RSS
At BroadwayCon in Midtown, Jewish actors dish on identity and representation in the industry
(New York Jewish Week) – A woman dressed as Fanny Brice from “Funny Girl” and another dressed as Fruma Sarah from “Fiddler on the Roof” were among the 100-plus people who filed into a Midtown conference room on Friday morning to discuss Jewish identity on Broadway.
The Jewish fans — whose real names were Jackie and Michelle, and declined to share their last names — were dressed as their favorite Jewish musical characters, and were attending one of the first panel discussions of BroadwayCon 2023. The conference, at the New York Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square, is an annual gathering in the vein of ComicCon that brings thousands of fans and industry professionals for a weekend of celebration, singing, discussion and meet-and-greets.
The panel, called “Jewish Identity and Broadway,” came together in less than a week, its organizer Ari Axelrod — a Jewish actor, singer and educator — told the New York Jewish Week. He said he organized it in response to the July 11 casting announcement for the national tour of “Funny Girl,” in which a non-Jewish actress had been chosen to play Fanny Brice, a role made famous by Barbra Streisand. Brice, a pioneering Jewish comedian in the early 20th century, struggled with her Jewish identity in her rise to fame.
In the aftermath of the casting announcement, the debate over whether or not non-Jews can play Jewish characters — a term actress and comedian Sarah Silverman dubbed “Jewface” — resurfaced online.
Amid the hubbub, “Somebody had said to me, ‘You should host something,’” Axelrod told the New York Jewish Week. “It was in direct response to the casting.”
While there have been Jewish-focused panels at BroadwayCon since the annual conference began in 2015, the past year has been a landmark one for Jewish stories on Broadway — particularly those that deal with antisemitism, including “Parade” and “Leopoldstadt,” which both won Tony Awards. “Parade,” about the real-life antisemitic lynching of Jewish factory superintendent Leo Frank in 1915, saw a neo-Nazi protest outside of the theater while it was in previews. Michelle dressed at Fruma Sarah, the ghost that Tevye says haunts dreams in “Fiddler on the Roof.” (Julia Gergely)
Michelle (dressed as Fruma Sarah) attends the conference every year, and said she was interested in the event because she is Jewish and became interested in Jewish representation on Broadway during a BroadwayCon panel she attended in 2020.
“There was a rabbi who was an actor. He said that there was a time he wasn’t cast to play a rabbi because he didn’t look Jewish enough,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘He’s a rabbi, how can you get more Jewish than that? It just really made me realize how much of an issue representation is for us.”
Speaking on the hour-long panel was Axelrod, who was named to the New York Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” (now known as “36 to Watch”) in 2021; Talia Suskauer, who starred as Elphaba in the Broadway run and national tour of “Wicked”; Shoshanna Bean, who was nominated for a Tony Award last year for her performance in “Mr. Saturday Night”; Brandon Uranowitz, who last month won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for “Leopoldstadt”; Zachary Prince, who has been in several Broadway shows and recently performed in “A Transparent Musical,” based on the Jewish-themed TV show, in Los Angeles; and Alexandra Silber, who played Tzeitel in the most recent Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Moderating the panel was Becca Suskauer, a New York-based Jewish actress.
The wide-ranging discussion touched on Jewish representation, identity, pride and joy during a period of rising antisemitism. Panelists also noted that the goal of the conversation was to talk about how Broadway actors and insiders can actively uplift Jewish stories as well as those from other oppressed groups.
Suskauer emphasized that people should “listen before you speak and listen before you immediately go to pass judgment on something,” while Bean encouraged attendees to “be introspective” towards their own internalized prejudices if they are nervous to speak out on issues affecting marginalized groups.
Axelrod — echoing Michelle’s comment — spoke of the double standard that he feels exists within the industry — the idea that Jews are sometimes deemed “not Jewish looking enough” to play Jewish roles, but “too Jewish” to be cast in other roles. He also said there was a perceived double standard in that it’s considered acceptable for non-Jewish performers to be cast in Jewish roles, something that is frowned upon regarding other ethnic groups.
“There is this fear amongst the Jewish community that we can be Jewish, just not too Jewish,” Axelrod said. “We have a responsibility to dismantle that entire internalized assimilation within ourselves, because it’s important to show the world who we are. But to show them the world we can take multitudes, we first have to believe in ourselves.”
The “Funny Girl” casting only came up with 20 minutes left in the discussion. And while the actors made a point of noting that the actress chosen for the role, a Latina woman named Katerina McCrimmon, was very talented, they said it was nonetheless disappointing and worrisome to have a non-Jewish person playing Fanny Brice, who was a real person who often played on Jewish stereotypes to garner laughs from mainstream audiences.
