Here’s a last minute addition to our July programs.  On Thursday, July 17 at 7:30 pm, we’re partnering with Adas Israel Congregation’s Green Committee, the Center for Israel Studies at American University, DC Minyan, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and Kesher Israel Congregation to present a talk by Michael J. Granoff, Head of Oil Independence Policies for Project Better Place.

Project Better Place is nothing less than a pathway to a commercially viable electric car, and with $200 million in investor funding, the future may be closer than you think. Israel, in cooperation with Renault/Nissan have drawn up a plan to make Israel energy independent within a decade–with the government committing to the tax incentives and infrastructure and Renault/Nissan committed to the mass production of electric cars for sale to John Q. Public (or Yaakov B. Tzibur as the case may be).

While the motivation for a country like Israel to free itself from dependence on Middle Eastern Oil is fairly obvious, the solutions proposed by Project Better Place claim to be scalable to a nation of any size.

Now, perhaps the expense of filling my car at $65 a pop has me seeing oases of oil-free living that are not as close as the mirror of my mind would have them appear. But, given the billions that the petroleum industry is clearing in profits, you would think there might be a billion or two out there to fund something like this? Come to the free event, next Thursday at the Washington DCJCC and find out. In the mean time, enjoy the CGI gasoline-free future in the clip below or visit PBP founder Shai Agassi’s blog The Long Tailpipe.

Many thanks to the City Paper for clarifying our geographical location. It seems we are part of Borderstan– an area running the 15th Street corridor between P and T Streets. Although, I would argue that the 16th Street J comprises its own distinct region of Kvetchistan. In fact, I’m thinking of launching the Kvetchistan Independence Klatch & Enclave Army. In an era of shifting police districts, an expansionist Bloomingdale neighborhood and saber-rattling Petworth with its fetishization of doors, gardens and windows– I am afraid we have no other choice.

Yossi Alpher gets duped by Bruno…

From the Forward’s website:

We confronted a tall, blond-ish man in his thirties, dressed in leather and studs, his face heavily powdered, his arms and chest shaven. He spoke in a heavy German accent, his movements and mannerisms ultra-gay. He tried to write down our names, but they came out dyslexic…

…And so it went. The cameras kept rolling, the cameramen never cracking a smile. “Vy don’t you Jews and Arabs settle the conflict with a time share on the land?” “Ven vill you Jews return the pyramids?” “Vy can’t Jews and Hindus get along?”

Jews and Hindus?

We played it straight and square. Nay, we simply are straight and square. We smiled at the idiotic questions and answered them patiently. We remonstrated that this was no way to help the youth of the world understand the depth and tragedy of our conflict. When presented with more straightforward questions, we eagerly demonstrated our disagreements on fundamental issues like refugees and who started the conflict. We knew something ludicrous was happening but couldn’t quite figure it out. Besides, we ourselves were not being ridiculed — only the conflict that occupies and preoccupies us. And we were pressured for time and just wanted to finish.

Our rock-star host concluded with a mind-boggling song about the epic Middle East conflict between Jews and Hindus. At the crescendo, he grabbed our hands and joined them with his. Unlike Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert (or President Bush and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah), my Palestinian fellow interviewee and I are not hand-holders, but we suffered through it. As we started to hurry away, the interviewer followed us, cameras still rolling, peppering us with nonsense questions about being taken hostage and having his throat slit on camera.

We’re actually starting to worry a little bit about Peter Marks. Granted, there were some hard feelings back in May when he savaged Theater J’s production of David In Shadow and Light. His review plus the Post Weekend Section’s gratuitous pile-on in their Should You Go? feature effectively killed the show (to be fair, along with a host of other negative notices). Not content with that, Mr. Marks took another swipe at the show yesterday in an article featuring his high and low points for the past theatre season. Fair enough. We can handle the fact that David was an artistic low-point for him, but his critical focus is pulled in a rather Freudian direction.

Exhibit A: In the lede for his May 20th review of the show, Mr. Mark’s comments:

When the scheming underminer, King Saul, gives David the assignment of — yikes! — bringing back the foreskins of 100 Philistines, the future Jewish monarch does not merely meet the gruesome target number. He exceeds it by 100.

The sight of the young actor Matt Pearson proudly toting his bloody sack of 200 foreskins is one of the weirder incidents of this most peculiar musical, which opened Sunday night in a world premiere engagement by Theater J.

The sight might have been weird, but it was based in scripture, specifically: I Samuel 18:25-27

And Saul said: ‘Thus shall ye say to David: The king desireth not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’ For Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. And the days were not expired; and David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

Now theatrically, the production could have portrayed this moment in any number of ways, from a stylized re-enactment of 200 circumcisions, a bucket of bloody latex, or merely mentioning it. They went with Saul receiving a sack painted red that “contained” the aforementioned foreskins. This Mr. Marks deemed, “Moment most likely to set off the gag reflex“

When King David stormed onto the stage in this bizarre biblical musical, bearing a blood-soaked bag with the foreskins of 200 enemy combatants, you wanted to yell, “Cut!” (Ooh. On second thought, maybe not.)

