ALBANY–The University at Albany’s Department of Music and Theatre will present faculty member Bob Gluck and guest artist David Rothenberg in a concert of improvisatory duets on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m. at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown campus. The clarinetist joins the UAlbany pianist/electronic musician to craft a series of improvisations on piano, clarinets and electronics along with nature sounds. Both performers share an interest in the […]

KINGSTOWN–Fall for Art, an annual juried art show, sale and fund-raising cocktail reception, hosted by the Jewish Federation of Ulster County has been announced for Thursday, Nov. 7, from 5-8 p.m. at The Chateau, 240 Boulevard, Kingston. Selected area artists for the 23rd annual art show represent a range of artistic media (including: painting, pottery, photography, jewelry, fiber, glass, wood and mixed media) will […]

By JOSEFIN DOLSTEN NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – For “Borat,” his 2006 film, Sacha Baron Cohen went undercover as a made-up Kazakh journalist who travels America and gets unwitting targets to share his boorish and sometimes bigoted opinions. In “Who Is America,” the Jewish actor creates a variety of characters who manage to get prominent Americans to say shockingly offensive […]

ALBANY–The Albany Jewish Community Center will hold a Book Mavens session on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 3 – 4:30 p.m. in the Albany JCC’s Massry Senior Center, 340 Whitehall Rd. Retired educator/author Faye Silton will review Angela Himsel’s memoir, A River Could Be a Tree. Himsel shares her journey from rural Indiana as a fundamentalist Christian to New York as a practicing […]

By ERIC ROZENMAN (JNS) – “Mike Wallace is on the phone and he sounds angry,” a colleague said as she transferred the call. It was the early 1990s, and I was managing editor of The Miami Jewish Tribune. We’d just published an editorial urging a local synagogue to rescind its decision to honor Wallace. Wallace Demands Explanation Wallace, of course, was the […]

By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – Theater folk in England are debating a recent revival of the musical “Falsettos,” asking whether non-Jews should be playing its Jewish characters. In an open letter, critics of the religion-blind casting complain that non-Jewish actors can at best portray only a “secondary understanding” of Jewish mannerisms but have no awareness of the […]

BENNINGTON, Vt. – “Jews and Sufis: Shared Music Traditions” will be the theme of a free concert of the Carriage Barn Concert Series on Sunday, Sept. 15, from 3 -4:30 p.m. Deane Carriage Barn, 1 College Dr., Bennington. From the 16th century, Hebrew devotional poetry (piyyutim) set to Ottoman/Turkish makam music for use in the synagogue has shown the  relationship […]

SCHENECTADY– The Schenectady Jewish Film Festival, eight films that will be screened at the Schenectady Jewish Community Center between the months of September and May will begin on Sept. 15. Each film will also be accompanied by a discussion usually at a Saturday evening showing and films will be shown at the Center, 2565 Balltown Rd., Schenectady. Saturday evening screenings […]

SCHENECTADY–The 2019/’20 season of the Congregation Gates of Heaven (COGH) Brotherhood Breakfast-And-A-Speaker Program will begin on Sunday, Sept. 8. It will feature Angelicia A. Morris, executive director of the Schenectady County Human Rights Commission, in a program that was rescheduled from March. Her topic will be “Unheard No More:  Power Through Action.” Morris will discuss the New York State Human Rights Law, and the state of […]

SCHENECTADY–Rabbi Matt Cutler will resume his weekly Lunch and Learn program on Thursday, Sept. 5. Lunch and Learn is held every Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. at the temple, 852 Ashmore Ave., Schenectady. The free program includes lunch with a Talmud discussion. Each discussion is self-standing and registration is not required. Individuals are invited to just show up when […]