An attendee of the panel dressed as Fanny Brice, the Jewish main character in “Funny Girl,” which will end its Broadway run this fall. (Julia Gergely)
“I was so excited for the role of Fanny Brice to be played by someone who is able to live so solidly and steadfastly and their Jewishness and who can bring that on the national tour to places that don’t have a lot of Jews,” Suskauer said. “I got immediately so scared when I heard that someone not Jewish was going to be playing at this Jewish stereotype. She can do this research, she can try to do it as respectfully as possible, but at the end of the day, she’s going to be playing at a stereotype while wearing bagels on her body.” (Suskauer was referring to “Private Schwartz from Rockaway,” a number in which Fanny imagines herself as a Jewish soldier and dances with bagels strung around her body.)
But the panel ended on a positive note. “‘To live is an actionable decision that we get to make every day, and when we say ‘l’chaim,’ we are literally saying ‘to life,’” Axelrod said. “I think it is imperative to every single person in this room that when you clink your Manischewitz, or your Kedem grape juice, and you say ‘l’chaim,’ mean it. Take those words as a call to action and do it, literally. Go do something that reminds you that you’re a Jewish person who was living your life.”
Rho and Maddy, teenage twins from New Jersey who declined to share their last names, said they attended the panel for the potential to meet Uranowitz, one of their favorite actors. They were surprised at how much the panel resonated with them. “It was really great to hear everyone’s opinions,” Rho said. “I’m so glad I came.”
“Especially as someone who is half-Jewish, there’s a lot of assimilation and sometimes being told and believing ‘you’re not really Jewish,’ or that doesn’t count,” Maddy said. “[This panel] definitely showed me I want to and can be an activist for my community.”
—
The post At BroadwayCon in Midtown, Jewish actors dish on identity and representation in the industry appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
‘Dirty Jew, This Is What You Deserve’: Elderly French Jewish Woman Assaulted in Paris Suburb
Sign reading “+1000% of Antisemitic Acts: These Are Not Just Numbers” during a march against antisemitism, in Lyon, France, June 25, 2024. Photo: Romain Costaseca / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
An 88-year-old woman was assaulted outside Paris by two assailants who pushed her to the ground, kicked her, and called her “a dirty Jew” as tensions over surging antisemitism continue to boil in France.
The attack occurred last week, and the woman filed a complaint to local police on Monday, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro. Law enforcement is investigating the attack, which occurred in Val-d’Oise, just north of Paris.
The elderly woman recounted that she was on her way to a medical appointment when two assailants attacked her from behind. They punched her in the face, pushed her to the ground, and kicked her while hurling antisemitic slurs, including “dirty Jew, this is what you deserve.”
According to the complaint, the elderly woman was wearing a Star of David necklace, allowing the attackers to identify her as Jewish. “I think they saw my necklace; otherwise they would not have known,” she said.
The 88-year-old victim suffered a broken tooth, back and wrist pain, as well as mental anguish including nightmares.
Israeli opposition lawmaker Sharren Haskel reportedly said on Thursday that the victim was her grandmother and described the attackers as two “Arab thugs.”
“She tried to hide it from my family because she was embarrassed and ashamed, but she couldn’t,” Haskel told JNS. “It could have ended far worse. Today, she went to the hospital to be examined as part of her filing a complaint with the police.”
In a post on X/Twitter, Haskel wrote that she has “no hope in the French authorities, arguing that the government “allows blood libels to be spread against Israel, and as a result, the Jewish community suffers from violence, rape, murder.”
Haskel called on the Israeli government to “lead the fight against the explosion of antisemitism,” adding that Jewish communities around the world are “inseparable” from Israel.
“I call upon the Diaspora Jews like my grandmother to come to their national, cultural and historical home,” she concluded.
The attack in Val-d’Oise came amid a spike in antisemitism to record levels across France.
In an especially egregious attack that has garnered international headlines, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped by three Muslim boys in a Paris suburb on June 15, according to the French authorities. The child told investigators that the assailants called her a “dirty Jew” and hurled other antisemitic comments at her during the attack.
The three alleged attackers were arrested by French police two days after the rape. Two of them were indicted for gang rape, death threats, antisemitic violence, attempted extortion, and invasion of privacy. The third boy was charged as a witness.
After the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron “denounced the scourge of antisemitism” overtaking French society and spoke of the need to combat hatred of Jews in schools.
The incident sparked national outrage as massive protests against antisemitism erupted in France.
The French Jewish representative body Crif condemned the two recent attacks, noting Jews have not been spared from violence even if they are children or elderly.
“This despicable act highlights the reality of antisemitism in France, where victims aged 12 to 88 are attacked daily because of their Jewish identity,” Crif tweeted.
France has experienced a record surge of antisemitism in the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Antisemitic outrages rose by over 1,000 percent in the final three months of 2023 compared with the previous year, with over 1,200 incidents reported — greater than the total number of incidents in France for the previous three years combined.
