Menachem Wecker

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Ark Art: Actually Christian Imagery?

By Menachem Wecker

As synagogues swap their regular ark curtains for the white High Holy Day versions, many will unwittingly showcase a pair of symbols not only of Christian origin, but whose very content symbolizes God’s rejection of the Jews.Read More

My Name is Apostle Lev

By Menachem Wecker

I wasn’t thinking about Mormons on March 4, when I tweeted about my review of “My Name is Asher Lev.” Thirty-six minutes later, I heard from William Morris, an expert on Mormon arts and culture. “Excellent review,” Morris noted. “For (I believe) obvious reasons, ‘My Name Is Asher Lev’ is very popular with Mormon writers and artists.” Those reasons may have been obvious to Morris, but the message caught me completely off guard. What does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints see in a novel about a Hasidic kid who grows increasingly alienated from his family and community when he paints nudes and crucifixions?Read More

Past Meets Present: Filming Jewish Life in Prague

By Menachem Wecker

Mark Podwal is obsessed with Prague. Not only has the New York-based artist and dermatologist visited the city 15 times, but he also has a Golem story by which he swears.Read More

Art That Does Not Hide Itself

By Menachem Wecker

Most of the works that appear in the exhibit Idol Anxiety, at the University of Chicago’s David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, feature Christian and pagan content. But exhibit curator Aaron Tugendhaft credits the “heightened awareness” he developed from studying the Talmud as a child with helping him discover “valuable distinctions not seen by others” in the process of how objects avoid becoming idolsRead More

Willy Loman’s Jewish Roots

By Menachem Wecker

Yarmulkes are the new black in performances of “Death of a Salesman.” Inspired by the 1953 play, Traveling Jewish Theatre’s recent production of Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning show featured Biff, Happy, Bernard and Charley wearing skullcaps at Willy Loman’s funeral. Biff and Happy, however, removed theirs immediately, “so it was very brief, as if they had to wear them for the ritual,” explained Aaron Davidman, artistic director of TJT.Read More


 

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