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These NYC college students want to kickstart a Jewish arts renaissance
(New York Jewish Week) – On a mild Thursday evening in late March, some 100 people gathered at Kistuné, a hip café and bar in the West Village that’s associated with the French-Japanese “lifestyle brand” of the same name.
Sipping on custom-designed cocktails — like the Refusenik, a Moscow mule with a “resilient mix of vodka, ginger beer and lime” or the Tamar Collinsky, a Tom Collins reimagined and given “very possibly the name of someone you went to summer camp with” — guests mingled, discussing topics as varied as college classes, career choices and their favorite poetry.
Nearly everyone in the room was a Jewish artist or writer; the gathering was to celebrate the launch of “Verklempt!”, a new quarterly print magazine that bills itself as “The Magazine of Jewish Art and Literature.” The 75-page first issue is filled with paintings, photographs, drawings, poetry and fiction solicited from more than 30 Jewish artists around the country.
“We see the Jewish community as a place where people want to engage with fiction and poetry more seriously,” editor-in-chief Yoni Gutenmacher, a 24-year-old creative writing MFA candidate at Brooklyn College, told the crowd, which included two of his brothers and his parents. “This is a personal dream of mine so I’m very happy that it’s real.”
Specialty cocktails were on offer at the launch party of “Verklempt!” (David Gutenmacher)
The aim of “Verklempt!” (Yiddish-English slang for “overcome with emotion”) is to publish and amplify art and literature with a specifically Jewish lens — hopefully in a way that encourages pursuing art as part of a spiritual journey, Gutenmacher explained. A painting of a man praying with tefillin and tallit; a poem about Leopold Bloom, the Jewish anti-hero of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and a collage of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and a drawing of a half-drunk bottle of Kedem grape juice all grace the pages of the first issue, whose theme is, fittingly, “On Creation.”
“I write fiction and I have a whole friend group and community in New York who aren’t Jewish, and if they are, they’re not really interested in religious or communal Jewish life,” Gutenmacher told the New York Jewish Week. “Then I have my Jewish life on the Upper West Side and all my friends from summer camp and school and everything else who are not really interested in engaging with high quality literature and art. At certain points in my life, I felt like I kind of have to choose.”
By working on “Verklempt!” he’s come to understand that those choices shouldn’t have to be so mutually exclusive, he said.
The journal is a project of Havurah (Hebrew for “fellowship”), an organization founded by two Modern Orthodox sophomores at NYU whose lofty but determined vision is to be the “bearer of a new Jewish renaissance” for young Jews in New York, according to their impressively designed website.
Founded by Daniella Messer and Eitan Gutenmacher (Yoni’s younger brother), Havurah aims to create a gathering place, a “kehila (community) of frum Jewish creatives” — both virtual and IRL — where Jewish artists can meet and mingle, make art, perform and share ideas about how all of those endeavors connect them to religious life. One of their goals, according to the “manifesto” on their website, is to “invigorate a generation of young Jews and restore the Jewish artistic impulse.”
While “Verklempt!” has wide-reaching aspirations — the artists they hope to publish can come from anywhere and be of any age — Havurah was founded to appeal to a hyper-specific community: young New York artists who are dedicated to being Jewish and Jews who are dedicated to being artists.
The idea arose during Gutenmacher and Messer’s freshman year of college in the winter of 2022. “I remember going to Israel over winter break, experiencing such an obvious realization that art and creativity is so integral to religious lifestyles,” Eitan Gutemacher, who is studying studio art at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, told the New York Jewish Week. “But [at NYU] for example, in a lot of the artistic programs, if you’re a religious Jew, you are usually the only religious Jew in the classroom, and, more often than not, the only one in the department.”
“Daniella and I wanted to create a community of lively Judaism expressed in any artistic and creative way,” he added.
With funding from the Next Gen Inc., “a start-up style incubator” that’s a project of the World Jewish Congress and World Union of Jewish Students, Havurah pursues their vision through a variety of avenues, including real-life events and performances, such as art fairs, concerts and Torah study conversations held at bars, cafés, apartments and synagogues.
In addition to the physical journal, the organization’s high-design web site publishes essays, interviews, criticism, reviews and Torah commentaries, as well as “Sessions” for musicians, which are professionally mixed video tapings of live music performances similar to NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts.”
“When Eitan and Daniella approached us and told us about Havurah, we knew instantly they would be a great fit for our incubator,” Yoni Hammerman, senior manager of the NextGen, told the New York Jewish Week via email. “Their work, to build a university student-run art community, perfectly aligns with NextGen’s mission of amplifying and supporting the voice and the work of Jewish student leaders.”
