Israeliness™: Israeli Family Programs: A bi-weekly program for families with young children, focusing on Israeli culture and conducted entirely in Hebrew.
92Y Video: Alan Dershowitz vs. Dennis Prager: The Left, the Right and Judaism in America, Part 2
We previously posted a clip from the debate on October 8 at the 92nd Street Y with Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz and talk radio host Dennis Prager on “The Left, the Right and Judaism in America.” Above is another where they assess the current threat to Israel, thoughts on George W. Bush (as well as his father), and how the Middle East conflict is represented on American campuses.
The Michelle and Norman Lattman Lecture: Michael B. Oren and Yossi Klein Halevi have an expansive conversation about the world’s obsession with Israel and the tempestuous politics of the Middle East.
Sweet, Sweet Candy: Discover the sweet history of candy and the origins of jelly beans, Charleston Chews, Chuckles, Tootsie Rolls, Red Hots, wax lips, gum and more.
Greenwich Village Ghosts Tour : Including the Old Merchant’s House, the Astor Library, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a former potter’s field, an execution ground and more.
...Vidal gathered steam as the evening progressed, and Parini showed slides of photos from his book—which Vidal, with some difficulty, turned around to glimpse. In one, a skinny, dysentery-suffering Vidal was sitting against a wall in Guatemala, where he lived for a time—in sin, it is said—with the erotic writer Anais Nin.
“What was she like?” Parini asked.
“Come on,” Vidal parried, “gentlemen don’t answer those questions.”
Another photo showed him standing with Charlton Heston on the set of Ben Hur, on which Vidal worked as a script doctor.
Parini asked about Heston’s acting skills. “He was rather wooden, wasn’t he?”
“Well,” Vidal replied, “if you count balsa as one of the woods.”
In another Hollywood anecdote, Vidal recounted how one of his film projects fell apart when the prospective director, Hal Ashby, “decided to snort all the cocaine in Malibu.”
By this time the audience was fully on Vidal’s side, rooting for him, even prompting him when he had trouble remembering the names of Kevin Spacey, Dalton Trumbo, and President James K. Polk. “Polk, yes!” Vidal said. “His great granddaughter is married to George Stevens Jr. What does this mean? Nothing!”
By the time of the audience Q&A, he was positively on fire. When an audience member wondered why Christopher Hitchens, the formerly left-leaning columnist for The Nation, had become a neoconservative, Vidal gleefully took aim. “Ask him—leave me out of it,” Vidal said, to laughter. The crowd was in stitches for the rest of his answer. “You know, he identified himself for many years as the heir to me. And unfortunately for him, I didn’t die. I just kept going on and on and on. ‘There he is, Mr. Good Guy Liberal, and he just wouldn’t croak.’ So if you don’t like that, he thought, ‘I’ll be Mr. Bad Guy.’ And boy, he is. He’s made a real place for himself.”
Manhunts:Saboteur, The 39 Steps, North By Northwest, To Catch A Thief: View and discuss scenes from the aforementioned films and other Hitchcock movies to appreciate his genius and style. Read more on the 92Y Blog.
Saturday Night Ballroom: Step out of the streets and into one of NYC’s most beautiful social dance ballrooms for an evening of waltz, tango, foxtrot, quick-step, rumba and more!
Deeper Dating with Kathryn Janus: Each event includes an illuminating mini-lecture on dating and intimacy, followed by a series of enjoyable exercises.
David Lehman: A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
Tablet.com asked author and cultural critic David Lehman to name his Top 10 Favorite Songs. His picks include The Lady is a Tramp, Over the Rainbow, and others. Not afraid to go the extra mile, Tablet has provided mp3 samples for each song in the list. And because Over the Rainbow deserves to be heard in full, here is a YouTube link of Judy Garland signing it in the Wizard of Oz. Though Israel Kamakawiwo’s version is arguably just as great.
So what do the ten songs picked by Lehman have in common? They were all written by Jewish composers. On Nov 10, join David Lehman and guest musicians for: A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs. There will be singing.
92Y Video: Alan Dershowitz vs. Dennis Prager: The Left, the Right and Judaism in America
On October 8, 2009 at the 92nd Street Y, two of the nation’s most provocative voices on issues surrounding Judaism and the Middle East conflict, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz and talk radio host Dennis Prager, debated “The Left, the Right and Judaism in America.” Prager leaves no room for misinterpretation on where he stands by declaring, “there is something wrong with your moral barometer if you’re anti-Israel.” Dershowitz agrees with that of course, but makes a more nuanced argument for the liberal support of Israel. Watch the video excerpt above.
Dershowitz returns on November 21 for a debate with Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street, on American Foreign Policy and Israel. Eliot Spitzer will be the moderator. Browse more upcoming lectures of Jewish interest.
