Equipping rabbis, Jewish professionals, leaders and philanthropists with first-hand knowledge of Palestinian life, Encounter trains Jewish leaders to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to heal internal Jewish rifts formed in its wake.  Since 2005, Encounter has brought over 1,000 prominent and emerging Jewish leaders on trips to Bethlehem, Hebron and East Jerusalem to gain first-hand exposure to Palestinian life.

What makes Encounter so interesting – and its position so powerful – is how it has situated itself staunchly within the established Jewish community and successfully engaged professional and volunteer Jewish leaders across demographics, denominations, and generations.  Its goal is to seed a new cadre of American Jewish leadership equipped to grapple with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, catalyzing change in communal institutions, boardrooms, classrooms, and across campuses.

Founded six years ago, it has been led since its inception by Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, who I first met about ten years ago in a Jerusalem apartment where I’d come for some extra-curricular Kabbalah study with a favorite Hebrew University professor.   While dialogue programs aren’t new to the field, Encounter’s innovations under Melissa’s leadership were plentiful, including its thoughtful cultivation of Palestinian partners and its nuanced (and distanced) approach to (initially unwanted) media attention. Melissa understood that the delicate work Encounter does would be better fostered initially without bright lights and unnecessary public scrutiny.  She correctly surmised that the program’s power and the need it served would speak for themselves to their core demographic – their participants – and that nothing would be lost keeping their heads down and hearts focused on the important and challenging work in front of them.

More recently, however, she hasn’t been able to keep out of the spotlight. Melissa was invited to the White House for this year’s Jewish American Heritage Month reception.  She was also awarded the first ever Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize, which came with a $100,000 award (split between the innovator and her organization).  A few weeks ago, Encounter honored her for six years of service, as she is now stepping down from her role as Executive Director.

Lest you fear that Encounter will suffer in Melissa’s absence, though, alongside the announcement of the Grinnell College prize award, Encounter announced that Melissa would be succeeded as Executive Director by Yona Shem-Tov, a rising Jewish and interfaith leader to keep your eyes on.

“Encounter is the organizational embodiment of my most deeply held values,” says Yona. “I am deeply honored to grow the impact of one of the most effective forces for creating inclusive and compelling Israel engagement strategies for the North American Jewish community and for helping to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Yona has worked as an interfaith educator for Abraham’s Vision and as a group leader for American Jewish World Service in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Mexico.

A noted public speaker, Yona has presented on Israel and interfaith education before The Congress of Imams & Rabbis in Seville, the German Consul General and members of German Parliament in Berlin.  She also consulted to the The Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild Foundations on the development of the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship. It aims to develop a network of entrepreneurs with a demonstrated interest in social change and cross-cultural dialogue, with a focus on individuals and organizations from Muslim and Jewish communities in the USA, UK and France.

“After watching Yona present and facilitate dialogue among Jewish and Muslim leaders from around the world, our staff at The Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild Foundations recruited her for her unique blend of charisma, strategic vision, theoretical knowledge and programmatic execution,” says Baroness Ariane de Rothschild. “Yona has an exceptional capacity to bring together people from diverse backgrounds, and outstanding programmatic vision that has helped us successfully seed an unprecedented network of Jewish and Muslim social entrepreneurs.”

With this transition, Melissa may solidify her place as an innovative Jewish leader even as she introduces us to another. Similarly to how they execute their programming, Encounter’s leadership transition has been long in the works and methodical in its execution. Few Jewish organizations created in the last ten years have attempted the transition away from founding professional leader that Encounter is now making.  This significant crop of Jewish start-ups (one that JDub, along with Encounter, is often included in) is regularly derided for its dependence on charismatic founders and inability to “prove” impact, while simultaneously challenged to evolve into sustainable institutions.  Time will tell, but all indications are that with this transition, Encounter will yet again prove that a big vision, coupled with pragmatic execution, is a possible – and necessary – equation for a 21^st Century Jewish organization.

The post The Big Jewcy: Yona Shem Tov And Rabbi Melissa Weintraub: American Jewish Leaders Encountering Palestinians appeared first on Jewcy.

Alas, they grew up, and so did we. But they’re back in the game with a new album coming out next month, and a related short film called Fight for Your Right Revisited. The 22 minute film features Will Ferrel, Elijah Wood, Jack Black, Will Arnett, and John C. Reilly. Watch the boys get ironic and nostalgic in one fell swoop in this trailer which was just released.

The post Beastie Boys Fight For Your Right Revisited Video Premiere appeared first on Jewcy.