The Havurah staff — all eight of them are volunteers — believe that their offerings are the first time people who are both deeply involved in their Jewish communities and in their artistic pursuits have had a definable place to gather and collaborate that celebrate both.
“It’s so simple that you’d think it would already exist,” said Yosef Itzkowitz, a 24-year-old artist and poet who has three drawings in the first edition of “Verklempt!” “Jews love writing and art, and love talking about writing and art,” so why not make it happen?” Itzkowitz got involved, he said, after Eitan Gutenmacher reached out via Instagram.
Of course, similar initiatives have and do exist — for example, the fiction journal JewishFiction.net publishes original and in translation work from Jewish writers around the globe, while CANVAS matches emerging Jewish multimedia artists with funders and grants. The Jewish Book Council puts out their literary journal “Paper Brigade” with art, interviews, essays and fiction, once a year.
On Tuesday, the inaugural Jewish Writers’ Initiative Digital Storytellers Lab showcased works by creators taking part in an eight-month fellowship supported by the Maimonides Fund. The work shown at Manhattan’s Rubin Museum included animation for Jewish kids, pop songs about women in the Bible and a podcast about the gay Jewish dating scene in Los Angeles.
According to Yona Verwer, founder of the Jewish Arts Salon — “a global network for Jewish visual art” that does regular programming in New York — while what the group is doing may not be “new,” one of the most exciting things about Havurah is how young its members are and how dedicated they are to the cause.
“Being geared specifically towards people in their 20s” attracts people who have to be “very enthusiastic and very into it,” Verwer said.
“It’s interesting to see this immense interest in Jewish arts” from younger generations, added Verwer, who started the salon in 2008 and now serves as an advisor for Havurah. “When I started the salon, it was something that a lot of people were not interested in. Things have really changed over the years and it’s great to see people so dedicated.”
Yoni Gutenmacher reads a poem at the launch party of “Verklempt!”, March 30, 2023. (David Gutenmacher)
As of now, contributors are unpaid, though there are hopes that the cover price of “Verklempt!” ($10) may help change that. “There’s a lot of places I see where you submit completely unpaid and it is completely not worth my time,” said Kim Kyne, a 32-year-old painter and sculptor from Los Angeles whose painting was in the first edition of the journal.
“What felt different about this is it feels like everyone’s all in it together,” she added. “Yoni and his brother are super humble and super young. What was really attractive to me about it is being connected with all these other Jewish artists in a way that I haven’t been before.”
Messer and the Gutenmacher brothers understand that the media and literary magazine worlds are very crowded spaces, especially in New York. But for now, they are embracing the heimish vibe and say they’ve seen, first-hand, just how many Jewish artists were looking for a space exactly like this. Submissions are already arriving for the next edition of “Verklempt!”, which is set to be published this summer, and according to Gutenmacher, he doesn’t recognize any of the names — meaning no repeats of last time, and no friends submitting as a favor.
“Of course, there are Jewish artists all over the world. But it feels different because it has more of a modern take and the younger feel,” Kyne said. “It feels like the beginning of a movement.”
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The post These NYC college students want to kickstart a Jewish arts renaissance appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Zara Announces Partnership With Designer John Galliano, Who Has History of Antisemitic Comments
A Zara shop. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Zara announced on Wednesday a two-year creative partnership with John Galliano, who was fired as creative director of the French fashion house Christian Dior after being caught on camera going on a drunken antisemitic rant in 2011.
Zara said the British fashion designer, 65, “will re-author the brand’s archives through a series of seasonal collections,” which will be released seasonally during the partnership that will begin in September. “Mr. Galliano will be working directly with garments from Zara’s past seasons, deconstructing and reconfiguring them into new seasonal expressions and creations,” the Spanish company added.
Galliano spent two seasons with Givenchy before taking over in 1996 as creative director of Dior, which he helmed for 15 years. He was the creative director of the Paris-based fashion house Maison Margiela for 10 years, from 2014-2024. He has won the British Fashion Designer of the Year four times.
In February 2011, Galliano was accused of accosting a couple at the Paris restaurant La Perle in the Marais district. The couple, a Jewish woman and her Asian boyfriend, said the British designer told them: “Dirty Jewish face, you should be dead” and “f–king Asian bastard, I will kill you.” The incident led to Galliano’s arrest.
After the incident, a video surfaced that showed Galliano, in the same restaurant, making antisemitic comments at patrons while drunk in October 2010. He also expressed admiration for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. “I love Hitler and people like you would be dead today,” he said. “Your mothers, your forefathers would be f–king gassed and f–king dead … you, you’re ugly.”
