LABAlive IS BACK!

On Thursday, May 31st, LABALive Two will present an evening of subversive art and teachings on this year’s theme, WAR & PEACE. The evening will feature LABA teacher Liel Leibovitz and works-in-progress by LABA Fellows Tal Gur, Jacob Siegel and Amy Handelsman. For those looking for a taste right now, here is 2016-2017 LABA alumna Laura Beatrix

Laura Beatrix Newmark, “Hannah and Her Sisters”

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 Elana Greenfield, Michael Leibenluft, and Laura Beatrix Newmark, who will present her work in progress, Hannah and Her Sisters: 5 stories on mOTHERhood. Here, Beatrix Newmark introduces her work and offers

An Inside Look at Yehuda Hyman’s, The Mar Vista

For the past three years, Brooklyn playwright, dancer, choreographer and actor Yehuda Hyman has been developing The Mar Vista, a five-part narrative of his Jewish working-class family’s saga. The piece, generated as a collaboration with the Mystical Feet Company (Ezra Lowrey, Ron Kagan, Amanda Schussel, Ryan Pater, Dwight Richardson Kelly), has been running since December

Meet Fellow Laura Beatrix Newmark

Laura Beatrix Newmark is the Jewish Life & Culture Fellow at The 14th Street Y. She builds community amongst the young families of the 14th Street Y through interactive and creative programming. Her intersection with the arts spans multiple decades (starting with playing the cello from age six) and includes quoting a young stand-up named

MOTHER TONGUE

Yael Kanarek For her LABA project, Yael Kanarek created an original Hebrew typeface designed specifically to be worn on the human body. Come see her first collection, “Mother Tongue,” an exploration of the feminine using ancient Jewish texts. ALEPH FOUNDRY   Photo credit: Gili Getz “Family Charms” Hebrew Bracelet The “Family Charms” bracelet was inspired

THE STORY OF TAMAR

Genesis Chapter 38  Judah and Tamar. School of Rembrandt. 1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her,

SLUT-SHAMING IN THE BIBLE, HELL YES!

Elissa Strauss breaks down sexual double-standards in a Q&A I found this on the internet. Ed. note. I suggest you read Ruby Namdar’s telling of the Tamar story before or after you read this. WHAT IS SLUT-SHAMING? Slut-shaming is the phenomenon in which a woman is bashed, attacked or made to feel guilty for her sexuality. WHAT

SEDUCTION IN EYNAIM: A MATERNAL SONG CYCLE

New Music from Alicia Svigals Kadya Molodovsky For her LABA project, Svigals wove together her original settings of poetry and Biblical texts in Yiddish, Hebrew and English to create a musical work that speaks of fertility, fear and longing; and the double-edged helix of inheritance across generations of women. Here are studio-recordings of two of

THE BITTERSWEET TALE OF HANNAH AND HER CHILD OF PRAYER

Ruby Namdar on the much-ignored tragic elements of Hannah’s story “Tear” by  Gideon van der Stelt Tradition reads the tale of Hannah, which includes her struggle with rival-wife Peninah and the miraculous birth of her son Samuel, as a victorious tale, celebrating the triumph of piety and faith. Few commentators, ancient or modern, pay attention