Fall Arts Preview 2017 by New Jersey Jewish News

ffall arts all PREVIEW A SU P P LEM ENT TO TH E N EW J ERSEY J EWISH N EWS SEPTEM B ER 21, 2017

THE NEW SEASON A roundup of the fall offerings in film, music, dance, visual arts, and books

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

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music: Jazz on the bima

p. 18

the music list

p. 20

film: Rutgers Jewish Film Festival celebrates ‘chai’ anniversary p. 21 Welcoming the strangers among us

p. 22

dance: Former Batsheva dancer offers classes at Princeton

p. 24

books: ‘The Judaism of a feminist’

p. 26

the book list

p. 27

visual arts: New fall exhibits at JCC MetroWest

p. 25

Beth Miriam’s first art show part of ‘Hineynu’ outreach program

p. 28

Exhibit to feature artwork of Shoa survivors and their children

p. 30

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

ffall all PREVIEW arts

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

music

Jazz on the bima Tenor player expands musical horizons

everal hours before Shab- laughingly that his job description was bat began on Sept. 1, Alex once known as the “Shabbos goy,” the Stein stood on the bima of non-Jewish person who handles tasks Temple B’nai Or in Morris- forbidden for Jews on Shabbat, such town with his hands wrapped around as turning off lights and adjusting the the keys of his tenor saxophone. thermostat. Beside him was They met three Jamale Davis, holdyears ago at a N J J N S TA F F W R I T E R ing an upright bass. PATH station in Without hesitation, they burst Jersey City, when Stein spotted a into bebop riffs based on a tune writ- book of Charlie Parker arrangements ten by the late alto player Charlie Parker, playing together in a close harmony that seems to parallel their intersected lives. One is a Jewish man with a close relationship to African-American music. The other is a black man with a close relationship to the Jewish comTenor saxophonist Alex Stein and bassist munity. Jamale Davis jam on the bima of Temple Stein, who B’nai Or in Morristown. was raised in Maplewood and now resides clubs such as gan a new job in September, where Alex Stein accompanies jazz in Summit, is the band Smalls and he hopes to infuse his love of music and blues singer Ayana Lowe at 55 Bar director at Industrial High M e z z r o w , with the students at Technology High in Greenwich Village. P H OTO S B Y R O B E R T W I E N E R School in Newark. Da“but not as of- School, Newark’s magnet school for vis, who lives in Newark, ten as we would applied science, engineering, and works as the facility manager at B’nai sticking out of Davis’ backpack. like,” said the technology. Or, a job he has held for four years. “I Aside from their practice sessions bassist, a self-taught musician and “The band will have a jazz bent to take the care of the synagogue and the at the synagogue, they have played graduate of Rutgers University. The it,” he promised. In January, he plans to return to his religious school,” he said, pointing out together at Greenwich Village jazz two get together at the synagogue whenever possible to continue their graduate studies, where he is working musical friendship. on a doctoral dissertation on jazz pia“I have my hands pretty full,” said nist and educator Barry Harris. AS A CHILD growing up in Newark, Jamale Davis had little or no contact Stein. He is a high school band direcAs of now, Stein’s only reguwith Jewish people. But for the past four years working as facility manager tor and a scholar of ethnomusicology lar performance is at the 55 Bar at Temple B’nai Or in Morristown, community members have been a major as well as a performing musician and in Greenwich Village on the first part of his life. the father of a 3-year-old boy. Saturday of each month. For the It is demanding work, especially during the High Holy Day season In 2010 Stein entered an eth- past 10 years he has been backing when Davis must “make sure I am everywhere and things run smoothly.” nomusicology program at Brown Ayana Lowe, a jazz, blues, and gosHe expands the sanctuary to accommodate “about 1,000 people”; usually University in Providence, R.I. Four pel singer. As part of a sextet that 60-70 attend on an average Friday night. years later, he took a break to pursue includes trumpet, bass, electric On one occasion, Davis stepped out of his traditional role and onto the a teaching job as a Lincoln Center keyboard, drums, and congas, he Scholar. The program is a partner- can shift styles easily from straightstage when he was cast in the part of Mordechai at the temple’s annual ship between Lincoln Center for ahead jazz to classic rhythm-andPurim play. the Performing Arts and the Hunter blues to Motown. But, he told NJJN, “It’s a wonderful job,” he told NJJN. “I think that the temple is a family College School of Education, where “I have not changed my direction at atmosphere and I became a part of the family. You get to witness what a professional artists are fast-tracked all. I play bebop and hard bop.” family has to go through to make the building work. We are always trying through academic studies to expedite to find the best ways to have the temple support the community and the His style began forming when he their teaching degrees in New York was a 13-year-old student at Maplemembers of the temple. It is definitely an education,” he said. “I went to Rutgers, where I majored in history and Arabic studies. I am learning JewCity schools. wood Middle School, and began playish faith and Jewish culture. It has been a blessing ever since.” After working in New York mid- ing alongside his 10-year-old brother, — ROBERT WIENER dle schools for three years Stein be- Asher, an alto saxophonist.

Robert Wiener

P H OTO C O U R T E S Y S T E I N B R OT H E R S

Together, the Stein Brothers continued perAsher is now a fourth-year resident in radiforming together well into their 20s, when ology at Cooper Medical Center and lives in Asher entered medical school in 2010. Philadelphia. NJJN first heard the brothers in 2003 at a gig at He said the practices of medicine and music are, Cecil’s, a now-defunct jazz club in West Orange. in a way, quite similar. “You’re employing a similar They were backing the late legendary trumpeter set of skills to bring order to the apparent chaos. Clark Terry. And both fields are truly about people,” he wrote To jazz aficionados, two young musicians sit- NJJN in an email. ting in with one of the masters of their profession Playing jazz professionally was becoming inwas akin to a suburban garage band backing Bruce creasingly difficult, he wrote. Springsteen. “I found that hustling up work often took away UB 1 EDDM.qxp_SUB 1 Postcard PRINT 8/15/17 3:42 PM Page 2 Despite the prestige of performing on that level, my time from practicing and playing. When I was Alex Stein told NJJN at the time, “We’re gonna do able to get work — not with our quintet — it was what we do, regardless of who’s there.” often repertoire I didn’t enjoy playing.” SUBSCRIPTIONS AND SINGLE TICKETS AVAILABLE

2017-18 SEASON subscribe today–save your seat!