Dior fired Galliano in 2011 shortly after the video of his drunken antisemitic remarks were widely circulated. Galliano also faced a one-day trial in Paris, after being charged with “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race, or ethnicity” related to the incidents in 2011 and the year prior. He was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $8,500 for making the antisemitic insults, and damages to each of his victims as well as to five anti-racism groups who were also complainants.
Galliano claimed he has no recollection of making the offensive remarks and blamed his actions on drug and alcohol addiction. He also denied being an antisemite or racist, and apologized for “allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light.”
“I fully accept that the accusations made against me have greatly shocked and upset people,” the designer said in 2011. “I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people’s understanding and compassion.”
“I have fought my entire life against prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination, having been subjected to it myself,” he added. “In all my work my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion, and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion. Antisemitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologize for my behavior in causing any offense.”
He told Vanity Fair in June 2013 that his antisemitic comments were “the worst thing I have said in my life.”
“But I didn’t mean it,” Galliano said. “I have been trying to find out why that anger was directed at this race. I now realize I was so f–king angry and so discontent with myself that I just said the most spiteful thing I could.”
He also apologized in his 2024 documentary, “High & Low — John Galliano.” He admitted in the film, “It was a disgusting thing, foul thing that I did. It was just horrific … I couldn’t recognize that person. I felt horrified. Ashamed. Embarrassed.”
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CAIR Sends Separate Letters to US Lawmakers Praising Democrats, Challenging Republicans on ‘Anti-Muslim Bigotry’
CAIR officials give press conference on the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: Kyle Mazza / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy organization that has been scrutinized by US authorities over alleged ties to terrorist groups, has sent two separate letters to Democratic and Republican congressional offices, calling on lawmakers to confront what it described as rising anti-Muslim rhetoric and to reaffirm commitments to religious freedom.
In its March 13 letter to Democratic offices, CAIR praised statements by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others who have spoken out against anti-Muslim hate, urging lawmakers to go further by pursuing formal censure actions against Republican members accused of making inflammatory comments.
In a separate letter to Republicans, the organization struck a more critical tone, calling on the party to reaffirm its support for religious liberty and to distance itself from rhetoric it says targets Muslim Americans.
“At moments like this, the voices of elected leaders defending constitutional values matter greatly. We encourage Democratic offices to remain vigilant in confronting anti-Muslim bigotry using the full range of congressional tools, including the pursuit of censure resolutions against Rep. Fine and Rep. Ogles,” the letter to Democrats read, referring to Republican Reps. Randy Fine (FL) and Andy Ogles (TN).
CAIR pointed to remarks attributed to several Republican lawmakers, including Fine, Ogles, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (AL), arguing that such statements contribute to a climate of hostility toward Muslims. Earlier this month, Ogles wrote on X that “Muslims don’t belong in America. Pluralism is a lie.” Meanwhile, Fine posted, “We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational.:
The organization also criticized the formation of the “Sharia-Free America” Caucus, claiming its policy proposals could infringe on the religious freedoms of Muslim Americans. The caucus, comprised of more than 50 Republican House members, declares that Sharia, or Islamic law, is a “direct threat to our Constitution and Western values and seeks to replace our legal system and erode our basic freedoms.”
At the same time, CAIR framed its appeal to Republicans within the party’s historical identity, invoking the “big tent” vision associated with Ronald Reagan. The group noted that Muslim American voters have, at times, supported Republican candidates, but argued that relationship has eroded in the years following the Iraq War.
The group warned that the “potential relationship between the Republican Party and American Muslim voters is rapidly deteriorating as anti-Muslim rhetoric from elected officials goes unchallenged by Republican leadership.”
CAIR’s criticism of political rhetoric comes amid renewed attention to the organization’s own history. Founded in 1994, CAIR has long denied allegations of links to extremist groups, but it has faced scrutiny over past associations. The group was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal prosecution related to the Holy Land Foundation trial, a case involving the largest terrorism financing conviction in US history. While that designation did not result in criminal charges against CAIR, it has been cited by critics as a point of concern.
In addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced in 2008 that it would suspend formal cooperation with CAIR pending further clarity about such concerns. CAIR has consistently rejected allegations of wrongdoing, stating that it condemns terrorism and supports constitutional principles.
Critics have also pointed to past statements by some CAIR officials and the organization’s positions on US foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel and the Middle East, as evidence of ideological bias.
Supporters, however, argue that CAIR plays a significant role in defending civil liberties for Muslim Americans and documenting discrimination. Several high-ranking members of CAIR openly celebrated and defended Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, a terrorist attack that left over 1,200 dead and more than 250 hostages.
In January, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott formally designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations under state law, citing in part what officials described as longstanding ideological and operational ties with Islamist movements hostile to the US and its allies.
Abbott’s proclamation described CAIR as a “successor organization” to the Muslim Brotherhood and noted the FBI called it a “front group” for “Hamas and its support network.” The document also outlined the history of the organizations and their historical associations with figures and networks tied to Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group.
“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in a statement while announcing the designations last month. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”
In December, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed an executive order designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist groups.
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Trump Hails Japanese Leader, Says Tokyo ‘Really Stepping Up to the Plate’ on Iran
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump greeted Japan‘s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warmly at the White House on Thursday and said he believed Japan was “really stepping up to the plate” on Iran, unlike the NATO alliance.
Trump has lashed out at allies for their lukewarm support for the US-Israeli military campaign and said the US doesn’t need any help. However, he is still pushing for more ships to clear mines and escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed by Iran in the conflict.
Ahead of the meeting, Japan joined leading nations in Europe in a joint statement, saying they would take steps to stabilize energy markets and were ready to join “appropriate efforts” to ensure safe passage through the Strait.
Trump hailed Takaichi’s election victory last month as “record setting” as he welcomed her at the Oval Office. He said they would “be talking about trade and many other things,” including Iran.
“We’ve had tremendous support and relationship with Japan on everything, and I believe that based on statements that were given to us yesterday, the day before yesterday, having to do with Japan, they are really stepping up to the plate … unlike NATO,” Trump said.
He said he expected Japan to step up given the support the US gave the country and the tens of thousands of troops it has stationed there.
“We don’t need much; we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “We don’t need anything from Japan or from anyone else. But I think it’s appropriate that people step up.”
Takaichi told Trump she had “brought specific proposals to calm down the global energy market” and said Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Takaichi condemned Iran‘s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and said she believed only Trump could achieve peace. She also said the global economy was about to take a hit due to the turmoil in the Middle East.
At the same time, Takaichi said Tokyo had been reaching out to Iran.
Unlike Washington, Tokyo has diplomatic relations with Tehran, creating a potential avenue for diplomacy in any moves to end the war, although past attempts by Japan to mediate with Tehran in 2019 were unsuccessful.
JAPAN RELIES ON CRUDE OIL FROM GULF
Takaichi’s long-scheduled White House visit has been aimed at burnishing the decades-old security and economic partnership between Washington and its closest East Asian ally, but there have been concerns among Japanese officials that Trump will press her to do more than she is able to on Iran.
Takaichi has sought to move Japan away from a pacifist constitution imposed by Washington after World War Two, but with the Iran war unpopular at home, she has so far not offered to assist in clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier he would expect that Japan, which gets a large share of its crude oil supplies from the Gulf, would want to ensure its supplies are safe.
He told Fox Business Network Japan‘s navy has some of the best minesweepers and mine-detection capabilities and that he believed Japan would release more of its large petroleum reserve to supply the strained oil market.
Takaichi told the Japanese parliament on Monday Japan had received no official request from the United States on Iran but was checking the scope of possible action within the limits of its constitution.
Trump said a lot of his discussions with Takaichi would be about energy. Takaichi said they would discuss economic security in areas like energy and minerals.
Japanese officials said Takaichi hoped to remind Trump of the dangers posed by a regionally assertive China – especially to Taiwan – ahead of his planned visit there, which has now been pushed back from an earlier plan him to visit in two weeks.
On Wednesday US intelligence agencies created potential awkwardness for Takaichi when they said that remarks she made last year in support of Taiwan marked a “significant shift” for a Japanese leader.
Takaichi has maintained that her stance, which sent Tokyo’s relations with Beijing into a nosedive, was consistent with Japan‘s long-standing policy and Japan‘s government spokesperson said the US assessment was not accurate.
In the Oval Office, Takaichi said Japan was open to dialogue with China.
Japan expects Trump to ask Tokyo to produce or co-develop missiles that could help replace stocks of US munitions depleted by the Iran war and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Tokyo is still considering how to respond, Japanese government sources said.
Takaichi will also tell Trump that Japan intends to join the “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative that is meant to detect, track and potentially counter incoming threats from orbit, two Japanese government sources said.
She is expected to announce a fresh Japanese investment in Trump-approved projects in the US, from a $550 billion commitment made by the government to win relief from tariffs the US president imposed last year.
Japan could pledge some $60 billion as part of the second tranche of its investments spanning critical minerals and energy, said a person familiar with the plans, after already committing to three projects valued at $36 billion.