METROPOLITAN NEW YORK
Lectures and Discussions
Unknotting Their Roots: Three writers whose lives have been deeply affected by a family member discuss their lives and books. Michael Blumenthal, author of “All My Mothers and Fathers: A Memoir,” shares the story of his struggle for identity and belonging after the death of his adoptive mother and his father’s remarriage to a “loveless” woman. The charmed childhood of Valerie Steiker, author of “The Leopard Hat: A Daughter’s Story,” came to a halt when, during her junior year at Harvard, her mother, a Belgian-born Holocaust survivor, dies of cancer. In “The Catcher Was a Spy,” Nicholas Dawidoff presents the biography of his grandfather Alexander Gerschenkron, a Harvard economist known for his breadth of knowledge and his original personality who fled the Bolsheviks in 1920 and resettled in Vienna only to escape the Nazis in 1938. Makor, 35 W. 67th St.; July 9, 7:30 p.m.; $15, $12 in advance. (212-601-1000 or www.makor.org)
Music
Klezmer Brunch: Clarinetist and alto saxophonist Margot Leverett and her band, the Klezmer Mountain Boys, blend bluegrass and klezmer. Band members include bassist Marty Confurius; guitarist Joe Selly, a performer and instructor of bluegrass, jazz and swing; fiddler Kenny Kosek, known for his bluegrass, Irish, country-western and rock-and-roll violin, and mandolinist-guitarist Barry Mitterhoff. Tonic, 107 Norfolk St.; July 13, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.; $10, $15 both sets. (212-358-7501 or www.klezmermountainboys.com)
Classical Culture: In “Music and Jewish Culture,” Michael Guttman conducts the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, playing music of composers whose fate was altered by their Jewish identity. Pieces include Gustav Mahler’s adagietto from the Fifth Symphony, works of Russian-Jewish composer Moissei Vainberg, Czech composer Pavel Haas’s “Studies for Strings” and Swiss composer Ernest Bloch’s “Nigun.” The concert features pianist Ron Regev and clarinetist Gilad Harel, both young Israelis. Part of the proceeds will benefit the New York-Israel Cultural Cooperation Commission, which facilitates American-Israeli cultural exchanges. The concert is part of the Music Festival of the Hamptons. Festival Tent, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton; July 13, 7 p.m., followed by a benefit reception; concert $25-$50, concert and reception $125; $5 children and students, please call or visit Web site for additional festival details, reservations recommended. (800-644-4418 or www.musicfestivalofthehamptons.com)
Celebrate Brooklyn: The five Israeli women who make up the band Eve’s Women mark their American debut on a double bill with Israeli singer-songwriter Chava Alberstein for a concert in the outdoor performing arts festival “Celebrate Brooklyn!” Eve’s Women are Orit Orbach on clarinet and flute, Alona Turell on keyboard and piano, Tamar Naveh on percussion, Daphna Sadeh on double bass and Michal Rahat on drums. They fuse klezmer with jazz, rock, Oriental and Latin sounds and rhythms. With nearly 50 albums under her belt, Alberstein draws on Yiddish music, American folk and Middle Eastern and African traditions to form her unique style. Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th Street and Prospect Park West, Park Slope; July 12, 7:30 p.m., please call or visit Web site for additional festival details; $3 suggested. (718-965-8999 or www.brooklynx.org/celebrate)
Exhibition
Caricaturist’s Centennial: For the 100th anniversary of the birth of cartoonist-illustrator Al Hirschfeld, who died in January, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts presents 10 of his illustrations, representing five Broadway plays: “Men in White” (1933), “You Can’t Take It With You” (1936), “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” (1938), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947) and “Death of a Salesman” (1949). The artist was beloved by his many fans for hiding his daughter Nina’s name in his caricatures and drawings. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Plaza Lobby, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza; Tue., Wed., Fri. and Sat. noon-6 p.m.; free. (212-870-1630 or www.nypl.org)
Community