Last month, an Israeli family visiting Paris was denied service at a hotel after an attendant noticed their Israeli passports
In April, a Jewish woman was beaten and raped in a suburb of Paris as “vengeance for Palestine.”
The post ‘Dirty Jew, This Is What You Deserve’: Elderly French Jewish Woman Assaulted in Paris Suburb first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
US Jews Shouldn’t Give Up on America
Supporters of Israel gather in solidarity with Israel and protest against antisemitism, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas, during a rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC, Nov. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
In recent weeks, a growing chorus of prominent pro-Israel advocates have been urging Jewish Americans to leave the US and immigrate to Israel. Since the October 7 massacre, a surge in antisemitic attacks — coupled with shocking scenes of packed protests in US cities calling for violence against Jews — has heralded a discussion on the fate of Jewish Americans, and whether the era of prosperity and safety under which Jews have flourished has come to an end.
The well-intentioned efforts of those telegraphing the dangers associated with staying in America represent a justified concern, steeped in public scenes and statistics confirming the cultural, political, and academic corrosion infecting American institutions.
While encouraging a return to our ancestral homeland will remain a cornerstone of the Jewish American project, particularly in Modern Orthodox communities, approaching aliyah through the prism of fleeing antisemitism in America rather than fulfilling the ultimate mitzvah of living in the Holy Land discounts the importance of having a robust Diaspora, and dismisses the established idea that upholding western civilization rests on preserving US exceptionalism.
Eric Cohen, Executive Director of the Tikvah Fund, addressed some of these sentiments in an interview last month. Indeed, Cohen correctly notes, “As goes America, so goes the West and arguably the world,” and further cites that US Jews hold a unique role in restoring America to its place as protector of Western interests and values.
Historically, Jewish Americans, both individually and collectively, have been crucial to advancing US support for Israel, and explaining to Americans why a democratic Israel benefits the United States. More than 75 years after the US officially recognized Israel, stories surrounding US Jewish businessman Eddie Jacobson talking to his old friend, President Harry Truman, and having him agree to meet Chaim Weizmann upon the Zionist leader’s visit to America, was the beginning of this bond.
Last month, mobilization efforts in New York’s 16th Congressional District helped unseat, albeit belatedly, antisemitic Squad Rep. Jamaal Bowman — both for his assault on Israel, Jews, and many other values antithetical to those of his constituents. Another radical progressive, Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO), may soon find a similar fate in her primary race next month, as polls show the lawmaker trailing the more moderate Democrat, St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell.
In both cases, Jewish voters helped lead grassroots campaigns and devoted critical resources to assist in centering the far-left lurch of the Democratic Party. Last fall’s slaughter in Israel and domestic developments here in the US have reawakened a segment of the Jewish population who are looking more seriously at the positions of politicians, with many concluding that the anti-Jewish animus that they have long tied only to the far-right is wedded to outdated assumptions.
At the same time, blue-state metropolises such as New York and Los Angeles have become epicenters where steady drumbeats of pro-Hamas sympathizers chanting for the destruction of Israel — and violence against Jews — are prompting some US Jews to make their home in other parts of the country.
Prescriptive approaches to conserving America’s future may entail retooling Jewish sensibilities to meet existing challenges. That areas where Jews face the most significant threats from the political left are primarily governed by elected officials who resist punishing antisemitic perpetrators suggests that the US Jewish center of gravity could soon shift from left-wing bastions such as Brooklyn to more conservative neighborhoods like Boca Raton.
Moreover, a strong America stands to benefit the security of the entire free world — including in Israel, and for Jews in other parts of the Diaspora.
Maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge is rooted in the US retaining its strategic footprint in the region and assisting Israel in deterring its detractors. A diminished US security posture that rejects Israel may also compel the countries in the region to form alliances with unsavory actors, such as China and Russia. Jewish Americans have a responsibility to revive America out of its decline and abet in stemming the inevitable terror such descent spreads to Jews in Israel.
My daughter, who graduated high school in June, recently remarked that should the US become uninhabitable for Jews, America ceases being America. Defending US exceptionalism is inextricably linked to preserving the security of our allies across the globe, including Israel. Jewish Americans must assert their energies and unite in repelling the destructive ideologies that seek to destroy the foundational Judeo-Christian tenets upon which our country was founded. Perpetuating a narrative that embraces America’s irreparable doom ignores the country’s indispensable role as a bulwark for liberty that stretches beyond our borders and demotes much of the good that remains at the core of the American spirit.
Irit Tratt is an American and pro-Israel advocate residing in New York. Follow her on X @Irit_Tratt.
