Gordon Haber for LABA Journal Sommelier Discusses DRUNK, an Evening of Wine Pairings with Jewish Texts at the 14th Street Y “Wine is alive,” says H. Ronald Jordan, wine merchant. “It breathes. It changes. That’s what’s so wonderful about. Try this.” Jordan sets before me a glass of cava. It’s smooth, fizzy and fruity, and
On Saturday, November 18th, at 7:30 PM at the 14th Street Y, LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture will kick off its 10th season with DRUNK, an intoxicating evening of art, performance and Jewish texts. Below, theater artists Brandon Woolf and Jon Adam Ross serve up an artistic aperitif. Egg Dream Procedural // Brandon Woolf
SHIBBOLET Tova Shvartzman for LABA Journal At this very moment I have a concrete experience of the Other. This current Other is the English language. It is not a friendly Other like a neighbor. It is an alien Other. I need to express myself in this foreign tongue to establish connections between creativity and work with you all here today. In
On Thursday, May 11th, LABAlive Three will present an evening of art works and subversive teachings exploring our annual theme, OTHER. The evening will feature teachings by LABA Scholar Ruby Namdar and works by fellows Michael Leibenluft, Laura Beatrix Newmark, and Elana Greenfield, who will present her work in progress, WRENCH: Part IV. Here, Greenfield talks about her project with LABA Journal
THEME The LABA theme for 2017 -2018 is WAR and PEACE. Conflict is part of who we are, it is not an external force that we can aspire to exorcise and be permanently free of. Conflict defines the individual, the social and the cultural self. It is not accidental that our civilization’s foundation myth, the
A Word From the Divine Ruby Namdar and Hanan Elstein for the LABA Journal A few weeks past LABA’s session on the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), LABA Scholar Ruby Namdar and LABA Journal Editor Hanan Elstein, both still in awe of this remarkably condensed yet multilayered biblical short story, sat down over some fine
“THE NEXT FOUR YEARS” by Joshua Max Feldman Joshua Max Feldman, a New York-based author, is a 2015-2016 LABA alumnus. His new novel, If I Knew the Way, will be available in fall, 2017, from William Morrow. His novel The Book of Jonah is currently available in paperback. Here, on the eve of the 58th
On Towers and Monuments Tirtzah Bassel and Hanan Elstein for the LABA Journal November 10th, 2016 During our last session we studied the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and then looked at four works of art that related in some way to the story. A few days later, Tirtzah and Hanan sat down over a
by RUBY NAMDAR If I were the one in charge of pairing ancient texts and Jewish holidays, I would have chosen the book of Kohelet (otherwise known by Greek name Ecclesiastes) as the perfect reading for Rosh HaShana – or better yet, for Yom Kippur. It is the ultimate book of self-examination, of accounting to
CHAPTER ONE 1 The words of Koheleth, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 3 What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun? 4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth for