RSS
Broadway had a very Jewish year, but there is more to the Jewish story than antisemitism and the Holocaust
(JTA) — Broadway gave out its Tony Awards last month, and as I kept whispering to my wife, it was “a big night for the Jews.”
“Leopoldstadt,” Tom Stoppard’s Holocaust drama, won best play. “Parade,” about the lynching of a Jewish man in the American South, won best musical revival. Miriam Silverman (“The Sign in Sydney Brustein’s Window”) and Brandon Uranowitz (“Leopoldstadt”) won for signature Jewish roles, and Alfred Uhry, who wrote the book for “Parade,” spoke while wearing a two-inch diamond Magen David lapel pin.
It was, in fact, a very prominent season for Jews on Broadway stages and beyond. “The Sign in Sydney Brustein’s Window,” Lorraine Hansberry’s second play — with a white, Jewish protagonist — arrived in a star-studded Broadway bow. “Prayer for the French Republic” at Manhattan Theatre Club — an examination of antisemitism in France — marked a massive turn in playwright Josh Harmon’s Jewish journey (and will return to Broadway next season).
The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg raved over Edward Einhorn’s “Shylock and the Shakespeareans,” a reworking of Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” and Second Stage presented “Camp Seigfried,” a different angle on German fascism. In California, the La Jolla Playhouse tried out “Lempika,” a musical about the notorious Jewish artist Tamara de Lempicka, who fled Europe for the United States in 1939.
You might see a thesis at work in producing these shows — most of which spotlight Nazis, antisemitism or the Holocaust — right now: They urge audiences to remember and learn from the past in order to prevent future atrocities, at a time when antisemitism is on the rise (or at least outward manifestations of the ancient hatred; one could argue it has been there all along).
There’s lots to recommend this idea. A history forgotten is a history that will repeat. Representation matters. Giving Jews the moral victory (if not the narrative one) strengthens our resolve. Great artistry in the service of big ideas is a win for everyone.
And let’s not leave out the performances themselves. Uranowitz in particular was brilliant and gave a moving Tony speech honoring his ancestors who were murdered by the Nazis in Poland.
However, I can’t help but admit to some skepticism. I’m drawn by thinkers like Dara Horn, author of “People Love Dead Jews,” who ask, “By revisiting the history of raging antisemitism, are we just giving violent extremists a to-do list for the future?”
“A Moving Picture” by Jennie Berman Eng, presented at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Dec. 1, 2022. (Basil Rodericks)
And it’s definitely debatable whether reliving trauma is mentally healthy for those affected. (My wife, a daughter of both a Holocaust and Tree of Life shooting survivor, gets significantly triggered by poking at these wounds.)
But more important is that today’s Jewish life — even the parts necessarily focused on antisemitism — is radically different than it was 50 or 75 or 500 years ago. Even with the challenges and outright discrimination, the Jewish community today (here and abroad) is more diverse, more free and more complex than at arguably any time in history.
So I’d like to humbly offer some alternatives for producers and artistic directors who want Jewish representation on their stages. As the artistic director of the Jewish Plays Project, a development house for 21st-century Jewish theater based in New York and working around the country, I have the unique pleasure to be able to point to the plays written in just the last few years that can change the paradigm right now.
I’d like to encourage folks to think about Jewish joy. See Audrey Lang’s amazing character Librarian of the Jewish Soul in her play “Birdie & Cait and the Book of Life” or the Adon Olam sequence at the end of Mark Leiren Young’s “Bar Mitzvah Boy.”
Think about Jewish ethics. Beth Kander’s “Return” puts todays’ scientific breakthroughs and faith right up against each other; Marshall Botvinick’s poetic “To Reach Across a River” gives us an Orthodox woman refusing to leave her faith when she adopts a bi-racial daughter; and Cindy Cooper’s “I Was a Stranger Too” directly advocates for immigrants through a Jewish lens.
Stage Jewish diversity. Ali Viterbi’s “In Every Generation,” Molly Olis-Krost’s “What We Found” and EllaRose Chary’s “The Wrong Question” show us parts of the Jewish world — Jews of Color and queer Jews, among other mixed and modern identities — that haven’t made it to the stage much. (And we’re all waiting with baited breath for the results of Expanding the Canon, Theater J’s significant commissioning program for Jewish artists of Color.)
Talk about Israel/Palestine without blowing the roof of the joint. Seth Rozin’s “Settlements” is nuanced and compelling and real. Alexa Derman’s hilarious and satirical cri-de-coeur “Zionista Rising” — which just won the JPP’s National Playwriting Contest —brings sharp, contemporary humor to a difficult conversation.
And if you feel you have to talk about the Holocaust and Shylock — and sometimes you do — do it with a new and vital eye. Jenny Berman Eng’s “A Moving Picture” features a cast of three Jews of Color, one Black doctoral candidate and a white student working out how to make a 100% true Holocaust film, and Eric Marlin’s “there will come a time for vengeance” mashes up Shakespeare and his contemporary Christopher Marlowe with theatrical flair.
The point is, it’s a big Jewish world out there — exciting and current and diverse. The hundreds of Jewish Plays Project artists and audience members who are part of our ongoing experiment in artistic democracy are hungry to see that life show up at theaters all over the country.
If we can do that, we might see a Tony Awards (and Obies and Jeffs and Barrymores and more) that both celebrates brilliant work and moves the Jewish conversation forward — not by being anti-antisemitism, but by being truly pro-Jewish.
That would really be a big night for the Jews.
