adieshman.net
yaelmagnes.com
About 
LABA Fellow Doron Perk leaps into his piece Grandfather Visit in October 2021Photo by Basil Rodericks
LABA NY, the first and longest-running LABA hub, is based at the 14th street Y, in the East Village of New York City. This location is rich in history, from Yiddish theater houses that used to dominate the neighborhood a century ago, to the avant-garde punk rock halls that were popular around 50 years ago. LABA helps keep that spirit of artistic innovation and rebellion alive in this century,
LABA NY was founded in 2007 by Stephen Hazan Arnoff, the former Executive Director of the 14th Street Y in the East Village, writer and teacher Basmat Hazan, and artist Anat Litwin. In 2010 LABA became more formalized under the helm of Ronit Muszkatblit, Elissa Strauss, and Becky Skoff with a curriculum, application, DRUNK night of study and wine flights, the LABAlive performance season, and an artists-based Tikkun for Shavuot which eventually morphed into “Into the Night,” the most popular downtown Tikkun in New York City. In 2019, Laura Beatrix Newmark took over as Artistic Director of LABA NY.
LABA NY gives culture-makers in one of the most fast-paced cities in the world a chance to stop and immerse themselves in a rich source of inspiration and a tight-knit community. Yes, New York is one of the most creative, and Jewish, cities in the world. Still, LABA scratches an itch. There are few other opportunities for culture-makers with any background to go this deep into the ancient Jewish canon and to be told that these texts belong to them as much as anyone else. When LABA NY gets together in a classroom at the 14th Street Y and becomes absorbed in a passage from the Torah or Talmud, it’s as if all the lights of New York have dimmed, if only for an hour, and all they can see, all they can feel, is the page in front of them and the people around the table wrestling with the words.
The 14th Street Y, a Jewish community center in the East Village, is a vital neighborhood resource that welcomes people of all backgrounds. We provide a variety of programs with a distinctive downtown point of view, emphasizing excellence, innovation, creativity, and a questioning spirit. We are inspired by Tikkun Olam, or repair of the world, in all that we do — a value that represents and renews the vitality of our Jewish heritage and its place in our diverse and vibrant community. The 14th Street Y is a proud part of Educational Alliance’s network of programs throughout downtown Manhattan.
Theme
LABA Fellow Dvir Cahana shows images drawn by child prodigy Milo that would go on to grace Dvir’s album cover, “Bacchurs Can’t Be Choosers” created during LABA.Photo by Basil Rodericks
THE 2025 THEME FOR LABA IS CHANGE.
Our relationship with change reaches in two, oppositional directions. We fear change, loathe change, long to keep things as they are or reverse things to how they used to be. We desire to return to mythical homelands, to gardens, our childhoods, to the people and communities and places we knew before change happened. And yet, what is our lives if not constant change, or the pursuit of constant change? The, to borrow from our Buddhist friends, permanence of impermanence? Changes in our moods, changes in our bodies, changes in our levels of enlightenment, sometimes premeditated, sometimes sought out through the embrace of new experiences. We subject ourselves to unpredictability with the hope that we will be changed, if only for this moment, if only forever.
As culture-makers, we simultaneously pursue change of words, materials, musical notes, ideas, sensibilities, and warn others of easy, shallow change. Change, real change, is never so simple. In Jewish culture, we also toggle between a resistance to change and embrace of constant flux – laws, ideas, customs, feelings are simultaneously fixed and malleable, altered through careful deliberations as well as dreams and intuitions. Medieval scholar Maimonides believed the Torah was immutable. Meanwhile, Spanish Jewish mystics believed that truth was mutable, and every era demands a new approach to the Torah.
This year at LABA we will dive into the paradoxes of change in our collective souls and individual creative practices. Most importantly, we’ll have a great time talking, eating, drinking, learning, and laughing in the lush, fertile, free-flowing, romantic, super-serious, and endlessly playful environment of LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture.
We invite you to look within, or without, be still, or be active, and interrogate change in your minds and your work.
Fellows
Playwright Jess Honovich presented charming excerpts from Super Play, a theater piece developed from her interviews with young children about superheroes.Photo by Basil Rodericks
News
Theater-maker and scholar of contemporary performance Brandon Woolf presented excerpts from his clever adaptation of Jewish texts, Mud and Mashiach.Photo by Basil Rodericks-
A Visual Journey: Redefining LABA’s Brand.
