I’ve always loved bonsai – which, according to Wikipedia, is defined as “the Japanese art of growing and shaping miniature trees in containers.” When I lived in Brooklyn, New …
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DEVORAH PHILLIPS
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1/17/24
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A dozen seniors sit in a semicircle and dance. They raise their arms, tap their toes and swivel in their chairs. They follow the movements of their gregarious instructor, Rachel Balaban, as the …
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ROBERT ISENBERG
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1/7/24
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PROVIDENCE – “Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da (hey, hey, hey)/Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, here.” This inane lyric from LaBelle’s 1974 hit song “Lady Marmalade,” which opens John Logan’s Tony Award-winning "Moulin Rouge! The Musical," speaks volumes about everything that comes after.
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Bob Abelman
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12/21/23
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PROVIDENCE – The Sisterhood of Temple Beth-El has transformed its annual Hanukkah sale into an Artisan Marketplace and Scholastic Book Fair, which members hope will attract shoppers from …
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KATE BRAMSON
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10/18/23
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(JTA) — “Saturday Night Live” returned to the air for its 49th season with a somber reflection on the Israeli-Hamas war by former cast member Pete Davidson.
In the “cold open,” the Staten Island native spoke directly to the camera, reminding audiences that his father, a New York City firefighter, was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
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Andrew Silow-Carroll
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10/16/23
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Ari Shapiro doesn’t seem to fit the mold of a cabaret performer. After all, the NPR journalist is best known as one of the co-hosts of the afternoon news and features radio show “All …
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FRAN OSTENDORF
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6/15/23
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Rabbi Michael Wolk was nervous when he stepped foot onto his synagogue’s bimah in May 2021 – but not because his congregation was returning to in-person prayer after a pandemic …
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JACKIE HAJDENBERG
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5/4/23
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A lot has happened since 2013, when Joshua Harmon’s play “Bad Jews” was first staged, at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. True, antisemitism was thriving in 2013, but the decade since has been even more frightening for American Jews: Antisemitic violence in the U.S. is now at an all-time high, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
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ROBERT ISENBERG
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2/16/23
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A concert “is my favorite thing to do, of all the things I do,” says Mandy Patinkin, the 70-year-old actor and singer. “It’s immediate. It’s in the moment. The audience defines the evening. That’s who I’m doing it for. It’s the first concert in three years, since before the pandemic. I thought, ‘We’re all feeling alive again. Let’s celebrate!’ ”
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ROBERT ISENBERG
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1/18/23
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(JTA) — Last week saw Dave Chappelle deliver a brilliant monologue on “Saturday Night Live” addressing the antisemitism controversies surrounding Kanye West and Kyrie Irving.
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MaNishtana
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11/17/22
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