Forward.com

An Israeli Author’s New Story, On the Big ScreenEtgar Keret is well known as an Israeli fiction writer; now, he’s also an Israeli filmmaker. Keret and his wife, Shira Geffen, co-directed “Meduzot” (“Jellyfish”), an independent film written by Geffen. The movie won the coveted Caméra d’Or Prize at the Festival de Cannes in 2007 and opens in New York on April 4.…Read more

To Dance or Not To Dance?‘So, are they going to do a mezinke at your brother’s wedding?” a Jewish friend asked this past spring, one eyebrow raised quizzically, as we watched our children play on a jungle gym. I shrugged my shoulders and changed the subject. To her, it was a question of tradition. To me, it was a full-fledged dilemma masquerading as a folk dance.…Read more

Dance the Night AwayOver the past few years, some congregations in New York City have put a new spin on the old song “Dancing in the Street” as they celebrate Simchat Torah, the annual completion and recommencement of the cycle of reading the Torah. The festival, which this year begins October 4 at sundown, is observed amid much rejoicing, singing and dancing, as congregations carry all their Torah scrolls around the sanctuary in a festive parade of seven circuits, or hakafot. Afterward, the same congregations do a seamless reading from the last verses of Deuteronomy to the first verses of Genesis, a visible demonstration that the reading of Torah is literally never ending.…Read more