October 29

MendelssoHn “Reformation” laRK Quartet

November 12

all MoZaRT shai Wosner, piano

January 28

BaCH and Glass simone dinnerstein, piano

March 18

BeeTHoven “Pastoral” Teddy abrams, conductor Joshua Roman, cello

May 20

BRaHMs violin Concerto ilya Kaler, violin

Sundays at 4pm all concerts at Richardson auditorium, Princeton University dates, times, artists, and programs subject to change.

princetonsymphony.org 609/497-0020

rwiener@njjewishnews.com

PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ROSSEN MILANOV , MUSIC DIRECTOR

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

The Stein Brothers—Alex, left, and Asher—perform at Smalls, a Greenwich Village jazz club, on June 14, 2014.

But he said what he misses most “is the jazz community, the people, in Newark and Philadelphia especially, and, of course, the Stein Brothers Quintet as well. We had a great repertoire and some of the best musicians in New York.” “Jews have always placed a high value on knowledge, on art, and you’ll see that with a lot of the jazz musicians, even back in the early days, if they weren’t black, they were probably Jewish. It is going back to a respect for high art and high music,” Asher said in 2003. Last September, Davis and Stein combined forces with a group of musicians from Israel who visited the synagogue to perform at a benefit for its building fund. “We made a decent amount to assist in building repairs, literally making my job easier,” David told NJJN. It could have led to a cultural misconnection. Happily, it did not. “There is a very big jazz community in Israel who all went to the same high school [Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts in Givatayim] and studied with the same teacher [trumpeter and drummer Danny Rosenfeld]. Then they come over here and try to make a living in New York,” Davis said. “We played standards from the American songbook, injecting bebop rhythms over pop songs and show tunes that were familiar to a synagogue audience of an older generation which knows all the standards,” said Stein. “It was for a good cause.”

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

the music list

Itzhak Perlman. Performance with pianist Rohan De Silva and The Elisabeth Morrow School Orchestra. Oct. 21, 8 p.m. bergenPAC, Englewood, bergenpac.org, 201227-1030

Polyphony String Quartet. Polyphony brings together Arab and Jewish The Montclair Orchestra. The youth in Israel by offering them equal Eric Singer Memorial Concert opportunities in music and cultural hosts The Montclair Orchestra education. Polyphony was founded in playing works by Mozart, Wil2012 by Arab-Israeli musician Nabeel liams, Dvorak, and Mendelssohn. Abboud-Askar. The concert is followed Itzhak Perlman Tickets start at $12. Nov. 5, 6 p.m. by a reception with Abboud-Askar and Congregation Shomrei Emunah, the musicians. Visit jccmetrowest.org/ Montclair, 973-746-5031 polyphony-concert. Oct. 15, 3 p.m. Maurice Levin Theater, Cooperman JCC, West Orange, “Home Again: A Tribute to Carole King.” 973-530-3474

A TA S T E O F O U R 2 017-1 8 SEASON!

featuring anderson rabin wakeman Wed, Sep 27 @ 7:30PM Accept no substitutes! Don’t miss the reunion of the YES bandmates!

DARLENE LOVE

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee

Produced in association with John Scher/Metropolitan Entertainment

OCT. 21

2017

daniel tiger’s neighborhood live! king for a day Sat, Oct 14 @ 2PM & 5:30PM An interactive musical adventure for young audiences, adapted from the beloved PBS KIDS series.

FRANKIE AVALON

“Teen Idol” FEB. 3

2018

nathan lane plus the birdcage Sat, Oct 21 @ 7:30PM A hilarious evening with two-time Tony winner Nathan Lane, who will appear live following a screening of The Birdcage.

harry potter and the chamber of secrets™ in concert Sat, Oct 28 @ 2PM & 7:30PM Full score performed live with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Home Again is a tribute band whose songs span the repertoire of the multi-award-winning singer/ songwriter Carole King. Dessert reception follows. $12; $6 JCC members. Nov. 6, 12:30 p.m. Advanced registration encouraged. Maurice Levin Theater, Cooperman JCC, West Orange, 973-530-3474 Regina Spektor. A special solo performance by the singer/ songwriter, who recently released “Remember Us To Life,” Regina Spektor available on Sire/ P H O T O B Y S H E R V I N L A I N E Z Warner Bros. Records. Nov. 13, 8 p.m., State Theatre; Nov. 17, 8 p.m., bergenPAC. State Theatre New Jersey, New Brunswick, statetheatrenj.org, 732-246-7469 bergenPAC, Englewood, bergenpac.org, 201-227-1030 “A Celebration of Psalms.” A concert by The Oratorio Society of New Jersey (OSNJ) will honor the music of Leonard Bernstein with one of his most popular concert works, the “Chichester Psalms.” Nov. 11, 8 p.m. Church of the Immaculate Conception, Montclair, oratoriosocietynj.org, 973-714-0776 “All Mozart.” Israeli-American pianist Shai Wosner joins the Princeton Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Mozart’s 12th piano concerto. Nov. 12, 4 p.m. Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall, Princeton University, princetonsymphony.org, 609497-0020 “An American in Paris.” Film screening in concert with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO). Watch this 1951 classic film, starring Gene Kelly, on the big screen while the NJSO plays the score written by George and Ira Gershwin. Nov. 25, 8 p.m.; Nov. 26, 3 p.m. State Theatre, New Brunswick, stnj.org, 732-246-7469 Tal First. Israeli violinist Tal First is a young virtuoso. Now studying at the famed Juilliard School in New York, his many awards and achievements led him to receive support from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, among others. Dec. 3, 3 p.m. SOPAC, South Orange, sopacnow.org, 973-313-2787 The Maccabeats. Using nothing more than the human voice, a clean-cut presentation, and a little Jewish humor, the Maccabeats connect with fans of all backgrounds and ages. This all-male a cappella group was originally formed in 2007 as the student vocal group at Yeshiva University. Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m. bergenPAC, Englewood, bergenpac.org, 201-227-1030