Torah Talk: The Rabbi Israel D. Rosenberg Educational Institute of Congregation Etz Chaim of Kew Gardens Hills’s evening of Torah learning features music, food and lectures. Rabbi Marc Penner of Young Israel of Holliswood discusses “Torah Study and Today’s Women”; Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills addresses the question “Is It Kashrut or Is It Politics?” and antiques expert David Leibert speaks about “Jewish Antiquing.” David Luchins, associate professor of political science at Touro College, and City Councilman Jim Gennaro also speak. Congregation Etz Chaim of Kew Gardens Hills, 141-39 73rd Ave.; July 9, 7:30 p.m.-10 p.m.; free. (718-380-9510 or www.ou.org/network/new/ny-q-etz.htm)
Literary Lazarus: The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the Jewish Community Council of New York and Hadassah presents the second annual tribute to Emma Lazarus, the 19th-century Jewish woman famous for penning the poem “The New Collosus,” which is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty. “Generation to Generation: Circle of Liberty” is part of Jewish Heritage-NY2003. Judith Goldsmith, a literary performance artist, opens the program with her portrayal of Lazarus. Readings of poems and essays written by Lazarus and other Jewish writers and music composed by Cecelia Margules follow. A reception concludes the event. Emma Lazarus Terrace, Battery Park, upper promenade, rain location National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, 1 Bowling Green; July 15, 6 p.m.-7 p.m.; free. (212-983-4800, ext. 156)
Women’s Klezmer: Mikveh, a group of five female klezmer musicians, performs in the inaugural Lazarus Family Summer Concert Series, playing a combination of traditional and original songs in English and Yiddish. Mikveh includes fiddler Alicia Svigals, founding member of the Jewish-roots music group The Klezmatics; Grammy-nominated singer Adrienne Cooper; accordionist Lauren Brody, formerly of the klezmer-revival band Kapelye; bassist Catherine Popper and trumpeter Susan Watts, the founder of Philadelphia’s Klezms. The concert coincides with “The Mikvah Project,” an exhibition of Janice Rubin’s photographs of women immersed in ritual baths. Mizel Center for Arts and Culture, 350 South Dahlia St., Denver; July 13, courtyard opens 6 p.m., concert 7 p.m.; $15, $10 students and seniors, $50 families. (303-316-6360 or www.mizelcenter.org)
CONNECTICUT
A Moral Dilemma: Westport Country Playhouse presents David Wiltse’s drama “The Good German,” directed by James Naughton. Set during World War II, the play tells the story of a couple who, against the husband’s objections, harbor a Jewish publisher under the nose of their Nazi friend. The circumstances force all to examine their attitudes toward morality, hate and human decency. Following the July 9 performance, Marlene Warshawski Yahalom, education director at the American Society for Yad Vashem, and Hyla Crane, the playhouse’s education coordinator, moderate a discussion with Wiltse and Harry Reicher, a legal scholar on the Holocaust, titled “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A German Family’s Dilemma.” Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport; July 9, performance 2 p.m., symposium 4:30 p.m., play runs through July 12, Mon.-Thu. 8 p.m., Wed. 2 p.m., Fri. 8:30 p.m., Sat. 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; $21-$48. (203-227-4177 or www.westportplayhouse.org)
ILLINOIS
Guided Tour: The Spertus Museum offers guided tours of “Southern Exposure: Photographs of South American Jewish Life,” an exhibition of photographs by Zion Ozeri. Featured are images of everyday Jewish life: gauchos, artists, families and schoolchildren. Ozeri traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay to capture on film how Jews blended in with — and how they contributed to — their South American communities. After the tour, one can walk across the street to Chicago’s seventh annual SummerDance in Grant Park taking place through the end of August. Spertus Museum, 618 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago; exhibit through Dec. 23, Sun.-Wed. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thu. 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m.-3 p.m., tours July 10, July 24 and Aug. 7, 6 p.m.-7 p.m.; $10 families, $5 general, $3 students, seniors and children, free Fridays. (312-322-1747 or www.spertus.edu/museum.html)
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