by matthue [➚] · Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
There’s a whole post on how much I love Elisa Albert, the featured reader at the 92Y Tribeca Open Mic tonight — alongside with the wondrous Sway Machinery — but here, let me just rant a bit about how excited I am that it’s happening in the first place. Yes, the name is a bit of a mystery — I mean, it’s nowhere near 92nd Street — but that’s New York for you.
But here’s what it is: A fast-paced (3 minutes, or 1 sheet of paper), exciting open stage where people can come to do poetry, stories, songs, or anything they want that inspires them. I spent most of my life trying to get to this city, and now that I’m here — and I’m surrounded by a hundred of my favorite writers and artists — I kind of want to get everyone together, not just to do their hit single, but to drop any piece that they’re in the mood to read. Last week, I got to talk to Dara Horn, one of my favorite novelists, and she told me this idea she had for a new book — and it was half an hour of me sitting in a cafe with my jaw steadily progressing lower and lower toward the ground.
It was that kind of moment — the kind where she’s pumped with creative energy and I’m pumped with oh-WOW-wtf energy and we both recognize that a bona fide creative moment happened. So, if you have anything to share — or just want to hear a bunch of really cool people do really cool things — stop by tonight. It’s free. Oh, and there’s a bar attached, so things will just get interestinger and interestinger.
by matthue [➚] · Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Here’s my new big project, and it’s hard not to just blurt out how psyched I am. This Wednesday, June 25, I’ll be hosting the first Jewish Open Mic at Tea Lounge in Park Slope (the big one, at 837 Union St.). Come at 7:30. (It’s also my birthday, and my anniversary of becoming a vegetarian, so I might be even more jumpy than usual.)
Bring poems, songs, stories, or whatever you’ve got — just don’t make it longer than 1 sheet of paper, or 3 minutes. I’ll be doing a set of my own to kick things off, and then everyone in the universe will be jumping into the world’s most spectacular Jewish variety show.
It’s free, and the stage open to anyone (What makes it Jewish? Pretty much just that the dude running it has horns coming out of his head…but it’s open to anyone, and you can do 3 minutes’ worth of pretty much anything). There are going to be some sort-of-celebrity guests, and anything can happen, and all I can say is you’re going to want to be there when it does. 7:30 pm start. Get there early or register on Facebook if you want to sign up. It’s presented by Shemspeed, Mimaamakim, the letter Q, and whoever else loves good art in the world.
by matthue [➚] · Friday, February 8th, 2008
Jorge Luis Borges — the universal recipient of the common love of everyone who’s ever been 15 and loved poking at the fabric of the world to see if it held tight together — wrote the amazing short story collection Labyrinths, and possibly the best version of the Golem mythos ever.
And there’s a lost interview with him in the new issue of Habitus magazine.
RÚSSOVICH: We begin. What can we say about…?
BORGES: In the beginning, b’reshit bara elohim, no?
Well, it’s semi-lost. It took place in 1984 in Buenos Aires, and has only now just been translated into English….and comes to us courtesy of the new Habitus, the most beautiful magazine about arbitrarily-chosen cities that exists.
by matthue [➚] · Monday, December 17th, 2007
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series meant to both present excerpts from the introduction to a new book — The Inner Journey: Views from the Jewish Tradition — as well as spark discussion among Jewschool readers about the nature of Jewish tradition. The first two excerpts are here and here. We encourage you to read on to see the excerpt and share your comments.
The Jewish people have a love affair with the Torah. The Torah is not
simply the Five Books of Moses, or even the entire Bible. More
correctly, it is the whole gamut of Jewish teaching and wisdom
contained in the written law (Torah sheh B’chtav) and oral law
(Torah sheh Ba’al Peh). While Torah has all too often been
translated by the word law, its literal and etymological meaning is
more appropriately translated as direction, instruction and teaching.
The Torah is the prism through which one strives to understand the
significance of one’s self, the Jewish people, the world and the
Divine. It is that body of teaching that transforms Jews into seekers
of the truth that permits them to connect as a self to their people,
to the cosmos, and to the Divine. It embodies an ethic that directs
behavior toward all human beings, other creatures and the environment.
One sage goes so far as to say that for the sake of the study of
Torah, human beings were created. But what is of interest here is
that Torah must be received and understood in our own unique way.
Rabbi Jose’s statement, (Pirke Avot 2:17) “…What knowledge of
Torah a man acquires is personal to himself. It cannot be inherited
or bequeathed.”