YEVGENY KUTIK

Russian-American Classical Violinist NOV. 03

2017

HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. J.K. ROWLING`S WIZARDING WORLD™ J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Publishing Rights © JKR. (s17)

For tickets & full schedule visit njpac.org or call 1.888.GO.NJPAC One Center Street • Newark, NJ

1000 MORRIS AVE UNION, NJ 07083

(908) 737-7469

KEANSTAGE.COM

The Maccabeats

P H OTO B Y A B B I E S O P H I A

he Rutgers Jewish Film Festival is in Holocaust by adopting difThe Israeli film its milestone “chai” year of bringing an ferent identities and living “Harmonia” retells eclectic mix of screenings to the movies- “in plain sight” among the the biblical tale of loving community. The 18th annual cin- population of Berlin. Set Abraham, Sarah, ematic celebration — offering 16 films from around in 1943, the film weaves and Hagar in a the world at 29 showings in three locations — will dramatic reenactments with modern setting. take place Oct. 29-Nov. 12. interviews with the four P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y Among the panoply of works survivors T H E B I L D N E R C E N T E R will be three documentaries about on whom Israel; films focusing on the Holothe film is NJJN BUREAU CHIEF caust; an exploration of the Jewish based. influence on Iraqi music; a modern retelling of the bibli“There were 7,000 Jews cal story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar; and two “fam- who went underground” ily friendly” movies appropriate for young viewers. during the war, said As in other years, most screenings will be followed S m a l l . “ O n e y o u n g by a discussion led by the film’s director or actors or a recognized expert in the movie’s subject matter. In programming the festival, said Karen Small, associate director of Rutgers University’s Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, which sponsors the festival, “what we really look for is new movies and highquality films that tell different aspects of the Jewish experience. We also look for different genres. We have films that are historical; we have one about David The Israeli-Austrian film “Testament” revolves Ben-Gurion and one about the settlers. around Yoel Halberstam, a historian leading a We have dramas, documentaries, and debate against Holocaust deniers and discovering that his survivor mother gave testimony that romantic comedies.” The three venues are Rutgers Busi- casts doubt on her own identity. ness School, on the Livingston campus in Piscataway; AMC Loews New Brunswick woman who was staying in someone’s home had 18; and the Princeton Garden Theatre. nothing to do so she went to the movies every day. The festival will open with “Harmonia,” a 2016 She was blonde and just blended in. Another man Israeli film that recreates the biblical love triangle was a forger who created false documents. In exwith three members of the Jerusalem Symphony change people gave him food coupons and helped Orchestra standing in for the biblical characters. him, and he just lived among the population.” Like their namesakes, the orchestra’s conductor, Also making its N.J. premiere, “Keep the Abraham, and his harpist wife, Sarah, are unable to Change” is an American film about two young have children. When a young horn player, Hagar, New Yorkers, David and Sarah, who are both on from east Jerusalem, joins the orchestra, she and the autism spectrum, both high functioning, who Sarah develop a special friendship and reach a sin- meet at a JCC support group and develop a rogular agreement. mantic relationship. The film won Best Narrative “Harmonia,” Small said, offers “a very clever Feature and Best New Narrative Director prizes at way to tell the biblical story.” this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. In the film, echoing the biblical events, she said, The director of the film, Rachel Israel, “actually Hagar “has a child for them, and then tensions ensue. met this young man and decided to make a movie We have this modern setting with this amazing music with him,” said Small. “Many of the young actors from the orchestra as the backdrop. The child grows are actually playing themselves in the film.” up to be a musician.” Israel will appear at the screening. Although it hasn’t yet been confirmed, one of “One of the most powerful films the film’s actors has been invited to take part in a in the festival is called ‘1945,’” said post-screening program. Small. The Hungarian film takes Making its New Jersey premiere, “The In- place shortly after the end of the war, visibles” is a “captivating” German docudrama when two Jews get off a train in a rural focusing on four young Jews who survive the town in Hungary.

Debra Rubin

shot in black and white, which, Small said, is “very appropriate to the subject matter.” Director Ferenc Török, who adapted the movie from a short story by Gabor T. Szanto, is expected to appear. The three documentaries from Israel are “Ben-Gurion: Epilogue,” featuring newly discovered interview footage from 1968 in which Israel’s first prime minister discusses life after politics; “Dimona Twist,” in which seven women share their stories of immigration to Israel in the 1950s and ’60s and their lives in the development town of Dimona; and “The Settlers,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and which traces the history and growth of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Yariv Mozer, director of the Ben-Gurion film, will appear. The festival is also offering two movies suitable for families: “A Bag of Marbles,” a French film based on a true story and book of the same name, in which two young brothers must flee Paris in 1941 for the free zone, and “Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators,” an American documentary that follows Hans and Margret Rey on the eve of World War II as they escape Paris on bicycles with their manuscript that became the book that introduced the beloved children’s character Curious George. “It’s not often we get films appropriate for younger viewers, and we think these two are very special,” said Small. “They are both planned for Sunday afternoons to make it more convenient for families to attend.” The festival will also hold a free screening of “A Bag of Marbles” for students, a joint program of the festival and Bildner’s Herbert and Leonard Littman Families Holocaust Resource Center. For information and a full schedule, go to bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/events/film. drubin@njjewishnews.com

