LABA alum Gordon Haber considers Black History Month and the dangers of making America great again In these days when we are exhorted to make America great again — in other words, to return to some vaguely articulated epoch of former glory — it’s probably a good idea to consider what a return to
LABA Second Stage Presents Hadar Ahuvia’s “Everything you have is yours?” LABA Second Stage provides LABA alumni the opportunity to develop the ideas that came up in their residencies. Hadar Ahuvia first developed her piece, “Everything you have is yours?” as a LABA fellow. In the piece, performers mirror the dance steps of archival footage
Writer and story consultant Amy Handelsman is a current LABA fellow. Here are Amy’s thoughts on some timely ancient texts we’ve been studying on this year’s theme, WAR + PEACE. Twice a month as a LABA fellow, I am privileged to take part in a study session at the 14th Street Y, where Lead Teacher Liel Leibovitz
Each year, LABA Second Stage provides LABA alumni the opportunity to further develop the ideas that came up in their residencies. Keren Moscovitch’s fascinating installation One More Way: Revolt! can be seen at the Theater at the 14th Street Y. Thursday, February 1, 7-10 PM Friday, February 2, 4-8 PM Saturday, February 3, 5-8 PM Sunday,
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
This week for the LABA Journal, Jacob Siegel, writer and combat veteran, reflects on the books that inspired him. No matter how much time has passed it happens inevitably that I feel a tap on the shoulder and something pulls me back towards war. Books offer no escape from that pull. It doesn’t matter that
There are a lot of different ways of thinking about Hanukkah, but we tend to forget that the holiday is very much about intra-Jewish conflict. The Festival of Lights, as you know, commemorates the restoration of the Temple in 164 BCE. After kicking out the Seleucids — whom we might call today “culturally Greek Syrians”
The Seventh Day Literary Festival, curated by LABA Journal editor Hanan Elstein, celebrates its closing night with “A Wandering Language,” Thursday, December 7th, 7:00PM, at the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History. LABA’s resident scholar and expat Israeli novelist Ruby Namdar will be discussing his prize-winning new book, The Ruined House
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, LABA fellows Yael Sloma, Tal Gur and Zohar Tirosh-Polk reveal their drinking habits (or lack thereof) and serve up
Happy Thanksgiving from LABA, the international incubator of Jewish arts and culture! Today, on the American holiday dedicated to fressing (aka gluttony), we’d like to share some words of wisdom about stuffing yourself. You may know that the great Moses Ben Maimon, or Maimonides, was renowned both as a rabbi and a doctor, and his