The nursery school students at 92Y beautifully decorated the 92Y Sukkah, photographed above, which is on display in our lobby. Thanks kids, we love it!
View all 92Y Jewish Life events, and subscribe to the Jewish Life & Culture email list and save 15% on events.
Learning To Take Risks: Learn how to live a fuller, more authentic life and achieve your goals by identifying your underlying intentions, beliefs and actions.
Ethan Bronner: Israel and Palestine—What’s Next? Ethan Bronner discusses the latest developments in the Middle East peace process and his first-hand account of life in the region.
Gourmet Lover’s Tour of Italy: Discover the wonderful world of Italian olive oil, cheese, wine, pasta, specialty dishes and fabulous chocolates and desserts.
This Is Nollywood (2007) *: Franco Sacchi’s film’s is about the homegrown Nigerian film industry, which produces over 1,000 movies a year. Part of the Visual Africa Series subscription.
What You Missed: Judaism 5770.0: Digital Community and Connection Building
From left to right: Isaac Luria, Sara Marcus, Motti Seligson, and Daniel Sieradski, moderator.
Presented in cooperation with JTA, last night we hosted Judaism 5770.0: Digital Community and Connection Building. The panel featured @IsaacLuria, campaigns director for J Street, @MottiSeligson, public affairs and communications professional at Chabad.org, Sara Schwimmer Marcus (@PopJudaica), and was moderated by Daniel Sieradski, (@mobius1ski) founder of the popular blog Jewschool.
The event explored the ways in which digital tools, particularly social networks, can help build community in Jewish groups and organizations. As such, it was widely tweeted upon by many; check the @replies in our Twitter feed for a selection of those, or search the hash tag created, #djc70.
It wasn’t all a social media love fest however. Early on, Isaac Luria, speaking about J Street’s email list and how effective it has been, noted: “Email is probably the best app ever invented.” Speaking of, you can sign up for our Jewish Life & Culture Email Newsletter.
But Motti Seligson might have dropped the most notable news of the evening when he informed the audience that during the Mumbai attacks, Chabad was receiving enough useful information about the scene via their Twitter that the FBI approached Chabad with a request to share the information.
As we tweeted the event live from the audience, we solicited a question for the panel, via Twitter of course, from William Daroff (@Daroff), Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington office of United Jewish Communities. He asked the panel if Twitter is just a passing fad, and if they believe it will still be around in five years. The consensus was that Twitter might fall out of favor, a la Friendster, but services that provide microblogging and instant publishing is here to stay.
It was an interesting and informative discussion, and Daniel Sieradski has helpfully posted a full audio file from the event on his website. You can listen to that here.
In the video above, Columbia Professor Jeremy Dauber presents a short introduction for his series on Jewish Comedians which focuses on Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce and Mel Brooks. Tickets can be purchased here.
And below, you can listen to a podcast featuring a brief Q&A we did with Jeremy as he talks about the history of Jewish comedy, comics who were important to its evolution and what it looks like today
You can also download the MP3. [7 MB]
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Subscribe with iTunes or add our podcast feed to your RSS news reader and have future 92nd Street Y podcasts delivered automatically.
Shababa Dinner in the Sukkah with Karina: Welcome Shabbat with friends and family, eat dinner under the stars in our rooftop Sukkah and learn about the ancient festival of booths.
Stacy London with Dr Gail Saltz. Part of the Ruth Stanton Illustrious Women Series. Read more on the 92Y Blog. And see what people are saying about Stacy London on Twitter.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed an audience here last night, after addressing the U.N. General Assembly earlier that morning. Tablet wrote:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a brief homecoming—of sorts—last night at the 92nd Street Y, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where he apparently learned to swim as a kid. “This was where I had my first immersion into American Jewish affairs,” Netanyahu joked to the thousand or so people who turned up, at relatively short notice, and waited two hours at security to see him…
Video from David Grossman’s appearance in May, speaking about an inspiration of his, Polish writer Bruno Schulz:
...And every story of Schulz, is a protest. Full of humor and irony, but protest against oblivion and boredom and banality. Against the stereotypical approach to the human being.
If it’s readings you enjoy, we have a great season in store for you. And don’t forget, or maybe you didn’t even know, but those age 35 and under can purchase tickets for $10 to any Main Reading Series event.
92Y Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation. View the Poetry Center archive.
92Y Video: Recanati-Kaplan Student Zach Davis and Rabbi David Kalb on Fox 5 Good Day New York
If you missed the segment on Fox 5 Good Day New York last Friday, we’ve got you covered! Watch above as Recanati-Kaplan scholar and trumpet wiz Zach Davis, with our own Rabbi David Kalb standing by, as Zach displays his shofar blowing prowess (like teaching a fish to swim, apparently).
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Lloyd Grove attended Gore Vidal’s talk here last night, and 
And because Over the Rainbow deserves to be heard in full, 
UPDATE: 