21 NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

film Rutgers Jewish Film Festival celebrates ‘chai’ anniversary

“Everybody notices them,” said Small. “They have a big box and are looking for someone to take it to the village for them. Someone goes ahead to the village to tell them Jews are returning. This sends the villagers into a kind of panic. Are they there to reclaim property? “It brings out all the anti-Semitism and guilt among the villagers at the thought of these people coming back to potentially upset their new life. We see all their secrets coming out.” The film, which is also having its N.J. premiere, is

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

film Welcoming the strangers among us Former Montclair filmmaker explores Israel’s refugee crisis

n 2012, while visiting her daugh- trauma at Tel Aviv University, had told ter in Tel Aviv, Beth Kruvant her mother about the migrants whose happened upon a controversial lives revolved around the park in the spot. Levinsky Park had become southern end of the city. Upon seeing it for herself — the a meeting place and current population sometimes a makeof Africans in Israel shift home for up to N J J N S TA F F W R I T E R is now estimated to be around 45,000, 65,000 people who fled through Egypt according to Kruvant — Beth decided from trouble spots in Africa — Dartheir stories needed to be told, and that fur, South Sudan, Congo, and Eritrea a documentary would be the most effec— the same locale where Jews from tive vehicle. Germany, Eastern Europe, Russia, So, between 2012 and 2016, she and Arab counties had congregated spent two weeks each year recorddecades before. ing their experiences in Levinsky Kruvant’s daughter, Dara, Park and beyond, and interspersed who had been worktheir words with the highly voing in a refugee cal supporters and detractors health clinic of Israelis in their midst. The and studying film, which won the 2017 for a master’s Best Documentary Award at degree in crisis and the New Jersey International Film Festival in June, was produced by Good Footage Productions, based in South Orange, and was edited by Montclair resident Cindy Kaplan Rooney. To some Israelis, the recent arrivals from Africa are refugees in need of housing, jobs, education, and social services after Scene from a protest they risked dangerous at the Holot Detention journeys from their opCenter in 2015. pressive homelands. To P H OTO B Y E L L E N L I V I N G S TO N others, including many

P HOTO BY HAI M SCHWARCZEN B ERG

Robert Wiener

Fall Bus Trips

A World Premiere Musical Michelangelo at The Met November 15th December 11th For Tickets:

monmouthmuseum.org • lmiller@monmouthmuseum.org • 732.224.1992 765 Newman Springs Rd, PO Box 359, Lincroft, NJ 07738

African immigrants to Israel held at the Holot Detention Center in 2014. P H OTO B Y E L I YA H U H E R S H K O V I T Z

in the Israeli government, the newcomers are considered unwelcome infiltrators who undermine the country’s stability, contribute to its crime rate, and possibly threaten Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. Kruvant described the debate as “a tug-of-war that is tipping to the right because this government is very right wing” and, she alleged, employs social policies that discriminate against those who are not Jewish. Many Israelis agree, and feel it is imperative on the government to provide social services to these impoverished migrants. Every three months the newcomers are required to update their status with the Israel’s Interior Ministry or face the prospect of arrest and incarceration, which is “living in misery in a place in the desert an hour and a half from Tel Aviv that is isolated from everyplace else while they wait to be deported,” Kruvant said. Those from the Sudan could face genocide if they return home, and for Eritreans, deportation means going back to a land with what Kruvant called “intense repression.” That said, she added, Israel does not deport unless someone commits “a flagrant violation.” The more common problem is detention. “They are incarcerating and not reviewing these refugees on a case-by-case basis unless there are lawyers who will take

the government to court and push the government to rule on their individual cases.” To that end, she said, attorneys have filed court challenges to anti-immigrant crackdowns, arguing that they violate basic human rights. A key moment in the struggle came in January 2012 when a homeless man froze to death after police had torn down the tent he had used as a shelter. In response, individuals Kruvant referred to as “do-gooders” organized a program called “Soup Levinsky,” a daily feeding of indigent people in the park. Other volunteers followed suit by organizing shelters, informing people of their legal rights, and providing them with medical attention. Finally, after an outbreak of tuberculosis, “the Israeli governTHE JEWISH FEDERATION of Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties will present the 2017 International Film Festival at the Levoy Theatre in Millville. The festival runs from Oct. 15-25 and opens with a screening of “Menashe” on Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. The festival will close with “The Women’s Balcony” on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. Other screenings take place Oct.

OCT 5

Documentarian Beth Kruvant, center, with cameraman Amir Terkel, at left, and soundman Idan Shemesh. P H OTO C O U R T E S Y G O O D F O OTA G E P R O D U C T I O N S ment woke up,” she said, though not necessarily out of altruism. Fearful that immigrant patients would spread communicable diseases, the government set up special health clinics in several parts of the country and encouraged refugee children to attend schools. One Tel Aviv native who watched the film and now resides in New York and returns to Israel on a yearly basis told NJJN “Levinsky Park” lacked empathy for long-term residents of the area “who lock themselves in their houses for fear of going out because of the rise in rapes, robberies, and assaults by the African immigrants.” Several residents expressed that fear on camera, though the film doesn’t pursue that side of the story. “There has been much controversy about rapes in the community — but there is more Israeli-on-Israeli crime and the African crime is exaggerated to instill fear,” Kruvant wrote in an email to NJJN. Approximately a year ago the refugees began to find other shelter, and today Levinsky Park is a place for refugees to meet and talk, not to sleep. They live in a way similar to that of “our refugees on the Lower East Side lived,” Kruvant said, harkening back to an immigrant generation who lived in crowded tenements and struggled in poverty. Apart from government efforts, the African migrants have managed

to build their own social structures, including churches for the Christians and mosques for the Muslims. Legally, the undocumented Africans are not permitted to work, but “they all find jobs under the table. They all find food and they all find benefits,” she said. Kruvant, who moved to New York City from Montclair in 2016, sees one strong similarity between the people of Levinsky Park and refugees in other parts of the world, including the United States. “Because of our right-wing government there are a lot of parallels between what is happening in Israel and in the United States, so there is a lot of interest in the film, especially among American Jews,” she said. The Israeli situation “relates a lot to what is happening” in the U.S. in terms of living in fear, seeking work, and trying to be granted asylum. “My message is that the situation is complicated,” Kruvant said. “There is a worldwide refugee problem. There are needs piled upon needs. Some people feel their existence may be threatened. We have to be sensitive to all people.” The film will be screened on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. at Voorhees Hall on Rutgers University’s New Brunswick campus followed by a Q&A with Kruvant. For more information, visit njfilmfest.com. rwiener@njjewishnews.com

