Saturday Night: Jewish Girls Gone Bad

Prepare for semitic naughtiness.
"I put the whore in hora," declares the Goddess Perlman, ringmaster and MC extraordinaire of Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad – and so goes an evening of bashing all stereotypes ever uttered about Jewish women. Bringing a combination of comedy, parody and burlesque to South Florida for one evening only, the cast of Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad will take to the stage on Saturday, May 31 at 9 p.m. at the historic Alfred I. DuPont Building (169 E Flagler Street) in downtown Miami. Admission is $18 and tickets may be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 800.838.3006. For more information about The Open Tent please email share@theopentent.org.

Chabad Fire

Just heard about the Miami Beach Chabad fire. Really upsetting stuff. Even if it is ruled an accident (though preliminary investigations point otherwise), there is something very Kristallnacht about seeing a charred synagogue with burned remains of prayer books and Torah scrolls. WTF Miami?
More photos and info here.

Events: Amos Gitai and Daniel Pearl

The Passion of Amos Gitai - "Kippur"
Thursday, February 7, 8:30 p.m.
Miami Beach Cinematheque, 512 Espanola Way
$10 General / $6 Members/Students
305.673.4567
The film takes place in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, in which Egypt and Syria launched attacks in Sinai and the Golan Heights.Not a traditional "blood, guts and glory" war film, Kippur is the shell-shocked memoir of the director Gitai, himself a participant in the conflict, and of the days that changed his life forever. Hebrew w/English subtitles.

Percussion Consort: Of Laws and Loss
Friday, February 8, 8:00 p.m.
Lincoln Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road
305.673.3331
Tickets $10
The kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 haunted people throughout the world. Minimalist master Steve Reich responded by writing this tribute to the journalist, based on texts from the Book of Daniel alongside Pearl's own words. Breaking the rules of traditional instrumentation, David Lang's so-called laws of nature require percussionists to play instruments they build themselves.

The Power of a Blank Page

I heard about this project via Ziva, at Designist Dream. She writes:

Missingthem.net is staging an art-inspired protest today at airports around the world calling attention to three missing Israeli soldiers - Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit - who were kidnapped from Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and southern border with Gaza in 2006.

The soldiers have been gone a total of 560 days. The photos are poetic and heartbreaking. Most of the website is in Hebrew but people have posted from Barcelona, Munich, Milan and Paris in addition to the dozens from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.

Odds and Ends

• Beijing's Rem Koolhaas-designed CCTV building is nearing completion.
• Oh, and so is Norman Foster's massive Beijing airport.
• Wine tastes better the more it costs.
• A brief synopsis of Iran's Islamic revolution.
• Venezuelan Jews stand up to Chavez.
• A Heeb-tastic essay.
• A fascinating profile of filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, one of my faves.
• The story of stuff.
  

Will Eisner Documentary December 6

On Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 7:30 pm at the Jewish Museum of Florida on South Beach, the outstanding documentary film Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist, directed by Andrew Cooke, will be screened. This public program complements the Museum's current exhibit, Zap! Pow! Bam! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comics, 1938-1950. Admission is $6 for non-members. Members and press are free. To make a reservation, call 305-672-5044, ext. 3175.

Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist is Andrew Cooke's first feature length documentary. Eisner was the godfather of the American comic book. From utilizing pictures and words to stretch the boundaries of storytelling, to innovating methods of production and publishing including the graphic novel form, Cooke's documentary presents how Eisner inspired other artists working in the field today. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and was also made an official selection at the Austin Film Festival and the Leeds International Film Festival.

The museum is located at 301 Washington Avenue, South Beach.
305.672.5044

More Love-Hate for Ira Glass

There is a slight trickle, a faint thread of Ira Glass backlash forming in alternative media outlets. First the Onion article and now this engaging piece by Mark Oppenheimer in Zeek. His Glass-bashing is a bit guilt-inducing but enjoyable to read. A quote:

Why was I not rapt? Why did I feel so uncomfortable with the unanimous adoration, the gasps at his wise and funny pronuciamentos, the general assent in the room that this hipster-bespectacled, Kermit-voiced Jew from Baltimore was a cultural treasure? Here’s a better question: Why, walking afterward from the Shubert to the parking lot a block away, did I feel the need to harsh on my wife’s flush-faced, post-Ira glow by being so contrary?

Here, as best as I can remember, is what I said:

“I mean, look, I recognize that the guy has talent, and that was pretty enjoyable. But have you noticed that there are no ideas in his ideas? He lets people talk, he edits it well, he makes it entertaining, but there’s nothing remotely intellectual about it. And so he gets people happy in the same way that Garrison Keillor gets people happy with his Midwestern-minstrelsy shtick, in that NPR-middlebrow way, where the audience thinks it has just had some sort of cultural experience. And they’ve been voyeurs of some sort, but I guess I just like having ideas in play, not just narrative. He seems to resist ideas;it’s all narrative. Which, as I say, is good enough as far as it goes, but it’s just so predictable how all these lefties fall over themselves loving him.”