I first met Ori Kaplan, one of the founders of Balkan Beat Box, at a Billionaires for Bush party in 2004, where, under the BBB name, a quartet had the honor of the 4am slot.  BBB was creating their album across international borders, sending files between Tel Aviv, Williamsburg, Syria, and Bulgaria.  For Purim 2005, JDub produced Balkan Beat Box’s official New York City debut with a full band line up, two stages, flamenco dancers, vaudevillian clowns, and Tomer Yosef’s first (but certainly not last) performance hanging upside down from the ceiling of SOB’s.  Since then, I’ve heard stories of climbing guides introducing their clients to BBB in the mountains of Turkey, read about young Palestinians dancing – happily and knowingly – at BBB shows in France, and danced along myself to their insanely high energy shows in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Manchester, Tennessee.  Choreographers set new works to their songs, and environmentalists created a falafel oil & bicycle powered stage for them to play on for Earth Day.

Throughout the years, individual members have released albums of noise-rock, Cantorial Afrobeat, orchestral punk, and Israeli reggae and hip hop.  Today, though, BBB’s founding members, saxophonist Ori Kaplan and drummer/producer Tamir Muskat, along with BBB bassist Itamar Ziegler and guitarist (and Bored to Death composer) Stephen Ulrich released their own side project, and it is a beast.

They describe the sound as “Mediterranean trash rock.”  I call it the second coming of Morphine.  Or better yet, a 21st Century film noir soundtrack.  Its moody but not brooding.  At times frenetic, at others mellow and simmering, Shotnez‘ self titled debut is a (mostly) instrumental rock masterpiece.  It owes much to the vibe and creative spirit nurtured at Tonic, the now shuttered NYC club created by John Zorn, where the band’s members got their pre-BBB start.

Today on Jewcy we’re premiering the entire Shotnez album.  Enjoy!

The post Shotnez: Balkan Beat Box’s Founders Stretch Out appeared first on Jewcy.

The post Kveller Premiere Macaroons’ Passover Video: Seder Plate appeared first on Jewcy.

Growing up as the son of a rabbi meant we constantly entertained guests on the weekends.  Holidays meals were considered small if there were less than 25 guests.  I wouldn’t say I was shy per se, but by an early age I found that I preferred shuttling between table and kitchen to schmoozing with congregants, and sometimes, even with family.

I also really enjoyed learning from my mom in the kitchen. I spent more time with her there than anywhere else.  Cooking was not a chore in our house.  It was both a creative outlet and an expression of love, but not in the stereotypical “eat because you never know when the Nazis will come back” kind of way.  There were no Holocaust survivors in our immediate family; in fact, both of my mom’s parents were born in Minneapolis (Go Vikings!).  For years, my bubbe and her sisters were the primary family bakers, and we waited eagerly each year for holiday packages to arrive.  Bubbe taught me to cook and carve the Thanksgiving turkey, and with my mom, taught me the art of baking not one, but two types of hamantashen.   Anybody can make a cookie dough, but are you ready for yeast dough hamantashen?  Imagine a stuffed sweet challah.  There’s really nothing better.

Ten years ago, right around this time of year, my grandfather died unexpectedly.  My grandmother, already in the final stages of a prolonged battle with breast cancer, would die less than 10 days later.  I’m not entirely sure what drove me to do it, but in the week of shiva for my grandfather, as we waited for the inevitable, I baked a lot of these hamantashen.  The moment was bitter, but the taste retained its sweetness.

In this edition of Jewish Mothers Cooking, we’re going to share the Bisman (but first Rubenstein, and before that, Widetsky) family recipes for each, one of which goes back at least 100 years.  Filling flavors are up to you, but you should know that if you don’t eat one with poppyseed filling, you’re not really eating hamantashen.  Take a risk, and don’t worry about what gets stuck in your teeth.  Just buy some floss.

COOKIE DOUGH HAMENTASHEN RECIPE (from a Beth El Minneapolis cookbook, year unknown)

4 ¼ c. flour
1 ½ c. sugar
½ lb. unsalted butter or margarine, cold and firm
4 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
2 large eggs
3 T. orange juice
Finely grated zest of two oranges (optional)

Mix dry ingredients in food processor for 2 seconds.  Add butter in 1 T. sections and pulse in short bursts until it resembles coarse meal.  Mix in liquid until dough is smooth and moist.  Wrap in waxed paper (or saran wrap) and refrigerate at least two hours or, ideally, overnight.

Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut into circles, form hamentashen and bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

BUBBE FANNY’S YEAST DOUGH FOR HAMENTASCHEN RECIPE (Passed down through 4 generations, brought to America from Europe by Bubbe’s mother)

Dissolve:
2 cakes or envelopes yeast in
2 c. warm milk (or water)
1 T. sugar

Let sit for a few minutes until it starts to foam

Add:
¼ lb. butter (or margarine), melted or very soft
3 eggs
¾ c. sugar
3 eggs
½ t. salt
6 c. flour

Mix well
Refrigerate overnight (or let rise until doubled)
Roll out, cut in large circles and fill

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown – about 20 minutes

The post Jewcy Mothers Cooking: Hundred Year Old Hamantaschen appeared first on Jewcy.