18 and 22. Two of the screenings include “dinner and a movie” option with a meal at Andrea Trattoria Italiana restaurant in Millville. $8, students free with ID, $40 for dinner and movie. Call 856-6964445.

OCT 12

Van Zandt Hosted by Steven

OCT 27

OCT 29

DEEPAK CHOPRA The Future of Wellbeing NOV 29

NOV 30

NEW YEAR’S EVE!

DEC 31

JAN 17

JAN 19

SAT JAN 20

VICKI LAWRENCE AND MAMA:

A TWO WOMAN SHOW FEB 1

OCT18 12• 4 PM SUN FEB

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NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

Bernadette Peters

SEE HER BEFORE SHE TAKES OVER FOR BETTE MIDLER IN ‘HELLO DOLLY!”

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

dance

his inexperience and long, skinny body made him different from the other dancers. He didn’t quite fit in, he said, but “I didn’t care because I really fell in love with it. I was so happy, I would come home and dance at home till the middle of the night.” Two months later, when the troupe was performing at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Drumlevich had an “Aha!” moment, saying to himlike taking “a chunk of self: “This is where clay and doing what I’m going to study,” you want with it.” For and even though example, rather than the likelihood of thinking of the chest admission was low, as a single, whole body he was accepted part, he said, “We make into the prestithe chest be made out of gious school. more pieces, so you can He joined a move inside your flesh.” Batsheva program In a Gaga class, the infor high school stustructor gives the improdents, then moved to vising dancers a series of the ensemble, and multilayered tasks in 2012 to the and images. Batsheva Dance “The purpose Company. is to connect For his army people to their service, he was b o d i e s a n d Dancer and choreographer Omri make them lis- Drumlevich is at Princeton University accepted as an “outstanding ten to their bod- as part of the Israel Institute’s Visities. It is about ing Israeli Artists Program. The aim, dancer,” requirconnecting to he said, “is to show that in Israel there ing him to work y o u r p a s s i o n is more than a conflict; there is a life, six hours a day for the army, deto move, con- there is a whole world.” voting the rest of necting to your his time to his cainner animal, reer. Seeing this as “a compromise on your groove, your fantasy, both ends,” he still felt he could make passion.” a meaningful contribution to the IDF. Gaga, he added, “is never Drumlevich left Batsheva in Januabout a performance or showing it to someone; it is more of a research ary to focus more on his own creations of yourself through your body.” He and learning, including preproduction added that observers are not allowed work on a surrealistic feature film he wrote and directed; personal writing; at a Gaga class. “Gaga is also very meditative. It is and creating a work for the stage that more than a practical workout; it af- combines dance and performance. Perhaps it was his immersion in fects you emotionally and mentally,” said Drumlevich. “It is a combination Gaga that encouraged him to take a of going to the gym, to a party, to your break from professional dance and detherapist, sitting by yourself and medi- velop his own creative talents. “Gaga tating, drawing, and listening to music.” is about breaking a lot of boxes, thinkDrumlevich’s father is a sabra whose ing outside the box,” he said. “It is European parents were Holocaust survi- about finding out what is hidden that vors; his mother, who was born in Mo- you didn’t unlock it yet and finding a way to unlock it consistently.” rocco, came to Israel at age 2. Drumlevich described his childhood as “magical” and “amazing.” The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in On a kibbutz, he said, “you get to ex- Dance at Princeton University presents its perience a micro-version of a world; annual dance festival Dec. 1-3. Students will perform works by professional choit’s all within the borders of the reographers, including Omri Drumlevich. kibbutz so it is easier to absorb $17; $12 in advance, $8 students. Perand to learn from.” formances take place at Berlind Theatre Although he was acat McCarter Theater Center, Princeton. cepted to the main company Visit arts.princeton.edu. of the folk dance troupe,

Former Batsheva dancer offers classes at Princeton

Will also teach Gaga, which ‘connects to passion to move’

t 25, Omri Drumlevich talking about his short gig teachhas danced his way to a ing dance performance and chorelong artistic resume that ography to Princeton University includes five years of per- students — he revealed that Yom forming, creating choreography, and Kippur is his favorite Jewish holiteaching with the day. Batsheva Dance For the last few Company in Is- N J J N C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R years, Yom Kippur rael. has been for him a day of self-reflecAs he puttered around tion rather than formal religious worthe kitchen of his small ship. It is that same inner focus that Princeton apartment, carries over to his love for Gaga, a preparing drinks and movement language and technique developed by Batsheva’s artistic dia nosh — before rector, Ohad Naharin. Drumlevich fell into dance “kind of by accident,” he said, although he admitted that he sought out every stage opportunity in his childhood home, Kibbutz Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem. At age 11, while dancing with his mother at a wedding, her friend told her she should have her son audition for a youth folk-dancing company. Turning to him, she asked, “Do you want to go?” and his quick response, “Sure, why not” — his first step into the world of dance. This fall he is at Princeton University as part of the Israel Institute’s Visiting Israeli Artists Program, which places filmmakers, choreographers, musicians, writers, and visual artists in residencies at leading North American universities and cultural organizations. The aim of the program, Drumlevich said, “is to show that in Israel there is more than a conflict; there is a life, there is a whole world.” Much of his teaching on campus will focus on Gaga, a movement language that starts from the body (not to be confused with the game by the same name that is an Israeli version of dodgeball). “We don’t have routines and get corrected; we learn about the elements of movement,” Drumlevich said. Gaga requires a different way of thinking about the body that, he said, makes it “more elastic in terms of shape, form, interpretation, fantasy, and energy,”

