One of my favorite college classes was Introduction to Linguistics. A particular class stands out in my mind. Our professor put up a picture of this object:

People were then asked to find other people who called the object the same thing as them and sit together. Quickly a “bucket” group and a “pail” group emerged.
She […]

This season, New York City Opera brought back on stage the late Hugo Weisgall’s Esther, a contemporary work based on the biblical story of mortal danger and miraculous survival. Set in ancient Persia, the opera engages questions of destiny and assimilation, violence and victory, thus making it relevant to contemporary audiences.
Plot Synopsis
The plot of the […]

Maya Escobar, a Jewish Latina video director, performance artist, and creator of shomer negiah panties, has previously worked with young Jews, multiethnic Jews, and Jews in reunited Berlin to create works of art. For her newest project, Maya enlisted a new and unexpected collaborator: her father. Here’s what she had to say about it.
When I […]

Seth Rogovoy, author of Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet, wrote yesterday about Bob Dylan’s Judaism. He is guest-blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council.
Almost lost in all the commotion surrounding Bob Dylan’s new Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart — his first charity album, as the proceeds from all sales are being […]

Here is a somewhat shocking fact. There is only one Jewish high school in all of the United States that boasts a full 11-man tackle football team. Here is another fact: In their first season with an 11-man team, the San Diego Jewish Academy Lions are 6-2, and are heading to the playoffs this Saturday […]

Seth Rogovoy, author of Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet, wrote yesterday about Bob Dylan’s Judaism. He is guest-blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Bob Dylan’s Christmas album is that it took nearly fifty years for him to make one. There is a long-established tradition of pop […]

The key to hip-hop music–the music part, that is–is restraint. A sparseness of beats, the use of musical samples when they’re needed and a careful placing of the bombast. The first time I heard N.W.A., the original gangsta rap group, I couldn’t believe that this was the music that adults were warning us about. Yes, […]

I’ll admit it. I still haven’t seen A Serious Man. I mean, I should. I’m planning on it. But, let’s be honest, I’m probably not going to. That doesn’t mean I can’t blog about it though.
The first Coen Brothers movie that I ever saw was The Big Lebowski. It also happens to be my favorite […]

There’s a photo in YNet’s feature on comics for Hasidic Jews with the caption “Determined not to pollute children’s minds.” The article itself discusses the novelty of Hasidim producing their own funnybooks — as if it’s an entirely novel idea that a community that already creates its own distinctive clothing, food, medicines, transportation system, and […]

Seth Rogovoy, author of Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet, is guest-blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council.
My new book, Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet (Scribner) — a critical biography of the rock poet that examines his life and work through a Jewish prism — hasn’t even been officially published yet (that happens […]