Stereotyped by its ethnic and religious divisions, and constantly under pressure to live up to its reputation as “the Holy City,” Jerusalem’s cultural contributions – beyond, you know, helping birth a few religions – are not well known and certainly not often highlighted on the international stage.  But that will change beginning in May with the inauguration of the first annual “Jerusalem Season of Culture.”

Lest you immediately assume this means presentations of kitschy Judaica, settler jambands, and folk dancing on Ben Yehuda Street, consider the resumes of the founding curators:  Itay Mautner is co-creator of ARTTLV, the international art biennial in Tel Aviv; Naomi Bloch Fortis is former executive director of the Batsheva Dance Company.   They’ve announced their season with a video commission (below) from Kutiman, best known for Thru-You, which Time named one of the best inventions of 2009 and was featured last fall at the Guggenheim.  Itay and Naomi – as well as their funders (which, you should know, include two JDub/Jewcy supporters – the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund) are aiming to highlight Jerusalem’s flourishing arts scene, and “unleash local and international cultural events rooted in the city’s unique cultural DNA.”  According to Mautner, “This summer, Jerusalem will be home to one of the most ambitious cultural projects in the history of the Israeli arts scene.  The season…aims to make cultural programming more accessible to a wide range of audiences, and to celebrate Jerusalem’s arts and artists in a way that reflects the city’s complexity and diversity.”

We first heard about the idea for the Season over a year ago.  It was so ambitious as to make me more than a little skeptical that, even with significant funding, it could come together.  But looking over the schedule of planned events is truly overwhelming, in the best sense.  Site specific dance by Merce Cunningham Dance Company and a Swedish staging of  work by Steve Reich performed in a Turkish prison within the City of David; a mini-festival celebrating “alternative” photography, performance, and new music, and a weekly series of events in Machane Yehuda, in which artists will interact with the vendors of Jerusalem’s famous open air market.

Jerusalem is too often reduced to the place they throw stones at you for driving on Shabbat or the place you stuff an awkwardly written prayer into a wall. Or the place where, magical as it may often feel, you are reduced to the simplest label that can be thrown at you – Black Hat, American, Baal T’shuva, Arab.  As a tool of both commentary and community, Jerusalem needs efforts like this to ground its inhabitants – and tourists – in the reality of our shared humanity.

The post JDub Is The Selector: Jerusalem Invents “Season Of Culture” appeared first on Jewcy.

So I was pleasantly surprised to hear a new entry into the fold today, from the one and only King of indie kids music, Dan Zanes.  Dan’s cover of Israeli folk favorite Ner Li is raw and sweet, with an immediate payoff.

Dan Zanes: [audio:http://www.danzanes.com/content/media/audio/Ner_Li_.mp3]

While you’re here, I want to share a few more gems.  Our friends at MyJewishLearning sponsored the creation of a new Bible Raps song, “Light is in the Air.”  While I could certainly do without the auto-tuning myself, it’s a catchy song with some creative visual effects.

Finally, whether you saw it upon its initial premiere in 2005 or not, the classic Sesame Street-inspired video for How do you spell Hanukkah, by JDub’s own LeeVees, is worth a spin or 5.

LeeVees – How Do You Spell Channukkahh? from The LeeVees on Vimeo.

I clearly haven’t covered all un-annoying, non-novelty Hanukkah songs in this post. Please tell me what I’m missing in the comments section!

The post Hanukkah Songs I Can Play For My Son Without Wanting To Poke My Eyes Out appeared first on Jewcy.

While this column is primarily about the non-JDub music I’m listening to, I would be remise this week if I didn’t share a few new tracks with you from the label I co-founded 8 years ago this week.

First up: Two songs from Soulico, the Israeli DJ collective I discovered through a mashup mixtape in a Tel Aviv record store in 2005, remixing and re-imagining material from their 2009 JDub release, Exotic on the Speaker.

“1000 Nights Remix” begins as a dark, brooding, synth-driven beat.  Your first hint of the Middle Eastern flavor to come is the flute.  Then Ravid Kahalani‘s voice hits you.  Ravid’s been getting a lot of attention for his own band, Yemen Blues, and as a singer with Israeli superstar Idan Raichel. And while he tries – admirably – to take lead here, Soulico’s beat is no second fiddle.  Check it two and a half minutes in – it picks up, mutates, and I suddenly imagine a midnight desert rave in the Negev, fist-pumping desert-dwellers who’ve never bothered with clubs and strobe lights alongside Pauly D, all of them caught up in this cross-cultural musical ecstasy.  Yes, its that good.

