Joseph Cedar, the director of Footnote, is interviewed in the New York Times. Tomorrow the five nominees for the category of Best Foreign-Language Film will be announced. Q. What made you want to explore this particular world of Talmudic scholarship? A. In the beginning I was working with a story about a father and son [...]
One of the most important groups in the history of Israeli music is החלונות הגבוהים (“The High Windows“). The group consisted of Arik Einstein, Shmulik Krauss, and Josie Katz. Their one and only album, which was released in 1967, had a lasting affect on Israeli music. Since the traditional Torah reading cycle is finishing up [...]
My wife recently saw an episode of the HGTV program Property Brothers that featured a couple and their kosher kitchen. The religious couple was having their kitchen remodeled, and the show explained all of the ins and outs of a kosher kitchen. She said that it was a very well done program, and that they [...]
Below is a clip from Israel Channel 10 about a South Korean television crew that visited the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak in order to see the study of Talmud first hand. The clip is in both Hebrew and English. I tried to add subtitles, but I couldn’t see to get it done correctly. See [...]
Danny Sanderson, who has been an important figure in Israeli music since the 1970′s, is 61 year old today. The first video is from his early days with Poogy. The second is a more recent one, a duet with Ninet Tayeb.
A classic and beloved Israeli song about love is עטור מצחך (“Your Forehead is Ornamented [in Black Gold]“) [lyrics/translation]. The words were written by Avraham Ḥalfi, the music by Yoni Richter, and it was sung by Arik Einstein. The song describes the love of a man for a woman. Recently it became known that the [...]
The second season of the Israeli version of the American reality show the Amazing Race, המירוץ למליון, recently began broadcasting. An aspect of the show that has gotten a bit of media attention is the couple, Shira and Firas. They have gotten a bit of attention because Firas is an Arab Muslim and Shira is [...]
Another Israeli TV show, Asfur, has been picked up by an American production company. (hat tip) Here’s a description of the show from Wikipedia: Motti Amoyal lives on a bus farm in Jerusalem with his three best friends, Itzik, Newton and Katzar. Their lives are about to change drastically as they discover that the land, [...]
The following question was published in today’s New York Times. (here) Q. I recently overheard a conversation about food in which someone mentioned “Jewish Champagne.” What is that? A. We’re going to assume the speaker was not referring to the French region, centered on Troyes, whose rabbinical scholars led an intellectual flowering in the 12th [...]
Footnote has now hit the big screen in North America, see Tzee’s comments about the screening at the New York Film Festival here. The next big cultural even for some of us will be Season 3 of Srugim. Beyond the general subject matter, what Footnote and Srugim have in common is that they are the [...]
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