October 25, 2019
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When tragedy strikes, what happens to a place and its people after the news vans have packed up and the stories have been broadcast? This question is the central inspiration for new, indie film Up There. The film follows journalist Jack on assignment to the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, tasked with writing a story […]
Continue readingOctober 4, 2019
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We’re lucky here in the Twin Cities to have the Tony Award-nominated musical Mean Girls at the Orpheum Theatre through Oct. 13. Not just because it’s fantastic. But because it is the perfect Yom Kippur show. Hang with me, I’ll get there. The basics: the play is the adaptation of Tina Fey’s 2004 movie, which […]
Continue readingOctober 2, 2019
September 27, 2019
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JFS recently partnered with Sholom to harvest the vegetable gardens on their campus.
Continue readingSeptember 27, 2019
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Scene One: Minnesota State Fair. Walking up to a radio station booth advertising a giant poster of Lizzo. “Are you giving away anything cool? *looks at Lizzo* “I really wish she would just do a surprise show at the Fair.” Radio station girl laughed and shook her head. Alas Lizzo was at the MTV Video […]
Continue readingSeptember 13, 2019
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If you haven’t heard of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two nice Jewish fellows from the East Coast who met in Los Angeles in 1950, you’ve likely heard their songs. Their many, many toe-tapping melodies popularized by talent such as Elvis Presley, The Drifters, Peggy Lee and the Shangri-Las. You know these little diddies: “Hound […]
Continue readingSeptember 13, 2019
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Remember Steven Spielberg’s Munich? Now that was a great film! No, it wasn’t flawless by any means, but mostly exquisite. I always felt the final scene sent the wrong message. Geoffery Rush refusing to break bread with Eric Bana, is sore and spiteful that our trauma-scorched hero no longer wishes to work for the Mossad. […]
Continue readingSeptember 6, 2019
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Ari Shapiro remembers the kosher meat truck. Once a month, a freezer truck from Chicago would pull into the Fargo, N.D., synagogue parking lot where his family and other Jewish families would collect their monthly supply of kosher meat. The NPR All Things Considered co-host describes the Fargo Jewish community as “really tight” and says […]
Continue readingSeptember 5, 2019
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For the 25th anniversary of the Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival, it’s not just enough to have a full two weeks of films. This year, the JCCs are adding something extra to almost every film. This year’s festival has a “beyond the screen” experience to almost every one of the 15 films, which included 3 […]
Continue readingSeptember 5, 2019
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Stuart Bloom’s careers have almost perfectly bisected his life to date: He spent the first 30 years of his life as an actor and comedian, the next 31 as a physician. This weekend, he combines the two parts of his career in the musical How To Avoid Burnout In 73 Minutes (A Minimally Invasive Musical […]
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