Federations, JCCs and agencies retrench in the face of economic crisis
By ERIN ELLIOTT / Community News Editor
At a May 18 luncheon sponsored by Newsweek magazine, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. economy was beginning to stabilize, but cautioned that consumers will still feel the pain of the current downturn for some time.
“It’s not going to [...]

The Marcantonios explain it all, and more
 The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide exhibits playwright Tony Kushner’s wide-ranging interest in everything
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
Some who have seen Tony Kushner’s much anticipated new play, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures — which had its world premiere on May 22 at the Guthrie Theater — complain [...]

Dancer and choreographer Ida Arbeit, 99, will be featured in a performance on June 7 at the St. Paul JCC
By ERIN ELLIOTT / Community News Editor
Maria DuBois Genné first described Ida Arbeit as a “99-year-old dancer.” Then she changed her mind, saying Arbeit is “a dancer who happens to be 99.”
Genné is the artistic director of [...]

At first glance, it looked like a case of astute police work. Four ex-convicts, three of them recent jailhouse converts to Islam, were caught in the act of planting bombs at two New York City synagogues last week. They also were in possession of a surface-to-air missile, which they ostensibly planned to use in downing [...]

To be Jewish, must one subscribe to dogma? Must one develop a personal faith? Isn’t it good enough to be a Jew at heart? What is the place of God in Jewish identity? Can’t one behave ethically without believing in God?

In Common Place, which is on display in the Tychman Shapiro Gallery at the Sabes JCC, local artists Anita Ophoven and Suzanna Schlesinger carefully craft their work to find perfection in the comforting tension between opposites. Small-scale ceramic sculptures, like “Feast” (below), draw the viewer into Schlesinger’s work, encouraging the intimate examination of each piece, and [...]