More »
by matthue [➚] · Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
Editor’s Note: When we last heard from The Inner Journey, we were learning about the nature of Jewish tradition. Here, we present the second part of Rabbi Bamporad’s introduction.
SPIRITUALITY
The ancient rabbinic text the Mishnah, in Sanhedrin 4:5, states: “A
single man was created in the world, to teach that if any man has
caused a single soul to perish, scripture imputes it to him as if he
had caused a whole world to perish, and if any man saves alive a
single soul, scripture imputes it to him as if he had saved alive a
whole world… Therefore everyone must say, for my sake the world was
created.” Danby p. 388
More »
by matthue [➚] · Monday, November 26th, 2007
Editor’s Note: The following post is the first in a series meant to both present excerpts from the introduction to a new book, as well as spark discussion among Jewschool readers about the nature of Jewish tradition. We encourage you to read on to see the excerpt and share your comments.
I met some people from Parabola magazine at Book Expo a few months ago, and I was taken most by how, in the midst of a frantic net of marketing hustlers and gung-ho young buy-my-book! writers, there were a bunch of….well, congenial-looking professor types. They were eager to talk to anyone who looked curious, and incredibly friendly, but not potential used-car salesmen like everyone else around. They passed me a copy of their forthcoming volume, The Inner Journey: Views from the Jewish Tradition
, and said it would be good for me.
They were right.
That’s kind of Parabola’s approach to their subject matter. The Inner Journey series is a hallmark of this attitude: books that portray different religious experiences that are accessible, but not condescending, and function less like Cliff’s Notes and more like
Views from the Jewish Tradition is no exception. Contributions come from the expected high-profilers (Elie Wiesel on myths) as well as some canonical folks (Buber, Heschel, Rebbe Nachman) and surprising luminaries (Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s insightful and multi-layered take on the Messiah). The editor, Rabbi Jack Bemporad, is the founder of the Center for Interreligious Understanding, and has spent his life negotiating Judiasm’s relationship to other religions and cultures, from his childhood as a Holocaust survivor to his recent negotiation to relocate the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz, and his work getting the Vatican to ask forgiveness for their role in the Holocaust.
Jewschool is proud to present a series of excerpts from Rabbi Bamporad’s introduction.
More »
by matthue [➚] · Sunday, November 4th, 2007
My family’s way of saying “things could always be worse” was saying, “We could always be in Russia.” Last week, one of our friends, 17 years old, stayed over on his way to learn in yeshiva in Russia. He was bubbly and excited. It was his first time in the country his family had come from, and everything about it thrilled him — a new country, a new culture, the prospect of talking to people who’d never spoken to a real Orthodox Jew before.
Last Thursday, Russian police shut the yeshiva down. They rounded up everyone in the building, confiscated their belongings and cell phones, and threw them in prison. While they were allegedly making arrangements to send the kids to Israel, according to Shmais:
The 13 Bochurim were held over Shabbos is a cell 8×15 [feet, I think] that is meant for 4 people! There were two wooden slabs in the cell and a hole in the floor that was meant to be a bathroom. When the Bochurim finally got food at 2:00am on Shabbos morning most of them were so nauseous from the conditions that they couldn’t even eat!
UPDATE: Ok! According to the family, they just landed in Israel. But, damn, whatever happened to the Russians liking Jews again? Was this a glitch in official documentation? Cause putting underage Americans in a jail cell for a 24-hour period doesn’t sound like a diplomatic glitch to me…..then again, Russian bureaucracy inspired more than one Communist manifesto.
by matthue [➚] · Monday, October 15th, 2007
From my Uncle Richie comes this story about Jews at a tailgate party in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
What’s really cool about the story, imo, is that it’s from a regular old perspective — it’s not a Chabad story, it’s not even really a story aimed at Jews. Hidden inside is the subtext of a Packers offensive lineman who became baal teshuva, but at the story’s heart it’s middle America seeing religious Jews as, hey wait!, they’re normal folks who do this instead of going to church on Sunday.
Check this out:
The group’s morning prayers include the use of a prayer book.
Pretty awesome, no? In the end, the article finishes on a high note: “‘I think it’s important to be proud of being Jewish,’ said Veingrad, the former Packers offensive lineman.” Word.
by matthue [➚] · Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
In the news: Shemspeed writer Mordechai Shinefield writes about Shemspeed going live. The Emerging Jewish Arts & Culture Blah Blah website Shemspeed.com, if you don’t know, has new articles & reviews of Jewish music every day or few, and is probably the largest collection of Jewish bands (and mp3s!) on the Interweb. In the article, Mordy says that I head the reviews section, but really, I just write a bunch of them. The JDub review that he takes us to task for in the article, I didn’t write, he never asked me about it in his interview, and I actually never even saw it until it was posted.