Why would anyone marry the man who said that? Why had my wife?

In any event, she had the perfect reply: “Look, I really had a wonderful time. Why would you want to ruin it for me?”

I felt suitably low.

Dalia Sofer @ Miami Jewish Book Fair

Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

Drawing on her personal experience when her family escaped from Iran when she was 10 years old, the author now weaves a page-turning story about another courageous family trying to flee the country after the father is wrongly accused of espionage. Set in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, the family is terrified by the father’s disappearance, and they must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they have known. Presenting a Jewish perspective in this Muslim dominated part of the world, Sofer explores the universal questions of identity, loss, alienation and love in the face of overwhelming odds.

Tuesday, October 23
7:30pm at Congregation Bet Breira
9400 SW 87th Avenue
General Admission $7

Favorite Jews

In honor of Rosh Hashanah we bring you a few thoughts on favorite Jews. We shot this video at a global summit for young Jewish innovators this summer. If I had to choose my favorite Heeb, I'd go with Golda Meir. The woman rocked. Any gal who can hold her own in a convo with the King of Jordan deserves my vote.

Ninja Talmud

I just saw this and it looks AWESOME. I am so there.

Tiny Ninja Talmund Theater

Saturday, August 25
During their South Florida performance, the Tiny Ninja Theater Company will perform the Babylonian Talmud, one of Judaism's most dense and sacred texts, normally poured over by scholars, rather than played out by toys. Experience ancient Jewish text in a wild new way as this NYC-based company uses tiny plastic ninjas and other assorted dime store figures to embody the characters of the play. Shows are at 9:15 and 11:15 p.m., and tickets are $18 which includes a post show reception with the artists.

The Moore Building

4040 NE 2nd Avenue, Design District
305-538-7231

Tel Aviv: Beit HaShanti

We visited Beit HaShanti in Tel Aviv last week. It's an organization for runaway Israeli teenagers based in a beautiful house in Neve Tzedek. In the 22 years that the house has been in existence they have helped 16,000 youth. The place is incredible and we hung out with some of the kids that live there, played the bongo drums and had a bar-b-q lunch. These NGO's are inspiring and they do amazing work.
These organizations also speak to a growing issue in Israel - the fact that the government ignores these social issues and leaves it to the work of these non-profits, many of which look for funding from the American Jewish foundations and private donors. The JPost has a good editorial on this issue titled, "Don't Abuse Philanthropy."

Recent Articles

Been doin' some writin':
A cover story I wrote about the Jews of Florida for February Hadassah Magazine. And another piece in Hadassah about the Jewish builders exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Florida.
My Gen Art fashion show coverage in Biz Bash.
My Forward article about the Florida condo mezuzah scandal. Who knew a 5-inch scroll would cause such a ruckus?

Free Israeli Movie - Thursday March 8

The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival is hosting a free movie under the stars in Historic Downtown Hollywood this week and every 2nd Thursday of the month. The Israeli film "Left Luggage" will be screened this month. It's a touching and emotional story of Chaia, a rebellious philosophy student who is struggling to come of age. Her relationship with her parents, both concentration camp survivors, is strained, and she finds herself unable to accept her Jewish identity. Admission is free.
Thursday March 8, 7pm.
Anniversary Park
Hollywood Blvd. and 20th Ave., Downtown Hollywood
954-921-3016

Gefilte Fish: Protein of the Future?

Epicurious.com reports that old kosher stalwart Manischewitz is jazzing up their brand to appeal to the growing sector of non-Jewish kosher food consumers. I heart Manischewitz and their retro-styled orange and green packaging and wish they wouldn't change a thing. Evoking Formica and aprons is what makes the brand so charming, but then again who wouldn't be enticed by "peppier "on-the-go" fonts, and beaming cartoon characters, " on a box of maztah?
The marketing wizards at Manischewitz are having trouble with that elusive Jewish fish dish known as "gefilte."

There's still one thing that's stumping the people at Manischewitz: how to get the general public to appreciate gefilte fish. "We've thought about repositioning it as a pâté, as a terrine, or battered, breaded, and fried, similar to a fish stick," Rossi says. "If Spam can be so popular, why can't canned fish take off? Gefilte could end up being the protein of the future — but we're not banking on it."

I prefer the frozen variety of gefilte fish - it's sweeter and has a firmer texture than the jar or can varieties. Plus, there isn't that strange fish gel to deal with in the frozen loaf - it's more sterile and, well, loaf-y.
In any case, I'd like to conduct and informal survey of you, my dear readers:
Which gefilte fish variety do you prefer - jar or frozen?