Michele Alperin

New fall exhibits at JCC MetroWest

JCC METROWEST will present an exhibit of pastels and paintings by Gaelen Juried Art Show award winners Carol Clemens and Arthur Meranus. The exhibit, which will be on view through Oct. 28, takes place in the Gaelen Gallery East at the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus in West Orange. “It is always remarkable by Arthur Meranus to me that one starts with nothing, a blank page, and with a has won many awards in few marks of pigment creates some- solo and group exhibitions. Painter Arthur Meranus thing that didn’t exist before but is describes himself as a still recognizable as if it were a real “painter in progthing,” said Clemens, a pastelist. “It ress” who is wonderful when my art speaks to continues others but ultimately I am my to learn in own toughest client. A mostly self-educated artist, I am driven spite of a successful to push the limits of my abilia r t c a r e e r, ties.” An active member of many art his long groups and associations, Clemens

artists. “Some of what I didn’t take the time to understand about the abstract expressionists at Brooklyn College in the ’50s made real sense in the ’70s and ’80s,” he said. His paintings are powerful, vibrant, and carefully structured. He is more concerned with design and motion than subject matter. Burt Allen Solomon’s Israel photographs, on exhibit in the Arts/Theater Lobby, express a by Carol Clemens unique view of contemporary Israel. By creating images in only career in advertising, and having black and white, Solomon hightaken classes with well-known lights the special character of both Israel and Israelis withby Burt Allen Solomon out the distractions of color. A variety of dreidels from the collection of Janet Resnick fills the Steiner Court Showcases. The Gaelen Gallery East is open during regular JCC hours: Monday-Thursday, 5:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday, 5:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; SaturdaySunday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Contact Lisa Suss at lsuss@jccmetrowest.org or 973-530-3413.

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NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

visual arts

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

books ‘The Judaism of a feminist’ Poet Alicia Ostriker to speak at Monmouth U

n the beginning, for Alicia Manhattan’s Upper West Side, which Suskin Ostriker, there was the she said is inspiring a new stream of word. She began writing poetry poems, Ostriker was a fixture in New as a child, and at 80 she is still Jersey for several decades. She lived using her words to capture and con- in Princeton, and taught in the Engvey life’s truths, its spirituality and lish Department at Rutgers University sensuality, and the urgent calls of so- until her retirement in 2004. She still cial justice. has a presence across the river, servShe became a ing as Distinguished literature teacher Poet in Residence S P E C I A L TO N J J N in 1965, and 52 at Drew University years later she is still teaching. She in Madison and teaching in its Lowalso became a revered critic and Residency Poetry MFA program. commentator on Judaism. But Ostriker’s dedication to social action seems just as strong as her academic pursuits. “In my politics I am with the prophets,” she told NJJN. “Feed the hungry, clothe the naked. ‘Justice, justice shalt thou seek.’ And God’s repeated command that we must ‘love the stranger.’” But despite her passion for words, her concern for the Armed with a doctorate from the downtrodden is not just talk. University of Wisconsin, at the start of “Right now,” she said, “I am sign- her career as a teacher at Rutgers, the ing petitions to save DACA (Deferred mother of three became a pioneer in the Action for Childhood Arrivals). I do feminist critique of literature. “There so as a Jew.” was a sound in the air that was differHer various commitments will ent from what poetry in English had be on display when Ostriker takes ever been,” Ostriker told an interviewer to the stage on Tuesday, Oct. 31, at when she retired. “I wanted to underMonmouth University. Her appear- stand it, decipher it. It was important to ance is part of the West Long Branch me both as a poet and a critic.” school’s Visiting Writers Series. She wrote a number of Though now a resident of barrier-breaking studies,

Elaine Durbach

If you go Who: Poet and literary critic Alicia Suskin Ostriker When: Tuesday, Oct. 31, 4:30 p.m. Where: Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch Sponsor: The Jewish Studies Program at Monmouth University Fee: Free

including the acclaimed Side, poems of “Stealing the Language: my new neighborT h e E m e rg e n c e o f hood. They are poWomen’s Poetry in ems of celebration America,” published and suffering, of a in 1987. The study vibrant multiculargued that since the tural landscape. So 1960s, female poets had much has changed created a literary movesince my grandment as distinct and imparents came as portant as Romanticism or immigrants to this Modernism. city…and so little.” As her teaching caAsked about reer gained momenwhat it took for tum, she began her to become a to take her own poet, she wrote, creativity more “My mother was seriously, and puban English major lished her first colwho wrote poetry lection of poetry in Poet, critic, and midrashist and read Shake1969. She has pro- Alicia Ostriker speare, Browning, and Tennyson to duced 16 additional collections in the years since. my infant ears, so perhaps I was desHonors followed. She won the tined to become a poet. But like many women, I was hesitant to claim such an exalted vocation. When asked, ‘What do you do?’ I’d say, ‘I teach English.’ But now I say, proudly, ‘I’m a poet.’ “And yes, that is the center of my life.” Along with her growing contribution to literary commentary and original poetry has come her religious analysis. It is of a piece with those other aspects of her working life, on another plane and yet entirely consistent with them. As she Paterson Poetry Prize, the San Fran- put it, she was writing midrash — or cisco State Poetry Center Award, and commentary — before she knew there the William Carlos Williams Award, was a word for it. among others. Twice she was nomi“My Judaism is the Judaism of a nated for the National Book Award, feminist,” she told NJJN. “At Rutgers and in 2010, she won the National University I taught a seminar entitled Jewish Book Award for “The Book of ‘The Bible and Feminist Imagination,’ where we read large portions of Seventy.” In 2012 she wrote a sequel of the Bible alongside feminist theology sorts, “The Book of Life: Selected and commentary and midrash. And I Jewish Poems, 1979-2011,” a gather- co-taught a course on the history of ing of works originally published in Jewish women. In my writing, I wreseight separate books. Of her most re- tle with the Bible, and with Jewish cent volume, “Waiting for the Light,” tradition, the way Jacob wrestles with published last March, one reviewer the angel in Genesis — to wrestle a said, “she explores politics and peo- blessing out of it.” That approach was clear in her ple with her characteristic complexity 1994 book “The Nakedness of the Faand curiosity.” Her many works, prestigious thers: Biblical Visions and Revisions.” awards, and impressive titles — Through her retelling of the familiar distinguished professor emerita of narratives, she showed how they can Rutgers University and a current offer both relevant guidance and perchancellor of the Academy of Ameri- sonal illumination for the contempocan Poets — might sound like suffi- rary reader, whether female or male. As a poet, she said, she is “somecient laurels to rest on, but Ostriker’s thing of a mystic, so the tradition of productivity is undiminished. In an e-mail to NJJN — which she Kabbalah, which acknowledges the composed at 5:30 in the morning — she feminine aspect of divinity, named said, “What happened after that is that the Shechinah, is central to me, as it I moved to New York City, where my also is in the Jewish Renewal movehusband and I both grew up, and began ment, which is egalitarian and oriwriting poems based in the Upper West ented to joy and to justice.”

