Combatting sexual harassment
I recently published an article in an online journal for Jewish education, www.jeducationworld.com about a new book for teens. You can check it out here.
Music Review: Cory Henry “NaaNaaNaa”
Growing up in the Carolinas, I was lucky to hear plenty of Black gospel sounds. There were songs played at family picnics in the park near my house (Freedom Park in Charlotte, North Carolina), church organ grooves on Sunday morning on WPEG FM 98, and the occasional opportunity to go with my family to visit a Black church for an event or concert. I always wanted to sing along. Driving around town with my daughter this evening, this tune came…
Review: Rugelach at Rolings Bakery
I visited the Rolings Kosher Bakery in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania on a rugelach run. Managed to take this photo of the back wall of the bakery while the clerk was making change. A visual slice of a bubbe-run business. The rugelach, by the way, were absolutely perfect. Delicious and moist – you could taste the love.
Bazaar Ensemble serves up some spicy new Jewish music
Every once and a while a group of wildly talented musicians will travel back in time and grasp a very old poem and an old tune and spin them into the current moment with a magical new spirit. This song is one of those once and a whiles. Bazaar Ensemble are L.A. based folks who are adding some full throttle soul to a tune that I, admittedly, associate with both a choice Eric B. & Rakim sample and the late…
Music Review: Amythyst Kiah’s Wildebeest
Some songs just stop you in your tracks. “Wildebeest” by Amythyst Kiah is one of those songs. The tune begins with a two chord progression usually heard in flamenco music – a simple and raw meditative riff that Kiah lets play for a minute for full hypnotic effect. When the tune shifts into a Delta blues mode, the fine finger-picking starts to have an emotional life, setting the stage for Amythyst Kiah’s original yet traditional blues lyric of spurned love,…
Film Review: Wadjda
Originally published in The Forward. www.forward.com The Muslim Film Every Bat Mitzvah Girl Should See By Daniel S. Brenner “Wadjda,” the first feature film shot in Saudi Arabia, seems an unlikely fit for a b’nai mitzvah curriculum. Haifaa al-Mansour’s film about a plucky Muslim tween girl in Riyadh whose greatest desire is to buy a bicycle has no reference to Jews and no coming-of-age celebration to speak of. The film’s one connection to issues widely discussed in Jewish circles? A…
Consumer Review: Lifesmart Antiqua 5 Person Plug and Play Spa with 20 Jet
Consumer Review: Lifesmart Antiqua 5 Person Plug and Play Spa with 20 Jet You may be asking: Why would a rabbi review a hot tub? Well after dislocating a disc when I lifted a large rock in our front garden (yes, I, like the Biblical Moses, have issues with rocks) I got crazy about the idea about buying a hot tub. My wife got a nice little teaching award that came with a check and off we went in search…
Consumer Review: Alternative Ketubah
File this one as an “only in New York” moment… About a month ago I was in Williamsburg (the Brooklyn one) officiating a wedding for a wonderful couple who had the highly unusual ketubah pictured above. On their honeymoon in Argentina, they visited the artist. Then the artist wrote up a little story about it: http://thisisnotaketubah.com/meeting-one-of-our-couples/ I skimmed through the other Ketubahs on the site and all I can say is that I want to hang out with the couple…
Restaurant Review: New Kosher Special
Every once in a while you take risk on an off-the-beaten-track restaurant that has escaped the orbit of Yelp and you discover some unexpected deliciousness. This was the case today, as my family made an excursion to Elizabeth, New Jersey for some Kosher Chinese cuisine. The name of the joint was New Kosher Special and it was replete with specials — in particular a lunch combo for under six bucks that we all agreed was the best value of any…
Book Review: Chinese Moms, Jewish Dads
Chinese Moms, Jewish Dads? The post-dinner- now-the- kids- are- in- the- other- room -and -the –adults- have- two –bottles- of- wine -to -finish-off talk at our Shabbos table this week was, as I imagine it was for many thousands of other parental types, Chinese moms. We had all read the Wall Street Journal article by Yale Law professor Amy Chua (or heard her interviewed on NPR) and her razor sharp attack on “western” moms seems to have kicked up a…