I don’t know. Maybe Marks has a weak stomach. Maybe he had a bad experience at a bris. Maybe the sack reminded Peter too much of a, well, ahem, sack. But in the final analysis, it was a bag painted red. It was just make-believe. No actual foreskins were harmed in the making of this musical (for the record, we don’t put blood in our matzah either). 

Then again, getting an audience member to be viscerally repulsed by a simple prop is the mark of good theater. So perhaps, in the final analysis we’ll just take it as a compliment.

Hot Times in The City Summer Day Camp

Session II Begins Monday, June 30
Spots still available in Camp Skate, JKids and for CITs (we’ll even pro-rate if you’re reading this after Monday 6/30)

Is your kid spending the summer at Camp XBox? Get them off the couch and into the best urban camp in the country.

The Annual Washington Jewish Film Festival Friendraiser: The Debt

Monday, June 30, 7:30 pm
Join past donors to the WJFF for a great film and light reception. Meet Susan Barocas, the new director of the WJFF as it gets ready to launch its 19th edition this December.

2007, Israel, 35mm,
93 minutes, Hebrew, German and Russian with English subtitles
Director: Assaf Bernstein

This thrilling drama tells the tale of three Mossad agents who capture the “Surgeon of Birkenau”, a monstrous Nazi war criminal in 1964. The agents keep him confined to their safe house on the outskirts of Berlin awaiting further instructions to return to Israel. As they watch over the captive, a psychological duel begins between the Nazi doctor and the three young agents; leading to the doctor’s eventual escape. Unable to face their horrible failure, the agents fabricate the Surgeon’s death and return to Israel as heroes. More than thirty years later, the Surgeon resurfaces in the Ukraine, claiming he wishes to confess his crimes against humanity. Gila Almagor (Munich, In Treatment) plays the ex-Mossad agent Rachel, who must take action to protect their lie by terminating a man known to be dead and redeem the debt against which she has built her life.

Hebraica Mirrors by Matatiaou in the Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery

Opens July 1 through September 30
Hebraica Mirrors includes over 60 fine prints on Arches Velum and leather parchment, representing the crossroads of contemporary design and traditional Hebrew calligraphy by the French Jewish artist Matatiaou. This universal graphic interpretation is inspired by the Zohar- the direct origin of the Kabbalah, written circa 1300. The exhibition comes to us from The Jewish Museum of Florida.

]]> http://16thstreetj.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/this-week-at-the-16th-street-j-9/feed/ CPO Click to Register for Session II The Debt Hebraica Mirrors by Matatiaou http://16thstreetj.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/buy-our-fake-oranges/ http://16thstreetj.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/buy-our-fake-oranges/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:51:22 +0000 CPO http://16thstreetj.wordpress.com/?p=232

Looking for that perfect something for the person who has everything? How about 1000 fake oranges, complete with little, green “Jaffa” stickers on them?

As part of the Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery’s exhibit L(a)ttitudes, Avner Bar Hama created a map of Israel entirely out of these oranges. Now that the exhibit is over, they need a good home.

We’re auctioning them off on eBay right now with the starting bid of $50 (plus $25 shipping).

What you ask, will you do with 1000 oranges? Well, we’ll be happy to tell you how best to shape them into a map of Israel, or any other country, territory or citrus-producing geographical area you might want to depict.

They make great stage props, if you have a play set in say, Florida, or a sea-drama that features the delusions of a scurvy-stricken sailor.

Thinking of opening an Orange Julius? These make excellent window dressing (very convincing too).

Big fan of Syracuse University? Become the ultimate Orange fan. Imagine your dorm room or frat house literally covered in oranges.

Keeping with the college theme, the FedEx Orange Bowl will be held on January 1, 2009 and your team could be in it (especially if your team is in the ACC and unlikely to contend for the actual national championship–I’m looking at you Terp fans). Be prepared by buying your fake oranges today at a steep discount–off-season.

Of course, these are just a few of the hundreds of uses one could put 1000 fake oranges toward. Whatever your need for fake oranges might be, there’s never been a better time to buy. So bid now.

How is Iran, with all its well-publicized economic woes financing its clandestine nuclear ambitions that so endanger Israel? Nuts. And Israel is aiding and abetting.

The first gay wedding in California happened under a chuppah. Hopefully, the happy couple received fewer lame mezuzahs than my wife and I did.

Lots of posts all over the blogosphere bemoaning the closing of the Spertus Museum exhibit Imaginary Coordinates. I’ve tried to find posts that defend the museum’s decision or the Jewish Federation of Metro Chicago’s pressure campaign to get the exhibit closed, but I haven’t been able to find any. Is there a reason the “outrage” spoken of in reference to the exhibit hasn’t found its way onto the net? Please let me know if you’ve written or seen a blog that takes the position of the Spertus board and I’ll gladly post it here.

Michael Chabon weighs in on the brilliance that is You Don’t Mess With the Zohan in an amusing back and forth with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg (whose blog is rapidly becoming one of my favorite reads).

Only 177 days until Hannukah. Have you gotten your child a GaliGirl?