If you build it, they will kvell

Florida’s landscape and climate have always been a draw for real estate developers. In fact, the state’s seemingly endless construction boom has had a deep impact on its Jewish community. From happy seniors playing shuffle board in retirement villages to hip club-goers sipping cocktails in restored Art Deco hotels, the story of Florida’s Jews is inter-twined with the history of its buildings and those who built them.

Over 500 visuals, from old photographs, postcards and housing advertisements to floor plans, land deeds, tools, even a few sacks of concrete illustrate that history in “Bonim: Jewish Developers Building Florida & Building Community,” at the Jewish Museum of Florida through March 11. “Bonim,” which is Hebrew for builders, explores the Jewish visionaries behind Florida’s thriving real estate world and the many structures and development trends that are their legacy.

The museum itself is a grand venue in which to view this memorabilia since the building that houses the museum (above) was designed by noted Art Deco architect Henry Hohauser in 1936. It was the home of the first Jewish congregation in Miami Beach and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum’s gold-copper dome, 80 stained glass windows and 8 deco chandeliers offer a taste of the bygone era of swanky Miami Beach. While you're there, check out the stained glass window donated by Meyer Lansky, a reminder of Miami's more unsavory characters.

Happy Hannukah!

Jewish Cooking from the Orient

The Sephardic cooking lovefest continues at the NYTimes. This time it's the cooking of Syrian, Egyptian and Lebanese Jews. Always delicious, always labor intensive. From the article:

Ms. Hasson is famous in the community for her typically Lebanese fruit preserves, like tiny apples cooked in sugar syrup, jellied quince paste and finely shredded and candied spaghetti squash, all traditional sweets for the first month of the Jewish year, which began at sundown on Sept. 22. “In Beirut, we all lived together, and the women cooked together all day long,” she said. “Everyone would sit down and help with the stuffing and the folding, someone would make a bowl of tabbouleh, and that way no one was alone doing all the work.”

The tradition of women sitting together in a kitchen cooking and gossiping may dissipate with modernity, but it's still kept up in these pockets of isolated ethnic communities. I always think what a shame it is when all that detail-oriented food is gobbled up in less time than it took to make. But the joy of making that food resides in the process, not necesarily the consuming of it. And these Brooklyn women have no problem toiling away in kitchens with $11 million pricetags.

Annual Jewish Book Festival Picks

Bookstores and books are about as common in Miami as snowshoes, but for a few short weeks in November Miami will become book country with a bevy of author and book-related events. Overlapping a a few days with the Miami Book Fair, the Annual Jewish Book Festival takes place October 24-November 14 and has some pretty good events on the docket. Beyond the usual Holocaust-related stuff that bogs down Jewish festivals of every type (I'm looking at you, Jewish Film Festivals), this one features a nice showing of young Jewish writers including the snarky duo behind Jewtopia and the talented Dara Horn.
Some picks:
Sunday, October 29
Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson
Jewtopia
7:30pm Alper JCC
General Admission $10
Monday, October 30
Jennifer Gilmore • Golden Country
Dara Horn • The World to Come
7:30pm Congregation Bet Breira
9400 SW 87 Ave
General Admission $7
Thursday, November 2
Daniel Libeskind
Breaking Ground
7:30pm University of Miami
The Miller Center on the UM Campus
5202 University Drive, 105 Merrick Building
General Admission $7
Sunday, November 5
Comedian Harry Shearer
Not Enough Indians
7pm Alper JCC
General Admission $10

Monday, November 13
Ruth Ellenson
The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt
7:30pm Temple Beth Or
11715 SW 87 Ave
General Admission $7

Persian Food in the Media

Persian food makes it into Heeb magazine's "Best 50 Foods". Represent!
33. Homemade Persian Food Tell one of your Persian friends you want to have dinner at their parents’ place. And while you’re at it, insist that they serve gondis (spiced meatballs), sabzi kuku (“all things green” pancakes) and pilau khoresh (rice-based stew). And then, ask them how they make those Persian miniatures so damn miniature.
And Joan Nathan, Jewish food maven, raves about "gundi," Persian dumplings made with chick pea flour. I may try her recipe, though my grandmother's gundis were the best because she ground the chick peas by hand, and because she was my "Maman Basorg," of course.

To Do This Weekend: Open Bar @The Sagamore

Saturday, September 16, 2006
Social Miami at The Sagamore
1671 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139

9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Featuring Complimentary Cocktails
$18 minimum IEF gift requested in advance
We are unable to accommodate walk-in guests

RSVP by September 14 online at www.JewishMiami.org
or call (786) 866-8444.
Tax-deductible donations will go directly to support Federation's IEF.

Host Committee
Rachel Baum, Alice Gabrieloff
Alexander Lewy, Suzy Mehrpouyan
Cayla Tenenbaum
For more info, e-mail thenetwork@gmjf.org.