After 14 years, LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture has embarked on a dynamic visual transformation. A new visual identity, the product of a process that isn’t just about a new look, but a reflection of the profound growth and expanding vision of the 14 year-old program. From one New York City location, we have
Read more
Events
Comming Soon
FELLOWS
Danielle Atkins
Laba Process/Project
Danielle Baron Atkins is an American Israeli painter and sculptor working in Brooklyn and Woodstock, NY. Her work examines the female form as well as the many roles of women in our contemporary society. She abstracts, dissects, and exaggerates the body utilizing discarded items from her household and most recently Israeli made products.
Daniellebaronatkins.com
Danya Abt
Laba Process/Project
Danya Abt is a Brooklyn-based film director and editor. She keeps one foot planted in the documentary art world and one in more broadly distributed documentary forms. Her films have played at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight, the True/False, Camden, and other film festivals.
Guy Barash
Laba Process/Project
Israeli composer Guy Barash commonly juxtaposes improvised and composed materials creating an atmosphere where both performer and listener are invited to embrace uncertainty. His series of compositions for solo instruments and real-time digital signal processing, “Talkback,” was hailed as being “at once divine, serene and haunting” (The Queens Chronicle). Barash’s music has been featured in Belgium, London, Japan, Israel, and across the U.S.
Ira Klein
Laba Process/Project
Ira Klein is an award-winning guitarist, composer, and educator from Jerusalem and based in Brooklyn. Specializing in Middle Eastern music, American folk, and music for dance, he seamlessly combines a lifelong passion for musical traditions with a love of experimentation.
Jacob Leibowitz
Laba Process/Project
Jacob Leibowitz is a composer and bassist who takes pride in his ability to shape his audience’s experience through time, using both the mediums of sound/silence and visuals that are present in his music videos and some of his live pieces. He values curiosity and experimentation and strives to keep those ideals alive within himself and his community.
Leo Egger
Laba Process/Project
Leo Egger is a director and playwright interested in make-believe. He is the founding Artistic Director of the Eno River Players, a NYC theater company devoted to classical theater and original adaptations.
Michal Lando
Laba Process/Project
Michal Lando is a Brooklyn based artist and poet. Her non-traditional jewelry has been selected for exhibitions across the country and can be found in galleries and museum stores nationally and internationally.
Na’ama Keha
Laba Process/Project
Born and raised in a Socialist Kibbutz to parents of Turkish Sephardic and Yemeni descent, Na’ama is an award-winning NY-based writer/director. Her work has been screened in numerous festivals around the world in Venice, Montreal, Stockholm, Busan, Bangkok, Sau Paolo, Moscow, Jerusalem, Montpellier, Mumbai, London, and New York.
Noa Osherof
Laba Process/Project
Noa Osheroff is a writer, filmmaker, and producer, whose work spans both film and live events. Her short film, Sofa So Good, was released by The New Yorker and her most recent short film, Date. Interrupted, was featured as part of the Rooftop Films summer series. Noa founded and hosts Speak American, a stand-up show highlighting immigrant stories and Make It Shorts, a live series combining short films with stand-up comedy.
Sarah Rebell
Laba Process/Project
Sarah Rebell is a communications professional and theatre writer. Bylines include American Theatre, Hey Alma, Howlround, The Interval, New York Jewish Week, TDF Stages, TheaterMania, and Women and Hollywood. Sarah currently works as the Director of Communications at Educational Alliance. MFA: New York University. MA: Columbia University.
Stacy Mehrfar
Laba Process/Project
Stacy Arezou Mehrfar is a visual artist based in NYC. Mehrfar works with the photographic medium to build psychologically charged immersive presentations exploring the intrinsic connections between community and landscape. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and has received several grants, including the Puffin Foundation Artist Grant, the Joseph Robert Foundation Grant, and the Australian Postgraduate Award.
Tomo Sone
Laba Process/Project
Tomo Sone is a choreographer who merges artistic vision with scientific insights, crafting innovative dance narratives. Her recent research explores digital technology’s relationship with the human body, seeking new avenues for empathy. Tomo’s performances have been showcased at numerous venues and festivals, including the Suzanne Dellal Center and the Jerusalem Theatre in Israel.
https://tomoguest.wixsite.com/dance
Tslil Tsemet
Laba Process/Project
Tslil Tsemet, born in 1988 in Nahariya, Israel, is a painter exploring global barriers and social structures. A BFA graduate from Bezalel Academy and MFA graduate from the New York Academy of Art, she has exhibited internationally, blending her politically charged upbringing, cultural fusions, and activism into thought-provoking artworks.