Hi GOLDA Gang!
I just got back from a quick trip to the Hamptons, where I was part of a very cool event at the Southampton Arts Center. It was a morning dedicated to Jewish arts and culture in this moment: the challenges and bright spots, the opportunities, and ultimately, the power of storytelling to shape our world. I moderated two of the panels, first talking with bestselling cookbook author Jake Cohen and Naama Shefi of the Jewish Food Society about how we’ve created modern Jewish brands that feel elevated and authentic. I also got to interview Fauda co-creator and writer Avi Issacharoff and Inglorious Basterds producer Lawrence Bender about tackling 10/7 storylines in the upcoming Season 5 of Fauda and the Paramount show Red Alert. There was a conversation about theater with Giant producers Dayna and Brian Lee and Miami New Drama founder and artistic director Michel Hausmann, and a look at the publishing landscape with Jewish Book Council CEO Naomi Firestone-Teeter. It was inspiring to see so much Jewishly-inspired creative work being produced for mainstream audiences.
I put together a GOLDA Guide for the event that attendees took home: a Jewish Culture Checklist for what to read, watch, and do in the coming months. I’m excited to share it with you here; scroll down for even more Jewish culture.
GOLDA will be back out East on Tuesday, Aug. 18 for an extremely cute afternoon of Mini Mahj for kids + their adults at ColorPop Workshop’s Southampton studio. No experience necessary! We’ll be playing with (and decorating) The Mahjong Line’s Lil Mahj cards, and there will be goodies and giveaways from PiccoliNY, Literie Candle, Evereden, Serve It Up Designs, Bakeful, Wake Kids, Babsy, and more. Ticket includes one adult + one child (6 and up); sign up here.
On Thursday, Sept. 17 I’ll be interviewing Dr. Beth Ricanati at the NYC launch event for her book, The Braided Prescription: Seven Practices for Living Well from the Ancient Practice of Making Challah, at The Strand Columbus at 7 p.m. Register here.
Check out all of our GOLDA events here, and get in touch at [email protected] to bring our signature GOLDA programming to your community.
One of the projects discussed at the Southampton Arts Center book event was Nu Reads, the Jewish book subscription series from the Jewish Book Council. Nu Reads also happens to be the presenting sponsor of our podcast GOLDA Girls (and one of the best things to happen to my bookshelf). I love getting to feature the authors of each of the Nu Reads selections on the podcast, and last week I interviewed Portia Elan, author of Homebound, the latest Nu Reads pick.
I asked Portia what books inspired her as she wrote Homebound, an ambitious, multi-timeline novel that spans centuries and takes us into a futuristic—and deeply Jewish—universe. She listed three Jewish novels, two of which I absolutely love and one that I’ve had on my to-read list for way too long:
As you’ll hear in my interview with Portia, I was actually thinking about The Weight of Ink—whose author Rachel Kadish graciously joined me at our GOLDA book night at The Harmonie Club this spring—while reading Homebound, even though that novel shoots into the future and this one mines the past.
I need to read this. Now I will!
This was the first book I remember reading and falling in love with. Nicole Krauss came to speak to my high school English class and when it came time for questions I asked her how she wrote. She looked at me quizzically and said with a laptop? I don’t know what secret morsel of wisdom I was hoping she would share, but I think about this incident at least once a month.
Listen to my full interview with Portia on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And get 15% off your Nu Reads subscription with code NuGolda.
On today’s episode of GOLDA Girls, my co-host Rabbi Diana Fersko continues on her challah baking journey with a visit from a helpful listener, I get emotional about my daughter Sadie’s first birthday, and Gabby Deutch scores a kiddush cup set at a secondhand sale–and sparks a conversation about reverse bageling. Listen to hear the whole thing on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you listen.
Allison Zuckerman is a Brooklyn-based artist and the curator of Hineni, a new group show at the Ezra Gallery of the Hamptons in collaboration with A Hug From the Art World. The exhibit features works by Zuckerman, Joel Mesler, Aliza Stone Howard, Lisa Edelstein, Zoya Cherkassky, and many other artists, and is on view through Aug. 20.
I caught up with Allison—the recipient of the inaugural Mark Podwal Prize in Visual Art—to chat about the exhibit. “Hineni is a group show of 15 artists who proudly incorporate Jewish themes and iconography into their work,” she told me. “I really want to celebrate them, because to talk about Jewish themes openly is, I think, an act of bravery.
Before we get to the exhibit, I’d love to know how you explore your Jewish identity through your art.
I didn't really think about incorporating my Jewish identity into my work prior to Oct. 7, and then Oct. 7 happened and it really changed my life and my outlook. I felt so empowered to be learning about not just Jewish identity but also Jewish artists. Obviously I knew Marc Chagall, but I started learning more and more and more. Did you know that Modigliani was Jewish? A Sephardic Jew. I had no idea. Camille Pissarro, the father of Impressionism—Jewish. I love that discovery, and also finding out things like the artisans who worked on Torah arks in Europe, when they immigrated to America, they carved the horses on the carousels in Coney Island. I feel like that's such a part of the American Jewish story, contributing to society in this joyous, beautiful way. I find it so inspiring and I feel like my eyes have been opened.
What is your favorite thing about the exhibit?
We have a painter who comes from a Hasidic background in South Williamsburg. We have secular Israeli artists. There's such a spectrum of what it means to be Jewish; we're not a monolith, and this show celebrates that. There are so many aspects of Jewish life and identity and history and culture and contribution reflected here.
I love the meaning of the Hebrew word hineni: here I am. It’s this declaration of being present, being responsible, being somebody that you can count on. I feel like I can count on these artists. They're all heroes to me.
When you reached out to the artists to ask if they wanted to be part of this show, what was the response?
It was an immediate YES from everyone.
What do you want people to come away from the show with?
I want people to learn one new thing about Jewish culture or Jewish identity, whether they're Jewish or not. I want Jewish people to see how diverse we are, and how much Jewish art is out there. I would love to inspire more people to talk about Judaism, or to talk about their Jewish identity. I think the best way that we can confront antisemitism is by being visibly and proudly Jewish—just bringing our light into the world. That’s what I'm really hoping to achieve with the show.
Check out Hineni at the Ezra Gallery of the Hamptons in Sag Harbor, on view through Aug. 20.
Shabbat Shalom—and stay GOLDA,
Stephanie