Finally, this week marked the second anniversary of the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers along the Lebanon border by Hizbollah–including Gilad Shalit. While there were rumors of a possible negotiations for their release, the Israeli Consulate posted this video to YouTube, which is a story written by Gilad when he was 11-years-old and read by children in New York City public schools.

It was both interesting and sad to see our worst fears for this past spring’s Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery exhibition (L) attitudes, a show about mapping Israel/Palestine, realized in a similar exhibition at Chicago’s Spertus Museum which closed their exhibit Imaginary Coordinates early. What never happened in DC came to pass in Chicago: a controversial show, in a Jewish setting, was closed by pressure from donors and in particular, explicit criticism from its sponsor federation.

I have not seen the exhibit at the Spertus, so it is hard for me to compare it to our show–was there something that stepped over the line? From what I’ve read about the exhibit, some of the controversial material in the exhibit included:

… a collection of postcards portraying the ordinary lives of Palestinians working, playing and mourning—an attempt to personalize land disputes as battles for livelihood, not real estate.

A video installation showed a nude woman spinning a barbed-wire hula hoop around her waist against a peaceful backdrop of the Mediterranean near Tel Aviv.

Another video showed a woman driving around Jerusalem asking for directions to Ramallah, a Palestinian town in the West Bank. Everyone gives her different directions and describes Ramallah as far away, when it really is quite close by, illustrating how mental distance can affect the maps in our mind.

I’m left to wonder if those materials were so much more provocative than Alban Biaussat’s Greener Side of the Line series of photographs that depict scenes from along the unofficial border between pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank. Were they more provocative than Nikolas Schiller’s Israel/Palestine 1993 in which his geometrically altered map includes the cartouche of the Palestinian cartoon character Handala? Or were we more balanced because we also included artists like Avner Bar-Hama’s Orange Israel:Today Gush Katif-Tomorrow Jaffa, which created a map of Israel in the color of protest used by settlers who were removed from the Gaza Strip in 2006. Did we escape major criticism because along with including Palestinian narratives, we gave prominent space to an artist’s right wing politics?

While we had a minor issue with our local Federation over the exhibit concerning the Israel@60 Event Calendar–to their credit, they never even remotely implied that as our largest single donor they could apply pressure regarding what was appropriate to display in our gallery. Why the difference between DC and Chicago? It even appears that the folks at the Spertus attempted to address some of the concerns about their exhibit by closing it, tweaking it, and then reopening it. Still the exhibit was closed with chastising comments that seem to demonstrate ignorance as to the role that art plays in a healthy culture.

Is Chicago a more conservative town? I didn’t think it was. Is DC that much more liberal? Do debates over art just matter more in Chicago? Are debates about politics just too common in DC for one amongst artists to garner much heat? Perhaps the Spertus, in a brand-new $55 million dollar building was a bigger target while our proud, but far humbler Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery skated beneath the radar?

Whatever the reason, my heart goes out to our colleagues at the Spertus Museum.

And, whether the reason be tolerance or negligence, I am proud that we were able to produce a show like (L)attitudes at the 16th Street J. Check out the virtual gallery for the show.

ADDED: The JTA Blog has an excellent entry on this controversy.

Silverdocs always has a bunch of good Jewish-themed films and this year is no exception. One of the films we’re excited to see is Four Seasons Lodge, about a group of Holocaust survivors who meet annually at the Catskills bungalow colony that gives the documentary its name. It is screening this Sunday at 5:30 pm– the Tuesday night screening apparently sold-out, so if you want to go, we suggest pre-ordering or showing up early for the stand-by line.

The film simultaneously documents two sadly dissapearing phenomena: 1) Living Holocaust survivors capable of telling their own stories and bearing witness both to the horrors they lived through, but also the lives they managed to rebuild; and 2) the tradition of the Catskills, once the preeminent leisure destination for a generation of newly propserous (and often newly American) Jews.

It is a film that is definitely worth your while.

JTA’s new blog on Jewish philanthropy The Fundermentalist (get it?) kicks-off with a bang by scooping Yossi Beilin’s claim that he invented the Birthright program sending kids on free trips to Israel courtesy of mega-philanthropists Michael Steinhardt and Charles Bronfman. What impressed us what not the scoop itself, but where the Fundermentalist got it:

Beilin, speaking with the Fundermentalist within sight of both Steinhardt and Bronfman – at their own party, no less – said that he, Beilin, came up with the idea to send Diaspora Jews to Israel for free in 1993, when he, Beilin, was deputy Foreign Minister under Shimon Peres.

Elsewhere Joe Lieberman has been getting added grief from around the blogosphere for his continuing allegiance with Rev. John Hagee–he of the divinely inspired Hitler remarks. Daniel Koffler at Jewcy sums it up pretty well, asking “What village do you have to start a pogrom in to be called an antisemite these days?”

When Shavuot ends next week, the Jewish wedding season will get into full swing. Jewess looks at the topic from the perspective of an 1898 article in the magazine American Jewess written by “An Immigrant.” It is a great on-going feature of that blog that you should definitely check-out.

Finally, while we know it is a mitzvah to visit the grave of a Jewish scholar, this is just creepy–not to mention we question the hygenic conditions.