“The Good Girls Revolt.” Journalist Jennifer Altmann will interview author Lynn Povich, one of 46 women who exposed gender discrimination at Newsweek in a 1970 landmark case. Povich will sign copies of her book. $36. Oct. 17, 7 p.m. Barn on Baker’s Farm, East Brunswick, jewishheartnj. org/revolt, 732-588-1800 “The Debt of Tamar.” The Molly Burack Annual Lecture hosts author Nicole Dweck. Her novel, “The Debt of Tamar,” weaves a spellbinding tapestry of love, history, and fate that will enchant readers. Dessert recep-

“Louis Bamberger: Department Store Innovator and Philanthropist.” A private viewing of the exhibit “Newark and the Culture of Art: 1900-1960” followed by a lecture and book signing with Linda B. Forgosh, author of “Louis Bamberger” and executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of NJ. $18. Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m., meet and greet with cocurator of Newark exhibit, 7 p.m. book talk. The Present Day Club, Princeton, morven.org, 609-9248144, ext. 113 “Ways to Disappear.” JCC MetroWest

Book Group discusses Idra Novey’s debut novel 27 about the disappearance of a Brazilian novelist and the young translator who turns her life upside down to follow her author’s trail. Bring lunch. Nov. 14, noon. JCC MetroWest, West Orange, jccmetrowest.org, 973-929-2938 “The Orphan’s Tale.” Author Pam Jenoff will discuss her New York Times best-selling novel about a baby rescued by a teenager in Nazi-occupied Holland. “The Orphan’s Tale” introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival. Event is part of One Book/One Community Book Read. Wine and snacks served. $20. Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. JCC of Central NJ, Scotch Plains, jccnj.org, 908-889-8800, ext. 253

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NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

the book list

tion follows. Admission is free; advanced registration is encouraged. Oct. 19, 12:30 p.m. JCC MetroWest, West Orange, jccmetrowest.org, 973-530-3480

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

visual arts Beth Miriam’s first art show part of ‘Hineynu’ outreach program

or Temple Beth Miriam — the vener- could not be confined to the social hall; the temple’s able Reform congregation that traces its corridors are also crowded with canvases in a wide history to the mid-19th century — it’s range of styles and media. (See “A tribute to Clara a first. Gee,” p. 30.) The Elberon synagogue has put on display the Exhibiting artist Karen Starrett, originally from creative output of 35 artists, a toNew York City, but a resident of tal of 234 works, for its “Days of Ocean for 36 years, describes Awe Art Show.” herself as an “intuitive” painter. N J J N CONTR I B UTI NG WR ITER While it never before staged With a degree in art education an art exhibit, the temple seems to have given the congregation and community members what they want; the opening reception on Sept. 10 drew more than 320 congregants and other visitors to celebrate the launch of the show, which will remain up until Nov. 5. Cochairs Renee Freedman and David Nussbaum declared the event a “major success.” Rabbi Cy Stanway said the themed and juried art show was the first major effort in “Hineynu: It’s Our Turn,” a wide-ranging series of activities designed to engage the community with examples of how enriching synagogue involvement can be. “Art is just one aspect of the kinds of programs we will feature,” he said. Others are creative worship services, social action programs, and social activities. The participating artists, most from in and around Long Branch and Ocean Township, expressed appreciation for the opportunity to display their work and for the professional manner in which it is displayed. Pictures stretch from near high ceilings to just a few inches Brynnah McFarland and Largo off the floor, and the sheer size of the show meant beside several of her character studies. that it from Douglass College, she has a dual career as an art teacher and a certified dementia practitioner. “I never plan ahead,” she told NJJN. “I talk to the painting, and it talks to me. And when the conversation ends, the painting is finished. It’s only after it’s completed that I know what the painting means,” said Starrett, a member of Congregation Torat El in Oakhurst. Sol Hara, 81, one of the older artists represented in the show, is also a resident of Ocean. He said he did not begin creating artwork until after his retirement in 2005. “I started out with charcoal, then watercolor. But in 2009 I discovered pastel, and that’s what I’ve been concentrating on ever since,” he Karen Starrett and her work, said. “Generation to Generation”