Anyway: Shemspeed. It’s a really cool project, a really amazing place to find out about new bands. I covered that, right? Right now, Shemspeed is largely a Do-It-Yourself project, not funded by anyone, and, therefore, not able to pay writers like other, ahem, Jewish media outlets…
Roth got involved with writing for Shemspeed when he was contacted as an artist. Safar wanted to feature Roth’s band, Chibi Vision — what Roth calls a science-fiction hip-hop boy band — and Roth decided to write for the Web site, as well.
Yes, it’s a little ironic that he shouts me out for double-dipping as a reviewer and as a featured performer, while Mordy is both a former writer for Shemspeed and the writer who, for the purposes of this article, is investigating Shemspeed…
But, as Mordy himself says of Shemspeed, it’s “both a tribute to the do-it-yourself aesthetics of the Web site and an indication of the incestuousness found on the contemporary Jewish music scene.”
Of course, as soon as his article was accepted to the Forward, he asked Shemspeed to take down his contribution.
Just sayin’.
by matthue [➚] · Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
This comes courtesy of my friend Alisha, who is awesome. And which goes to show you, those kiruv organizations — and those insistent concert promoters — have something; more people do look at fliers on the ground than fliers that are handed out:
Yesterday I was walking to the supermarket, when I saw a guy selling books on a blanket on the sidewalk. Normally, I would walk by, but I decided to stop for a moment. And I’m glad I did. One of the first things I saw was a tiny book with ‘Zohar’ written in Hebrew letter on the front cover. The guy wanted 30 RMB (about 4 USD) for it and was not willing to budge on the price. I asked him how he came to be in possession of such a book, because I know that they are not exactly allowed here. His only response was ‘I own a book shop, these books come from there.’ As if that answered my question. After I bought it, I read the introductions in English and saw that the book was originally part of something called the Zohar project, which intended to distribute copies of this small book for free. It seems that this book has had a very interesting life before it came to my home.
I’m not sure that this story has a purpose, but feel free to share it with others.
(Side note from matthue: does anyone have a photo of the mock-vodka ad posters all over Crown Heights? They say “Drink Responsibly” in Absolut-text, and, beneath it: “It’s the Chassidish thing to do.” Kol ha’kavod to whoever’s watching out for their brothers and sisters.
by matthue [➚] · Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
And what city is there, if not New York? (j/k, my good yidden — I just moved here last week; I figure I’ve got a good solid month of pretending to be a snotty New Yorker before I relapse into my Philadelphia-ness.) PresenTense, He’Brew, and (this is my favorite) Sabra Salads are presenting this party at the beautiful, venerable Sixth Street Shul. See below for details. Or just run into me on the subway and follow me.
by matthue [➚] · Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
…and, come on, who would be surprised that it’s me posting this?
Adam Schechter, editor of the libidinous online poetry journal The Blue Jew Yorker, just passed this to me. And who would I share it with, if not for you? Enjoy. And flood that messed up Jewish boy’s inbox, if you please.
The online arts and culture journal, The Blue Jew Yorker, is now seeking entries for its “The Ultimate Messed Up Jewish Boy” Poem Contest. Girls are welcome to apply. Please submit your uniquely neurotic, financially dysfunctional, sexually grotesque, inappropriately dependent, narcissistically whiny (or whatever disturbing criteria you feel qualifies) poem to thebluejewyorker@gmail.com. The winner will receive a prominent place in the next online issue and of course be able to proudly wear the title as awarded by the editor of The Blue Jew Yorker.
by matthue [➚] · Thursday, August 16th, 2007
From a friend:
As for not hiring you…dude…think about it…a big professional firm needs to look professional. Big bushy frum beards don’t portray that image. Granted, we aren’t suits, etc….but it is business casual. Beards are out of fashion in the professional world. Not to say you wouldn’t get the job…but it’s the equivalent of showing up in jeans and a t-shirt.
You know — when Brando* was cast in Streetcar Named Desire, they told him he had to grow three days’ worth of stubble. He refused because he said it’d make him look trashy. He said, “I’ll act the stubble.” And, so the story goes, he did.
I guess that’s how I’ve been in the business world. Three-piece suit, tie in the straightest Windsor you ever did see, and my wedding shoes, and I’m set. I wasn’t getting jobs when I first moved here, and I thought that was why, and then it turned out the companies I applied to just weren’t getting jobs — 2 out of 3 of them went out of business. My new temp company is great. They’re like “you can type fast, and you look good” and that’s all they need.
