LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture is a program of the 14th Street Y that uses classic Jewish texts to inspire the creation of art.
Every year we celebrate our new fellows with DRUNK, an evening of wine and performance inspired by Jewish texts.
This year the teachers were the redoubtable Ruby Namdar, author of The Ruined House, and the illustrious Liel Liebovitz of Tablet Magazine. Our sommelier was the gifted wine merchant Ronald Jordan.
Click below to see videos of our teachers and fellows talking, drawing, acting and dancing about wine.
The daily battle between our animal natures and the divine.
Not Every Time Does a Miracle Occur
Choose your drinking partner carefully.
Be Not Among the Winebibbers
Proverbs tells us to avoid drinking. Namdar thinks we’re going to do it anyway.
My Father, the Drunkard
Dad’s a drunk. But he stills has a few tricks up his sleeve.
Biometrics 3
Art created in the span of a single breath.
A Sketchy Bottle
A drunken argument with God.
Confessions of a Red-Wine Lover
A woman articulates her debilitating obsession with the fruit of the vine.
A Toast to My Baby Sister on Her Bat Mitzvah
Somebody should have kept sis away from the booze and the mic.
Carnal Regrets of the Patriarchs: A Triptych
Or: Greatest Hebrew Hangovers of All Time.
Drunken verbal Gematria with images and dance.
A short play in which the innocuous egg cream takes on sinister meanings.
Jacob missed the evening, but you can investigate his work here and here.
We hope you enjoyed this selection of tipsy Torah from hammered Hebrews. After closing out another year of LABA Journal, we raise our glasses to you, our much-appreciated readers.
L’chaim!