The post US Jews Shouldn’t Give Up on America first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Columbia University Jewish Alumni Say Administrators Are ‘Main Culprit’ of Campus Antisemitism
The “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University, located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, on April 25, 2024. Photo: Reuters Connect
Columbia University’s Jewish Alumni Association blasted school officials as the “main culprit” of antisemitism on campus after newly released text messages showed administrators sneering at testimonies of anti-Jewish discrimination.
While in the audience of a May 31 alumni event, Columbia University Associate Deans Josef Sorett, Susan Chang-Kim, Matthew Patashnick, and Cristen Kromm exchanged text messages mocking and dismissing concerns of Jewish students. The messages, which called Jewish students “privileged” and “difficult to listen to,” have intensified discussions over whether the Ivy League campus has become a hotbed of antisemitism.
The newly released batch of text messages, which were publicized by the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, incensed the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association. The organization stated that the university needs a “cultural shift” to create a safe environment for Jewish students.
“The further this unfortunate saga unfolds, the more it is clear that antisemitism runs deeper at Columbia than protests and encampments. When faculty talk, students listen,” the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association wrote in a statement.
“We know that administrators and professors are the primary culprits of Jewish students feeling threatened at Morningside Heights [the location of the school’s New York City campus] and that reality will not change until those responsible for this crisis are held accountable,” the alumni continued. “Columbia’s epidemic of antisemitism requires a cultural shift to fix it, one that involves honest conversations around how this crisis came to be, who perpetuated it, and what needs to change to ensure that the events of last spring are not repeated in the fall semester.”
On June 12, the Washington Free Beacon first reported that Columbia administrators belittled Jewish students and alumni in a group chat. The report set off a firestorm of outrage, resulting in the House Education and Workforce Committee demanding Columbia administrators hand over the entirety of the message exchanges. On Tuesday, the committee released the full chat log to the public.
While listening to the panel of Jewish alumni and students speak, Chang-Kim stated that their testimonies were “difficult to listen to” but that she was “trying to be open minded to understand but the doors are closing.” Chang-Kim referred to one speaker as a “problem!!!” for “painting [Columbia] students as dangerous.”
The deans then disparaged a testimony from Brian Cohen, head of Columbia Hillel. Cohen stated that many Jewish students at Columbia felt safer spending time in the Kraft Center for Jewish Life than their own dorms following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, after which antisemitism on college campuses spiked to unprecedented levels.
Patashnick stated that Cohen was “taking full advantage of the moment” and that he saw the “huge fundraising potential” in the midst of the controversy over campus antisemitism. Signaling her agreement, Kromm gave Patasnick’s text a like and responded, “You named it.” Pataschnick continued, saying that Cohen was “laying the case to case to expand physical space!” and “[Jewish students] will have their own dorm soon.”
Columbia University offers residential living arrangements for African American, Latino, and LGBT+, students, according to its official website. The university has also offered special graduation ceremonies for various racial and sexual minority groups.
Chang-Kim continued, dismissing Jewish students as “privileged.” Kromm agreed, expressing concern over the well-being of Jewish students who do not support Israel.
“Comes from such a place of privilege … hard to hear the woe is me, we need to huddle at the Kraft center. Huh??” Chang-Kim wrote.
“Yup. Blind to the idea that non-Israel supporting Jews have no place to come together,” Kromm wrote.
The Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life is a hub for Jewish students on Columbia’s campus. Its namesake, Robert Kraft, ceased his financial support for Columbia University in April, citing “virulent hate” against the Jewish community on campus.
Kromm continued, stating that Jewish students have more “support” than other groups at Columbia, despite widely reported antisemitic incidents rocking the campus since Oct. 7.
“If only every identity group had these resources and support,” Kromm said, adding that Jewish students need to “share resources!!!”
Kromm fired off a pair of vomit emojis as speakers described an op-ed published by Columbia campus rabbi Yonah Hain lamenting the growing support for Hamas on campus.
Chang-Kim then wrote, “I’m going to throw up.” The timestamp on these texts align with the testimony of the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who shared how her own daughter was “hiding in plain sight” on Columbia’s campus following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
“Amazing what $$$$ can do,” Kromm wrote in response.
Columbia University has become a poster child for antisemitism in higher education following the Oct. 7 slaughters by Hamas in southern Israel. Jewish students and alumni have expressed outrage, accusing the administration of showing cold indifference to antisemitic incidents on campus. Anti-Israel activists have disrupted Columbia’s classes and held unsanctioned protests on campus. Several Columbia student groups have outright banned “Zionist” students, a mandate that would exclude the vast majority of Jewish people.
In April, activists commandeered a central portion of Columbia’s campus and erected a “Gaza solidarity encampment.” The encampment featured signs which explicitly endorsed Hamas and called for the eradication of Israel. Several ultra-rich Columbia alumni pulled back their donations to the university in response to the growing and palpable anti-Israel sentiment on campus.
The post Columbia University Jewish Alumni Say Administrators Are ‘Main Culprit’ of Campus Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.