—
The post Broadway had a very Jewish year, but there is more to the Jewish story than antisemitism and the Holocaust appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Trump Hits Russia, Backs Israel in Wide-Ranging UN Speech
US President Donald Trump walks to address the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon STAPLETON
US President Donald Trump warned Russia on Tuesday that he is prepared to impose strong economic measures if it does not work toward ending the war in Ukraine, and rejected a global move toward recognition of a Palestinian state in a combative speech to the U.N. General Assembly.
In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech that included scathing criticism of the United Nations and European nations, Trump made the case for lower levels of global migration and said world leaders should abandon efforts to fight climate change, which he called “the greatest con job” in the world.
Taken as a whole, the 56-minute speech was a rebuke to the world body and a return to form for Trump, who had routinely bashed the U.N. during his first term as president. Leaders gave him polite applause when he exited the chamber.
Trump’s warning to Russia was his latest attempt to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has resisted the US president’s entreaties to pull back from the biggest war in Europe since World War two.
Trump said he wants US allies to impose the same measures on Russia he is proposing to apply pressure to Putin.
The US president has warned about the possibility of sanctions on Russia several times but has yet to follow through. Lately he has demanded Europe stop all Russian oil purchases before he will take action.
“In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly,” he said.
But for the measures to be effective, he said, “European nations, all of you gathered here, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures.”
He did not detail the measures, but he has been considering a package that includes sanctions against countries that do business with Russia, like India and China. The main buyers of Russian oil in Europe are Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey.
Trump planned a meeting later in the day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been pressing for more US support to resist Russian advances.
On the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Trump gave a thumbs down to efforts by world leaders to embrace a Palestinian state, a move that faces fierce resistance from Israel.
“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists, for their atrocities,” he said, repeating his call for the return of hostages taken by the Palestinian militant group.
Trump said the United States wants a ceasefire-for-hostages deal that would see the return of all remaining hostages, alive and dead.
“We have to stop the war in Gaza immediately. We have to immediately negotiate peace,” he said.
He was to discuss the future of Gaza during afternoon talks with several Gulf leaders.
CRITICISM OF MIGRATION POLICIES
Trump argued that other world leaders should adopt his tough-on-migrants policies, touting his campaign to arrest and deport migrants in the United States illegally, a stance that many countries around the world have viewed skeptically.
He accused the U.N., without providing evidence, of supporting “uncontrolled migration.”
“Europe is in serious trouble. They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody has ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe,” the president said.
“You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you’re going to be great again,” he told the world leaders.
Trump, who has cast himself as a peacemaker in a bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize, complained that the United Nations did not support his efforts to end conflicts around the world.
He twinned his complaint with personal grievances about the U.N.’s infrastructure, saying he and first lady Melania Trump were briefly marooned on a U.N. escalator and that his teleprompter was not initially working.
“These are the two things I got from the United Nations – a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” Trump said, noting that Melania Trump nearly fell when the escalator stopped abruptly.
Since taking office again, Trump has upended US foreign policy, slashing foreign aid, imposing tariffs on friend and foe alike and cultivating warmer – if volatile – relations with Russia.
At the same time he has sought, so far with only limited success, to solve some of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
Trump is among some 150 heads of state or governments expected to address the chamber this week. He spoke eight months into a second term marked by severe aid cuts that have sparked humanitarian worries and have raised doubts about the U.N.’s future.
According to planning documents reviewed by Reuters, the Trump administration plans to call this week for sharply narrowing the right to asylum, seeking to undo the post-World War Two framework around humanitarian protection.
Trump’s more restrictive stance would include requiring asylum seekers to claim protection in the first country they enter, not a nation of their choosing, a State Department spokesperson said.
RSS
IDF Announces Death of Maj. Shahar Netanel Bozaglo, 27, in Combat in Gaza City
Major Shahar Netanel Bozaglo. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – An Israel Defense Forces officer was killed overnight Monday after an anti-tank rocket hit his tank in northern Gaza City, the military announced, the first fatality in the offensive to seize the Gaza Strip’s largest urban center.
The slain soldier was named as Major Shahar Netanel Bozaglo, 27, a company commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion.
His death brings the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in the ground operation in the Palestinian enclave to 465.
RSS
Israel to Close West Bank Crossing to Jordan Indefinitely
The Allenby Bridge, a main crossing point between Israel and Jordan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Israel will indefinitely close the only crossing between the West Bank and Jordan from Wednesday, days after reopening it following a shooting that killed two Israeli soldiers.
A spokesperson for the Israeli authority overseeing the Allenby crossing said that it would be closed from Wednesday morning “at the direction of the political leadership.” The statement did not provide any further reason for the closure.
Palestinian and Jordanian authorities had said earlier on Tuesday that Israel would close the border the following day.
The crossing serves as the main gateway for many Palestinians in the West Bank to travel abroad and is used to transport commercial goods between Jordan and the West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment during a public holiday in Israel. The military referred questions to the prime minister’s office.
The move comes after Netanyahu said on Sunday the government would give its “response” to other countries recognizing a Palestinian state once he returns from a visit to the United States.
France, Britain, Canada and Australia are among several countries who have or will recognize Palestine this week, in what they hope will revive momentum for the two-state solution.
Some of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition allies have said that the government should annex the West Bank in response.
Israel fully reopened the Allenby Crossing on Monday, four days after a Jordanian truck driver shot dead two Israeli soldiers. The crossing was closed following the shooting.