Alan Richman

Ira Hara and his work “Temple of Silence” P H OTO S B Y A L A N R I C H M A N

Neither of Hara’s parents — Sephardic Jews from Turkey (father) and Syria (mother) — painted. But he does have a younger brother, Ira, now 70, who has made pictures since he was a little boy. Ira Hara also has entries in “Days of Awe,” including one called “Temple of Silence,” a gouache and ink presentation. According to Ira, most of his efforts center around spiritual themes or nature. A native of Israel, born in Ramat Gan but raised in Deal, Leora Asa now lives in Freehold and is one of a few “Days of Awe” artists who make a living as an artist, in her case, creating custom area rugs. “Night Owl,” one of her numerous show entries, is an acrylic on rockboard image of a woman, which, Asa said, she intended as an homage to her favorite artist, Gustav Klimt, whose famous “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” was the center of “Woman in Gold,” a 2015 movie about restitution of artwork looted by the Nazis. Artist Brynnah McFarland, 27, came to the opening with her service dog Largo. A graduate student at New York University and a resident of Brooklyn, McFarland heard about the show from family friends. Her entries — seven informal selfportraits — all rely on the same technique, but in different media. “Each picture is made by projecting an original photograph onto a wall, tracing the defining outlines, and then free-form redrawing or painting the image,” she said. “A photo is then taken of the handmade reproduction, and it is digitally overlapped and mixed with the original photo.” For the redrawing or painting, she said, she has used, at one time or another, crayon, watercolor, gouache, oil, pastel, and ink. Thirteen decorative mezuzah cases mounted on a board earned lots of praise for Nissan Mayk of Eatontown. But she showed more pride in her painted silk scarves and jewelry — functional art that can be worn. One of the more established artists in the exhibit, she has had a Miriam Cup on display for 10 years at New York City’s Jewish Museum. Alex Greenfield, a 25-year-old art teacher from Queens, has two paintings in the show, “Holy Temple” — of which he said, “I want people to wonder

Works in the “Days of Awe” show cover the walls at Temple Beth Miriam. whether it depicts the past or the future” — and “Boneh Yerushalayim,” each listing for $8,500. He said that despite those hefty prices, they were not the most expensive works he’d ever done. “When I was three, I painted a mural on the living room wall in my family’s apartment,” Greenfield said. “That cost us the security deposit. I haven’t yet had a sale to equal that amount.”

of Israeli art. The four-day event takes place Nov. 2-5 at Temple B’nai Shalom, which is a sponsor of the program along with East Brunswick Jewish Center. Admission is free (with the exception of the wine and cheese event on Saturday, Nov. 4). Hours are as follows: Thursday, Nov. 2, 7-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, 7-10 p.m.; $18, wine and cheese reception Sunday, Nov. 5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Visit bnaishalom. com or call 732251-4300, ext. 232.

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This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, A Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

Israeli art sale

MENACHEM SAFRAI, grandson of the founder of Safrai Fine Art Gallery, which was established in Jerusalem in 1935, will bring Israeli art to East Brunswick with an exhibition and sale. More than 1,500 works, including original oil paintings, watercolors, lithographs, and etchings by Israeli artists, will be available to view and purchase. From the beginning of the 20th century, visual arts in Israel have been creatively inspired by the confluence of East and West as well as by the land, its development, the character of the cities, and stylistic trends from abroad. Local landscapes, Jewish and biblical themes, and Israeli history and society inform the uniqueness

NJ Jewish News ■ Greater MetroWest Edition ■ September 21, 2017

visual arts

Exhibit to feature artwork of Shoa survivors and their children

THE WORKS OF four living New Jersey artists — Holocaust survivors or the children of survivors — are on exhibit at JCC MetroWest’s Gaelen Gallery West on the Aidekman campus in Whippany, through Nov. 5. The display of 34 works in the “Generations” exhibit is sponsored by the Holocaust Council of Greater MetroWest NJ. Sculptor Milton Ohring, a Teaneck resident

Theresienstadt, who is a professor emeritus of maTreblinka, and terials engineering Auschwitz. at Stevens By attending Institute the council’s o f Te c h Lunch and nology in Learn proHoboken, grams and was a child survivor other events, she has had whose parthe opporents fled from tunity to Poland. They Joanie Schwarz holding up her photographs of photograph settled in New York, where he Holocaust survivors. survivors in the attended the High School of Greater MeMusic and Art. Lev Gal Wertman of Randolph, a gradu- troWest area. Four of these photos are in the show. The father of artist Hanna Kesselman of Springate of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, is an artist who is preparing stained- field was a German-born commercial artist who died glass windows to be installed at the Gottesman in the concentration camp at Flossenburg. She was a RTW Academy, the Jewish day school in his hidden child, aided by OSE, a French-Jewish humanihometown where his children are students. He tarian organization that saved hundreds of refugees. also works in oil paintings, drawings, sculpture, Her paintings on display are colorful still lifes. For more information contact Barbara Wind, and tattoo ink on Japanese rice paper, sometimes depicting the numbers tattooed on prison- director of the Holocaust Council of Greater MetroWest NJ, at 973-929-3067. ers in Nazi concentration camps. — ROBERT WIENER His late father was a survivor who lost 76 members of his family during the Holocaust. Joanie Schwarz of Westfield is a photographer who lost family members to the Nazis in A still life by Hanna Kesselman

A tribute to Clara Gee

ARGUABLY THE MOST successful artist in the Temple Beth Miriam “Days of Awe Art Show” is Clara Gee Stamaty. An entire tribute wall is devoted to dozens of her pieces created over a career that has spanned more than seven decades. A member of the temple for nearly 65 years, she was a cartoonist for The New Yorker, Seventeen, The Ladies’ Home Journal, and numerous other major print periodicals. She also worked in varied media, including oils, drawings, and collage. The tribute includes some of her New Yorker cartoons, collages, and a self-portrait in oils that was created in 1941, As recently as two years ago, at the age of 96, she created a collage and mixed media piece that boldly asserts, “It’s the GUNS, Stupid!” a message that she said expressed her fighting spirit. — ALAN RICHMAN