Yeeah…I look good.
In Chicago, people are much more upfront about staring at you when you’re obviously Jewish — I haven’t been around that in a while. Everyone’s so whitebread and middle-American. I thought I was losing it, “it” meaning whatever I had, and then today this dude in a bar was like “Are you a Jew? I thought that was what y’all look like!” and everyone started becoming friends with me. I didn’t pay for a drink for 2 hours straight.
________
* edited — & many thanks to Shlomo.
by matthue [➚] · Friday, August 10th, 2007
* I’ve been thinking about the Kotel. (when’s it gonna get rebuilt, diggy diggy/when’s it gonna get rebuilt) Does anybody have statistics for a gender breakdown of how many people visit the Wall on a given day, and how long the average visit’s for? No political agenda; I’m just curious.
* The last time I went to the Kotel, it was for about twenty seconds. No lie. It was the day that we were leaving Israel. I was waiting for Itta and her parents, all of whom overslept, overdressed, and/or decided to ride their bikes for another ten miles. Also, I was 40 minutes early. I’d woken up listening to Shlomo Carlebach, who was like “What’s the first thing you do when you go to Israel? You go to the Holy Wall.” It had taken me three days to get to the Holy Wall. And, damn, it was not the greatest experience. So I decided to go once more. And I ran. Got lost in the Arab Shuk for the first time in ages, jostled in any number of ways, and by the time I was there I had like 10 minutes till I had to be back at their hotel. So I just ran to the wall, don’t even know what I said, but I said it. And then I ran back. Don’t know why that came up — but that all alone made it worth it. At least, tell it to the kind folks who paid for me to get there.
* As BZ just testified, Chicago is not dead!!! Come help prove it at the Rabbinical School Dropouts show.
by matthue [➚] · Thursday, July 26th, 2007
The venerable organization Mavoi Satum, an organization that fights for the rights of Haredi women to get a proper Jewish divorce in Israel, is having a demonstration this Sunday in support of the rights of Agunot and Mesuravot Get. They’ll be rallying against a proposed law to give religious courts jurisdiction over property rights, in *addition* to all the rights they already have.
(For a lot more information, visit Mavoi Satum’s website.)
The demo will take place on Sunday, July 29th, at 9:00 a.m., opposite the Prime Minister’s office in the Rose Garden in Jerusalem.
The Mavoi Satum folks ask that you please come in white clothing if possible.
by matthue [➚] · Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
Jewschool favorite Y-Love is playing this Saturday night at Joe’s Pub, along with Chicago phenomenon-al beatboxer Yuri Lane and Shem’s Disciples. And, presumably, you. Tix are $12, but go to Joe’s Pub and enter the password “JPTIXA2″ and I’m told it’s $10…not that I have any idea, I’m in frickin’ Chicago. So go have some vicarious fun without me, and I’ll see you in September.
by matthue [➚] · Sunday, July 15th, 2007
It was fun and amazing, met all these really swell people, Y-Love and I had a competition to see who can get the most speaking engagements in the most cities (www.matthue.com, folks…), i had a chance to sneak into the Sheraton breakfast (doood, like 140 flavors of cheese. and they were all cholov yisroel. i swear, if I had to go back to Hebrew School and write my “Why I Love Israel” essays again, they would all run along the lines of “Israel is a very special place with lots of kosher food that makes grown men look like they are about to bust out a baby.”) and got to see my friend and role model SARAH LEFTON RIGHT BEFORE SHE GOT FRICKING ENGAGED!!!!!
That’s right: Sarah and Bill are going to the chapel. And they made me write a big old intro, just so it wouldn’t be embarrassing. So feel free to embarrass them yourselves with all due brachos on OnlySimchas.
by matthue [➚] · Monday, June 25th, 2007
You won’t believe how good this made me feel.
The New York Times reports that Hasidic Jews in Monsey, NY are protesting Wal-Mart — they fear that its unfair labor practices, tumultuous employee hiring procedures, underpayment, Christian Coalition donations and corporatization will corrupt Monsey.
Well, not exactly….but it *is* a fine example of the Jews using grassroots anti-corporate support.
And, to look at it another way: it really is, I think, a stand against corporate America and the commodification of everything. To put it another way: when big corporate players start catering to the Jews — especially the religious Jews — smaller-time, mom-and-pop operations are going to suffer and go bankrupt.
So give the Wal-Marters a kick for me, Monsey folks! Only, not any of the female ones.
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