Backing a New Horse The family is Orthodox Jewish — which means their Sabbath conflicts with Saturdays, when races are held. As a result, the Zayats can’t drive to and from the track (nor can they communicate via phone). Instead, they typically stay in a hotel about a mile […]