“Bitter Crunk” – Soulico introduces an appropriately exotic sample, throw in the synth they can’t seem to put down these days, and then bring in Rye Rye, who’s turn on Exotic on the Speaker’s title track was a banger in its own right.  Here, though, she gets the “chopped & screwed” treatment.

Today’s final selection is the first single from The Sway Machinery‘s forthcoming album, The House of Friendly Ghosts, Volume 1.  The band is led by Jeremiah Lockwood, a former Six Points Fellow and regular Balkan Beat Box guitarist, who explores new contexts for his family’s Cantorial musical tradition and his own 15 years as a blues musician in New York City’s subway stations.

“Gawad Teriamou (45 Edit)” – The song, like much of the album, features Malian superstar Khaira Arby and was recorded in Mali during the band’s journey there to perform at the Festival of the Desert.   On an album where you might expect to hear a jarring meshing of cultures or traditions, you instead hear joyous, funky harmony.

Soulico and The Sway Machinery are both playing The Festival of Strikes on Tuesday 11/30 in Brooklyn, a pre-Hanukkah party and fundraiser for JDub, to help us continue our work with new Jewish music, media, and culture.  They’ll be joined by label-mates Deleon and comedian Eugene Mirman.  We’re buying a free drink for the first 150 people in the door.  We’d love to see you there.

The post JDub is the selector: Festival of Strikes Edition appeared first on Jewcy.

Got to be honest, I was never a huge Debbie Friedman fan as a kid. And that’s because in the Reform vs. Conservative movement’s musical throwdown, I was squarely on the side of my man Craig Taubman, he of “Friday Night Live” fame in Los Angeles, legendary 1980s song leader of Camp Ramah in California. That said, I know of no Craig Taubman cover bands. The same cannot be said for Debbie, who has clearly inspired hundreds of songleaders across the country, and now, a Fab Four of her very own.

(Full disclosure: Jacob Perlin is a part time JDub employee. But that makes this video no less awesome or worthy of this post.)

The post JDub Is The Selector: The Greatest Debbie Friedman Cover Band Ever appeared first on Jewcy.

Margarita’s Gonzo account is certainly one way to see the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America.  And since these protesters, protest-lovers, and grouches have already filled you in on the pronouncements, arguments, and hours of service, I thought I’d try to give you a different angle in.

There were thousands of people in attendance — a mix of donors to Jewish causes and the professionals trying to get in face time with them.  They call themselves lay leaders, development officers, generals, and lions.  They discussed the recession, Iran, the dwindling number of donors to the Federation system, and young-this and next-gen-that. In the hallways, they chatted about their grant-making, grant-taking, love of Zionism, and love of booze.  What they didn’t discuss, was purpose and meaning.  Or why any of us are wrapped up in any element of Jewish life today, when we clearly could be doing easier, more lucrative, more efficient, or less frustrating things with our time.   (I took a stab at articulating my personal motivations this week.)

While not all that shocking, it is always a bit strange to me how the Jewish professional world fully divorces God, spirituality, and purpose from any and all of its proceedings.  I personally don’t mind the lack of God talk; what I mind is the complete lack of conversation about why the hell any of us care enough to devote our lives to Jewish work and community.

On Sunday morning, I listened to multiple volunteer leaders under the age of 40 from around the country proudly explain that their best programming focused only on bringing Jews together with other Jews.  In their experiences, no one wanted to participate in anything that was actually Jewish or involved Jewish content.  For some reason, I couldn’t get an answer when I asked: “So how is just wanting to hang with your own, to the exclusion of all others–for no unique purpose other than that you like Jews better–different from racism?”

I got plenty done down in New Orleans, and still managed to have a beignet before I left. I had moments of excitement and reinforced important relationships.  But I found myself frustrated and alienated as well, in ways that may never be overcome.  I’m not giving up on “the system;” I’m actually a big believer in it.  (Really, I even donate).  It has a place in our community – it feeds the hungry, educates our children, addresses Jewish and non-Jewish crises, and, in its shining moments, simultaneously supports initiatives (including JDub, Six Points, and Jewcy) that seek to engage with a modern Judaism for modern Jews.  But at its annual pep-rally, I still feel it looking more inward than out, more interested in celebrating its ability to gather than questioning why it gathered in the first place.

Maybe I’m just not a pep-rally kind of guy.

video via The Fundermentalist

The post General Jews & Assembled Lions: What You Didn’t Miss In New Orleans appeared first on Jewcy.