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The cast of Broadway’s ‘Parade’ says Kaddish before each show, says star Micaela Diamond
(JTA) — Eight times a week, audiences at Broadway’s “Parade” see the curtain rise on a retelling of an act of antisemitism. What they don’t see is the Jewish ritual that comes first.
In an essay for The New York Times, 23-year-old star Micaela Diamond writes that before almost every performance, the cast members stand in a circle and say the Mourner’s Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.
“It is an expression of community as we tell this hard story,” writes Diamond, who plays Lucille Frank, the wife of Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank.
It’s not the only prayer recited every night: Ben Platt, playing Leo Frank, recites the Shema just before he is killed by a lynch mob, in the final moments of a musical dramatizing his 1913 arrest and 1915 murder. The historical consensus is that Frank was innocent of the rape and murder charges against him.
In her essay, Diamond shares what she has learned from playing Lucille Frank, to whom she feels connected.
“I can relate to Lucille — her Jewishness, her lack of Jewishness, her insistence on assimilation,” Diamond writes. “There are so many parts of my identity that feel more at the forefront than my Jewishness, like being an actor, being queer, being a good cook. … Yet our identities are as nuanced as our roots are indelible.”
People like Lucille Frank considered themselves “Southern first, American second, Jewish later,” according to Alfred Uhry, the writer of “Parade.” But in her essay, Diamond notes that order doesn’t matter to antisemites — and she had seen it for herself.
On the opening preview night of the “Parade” revival in February, neo-Nazis rallied outside the Bernard Jacobs Theatre.
“A play that was meant to be a revival of a century-old story suddenly had contemporary implications,” Diamond writes, echoing Platt’s take offered on Instagram that night. “It was a haunting reminder of this story’s immediacy.”
Diamond also notes the connections between antisemitism and anti-Black racism in the story of Leo Frank and today. “Parade” offers a condemnation of a criminal justice system that “fails to protect all of those without power” by pitting Black people and Jews against each other, she writes, pointing to how the Frank family’s Black housekeeper is urged to testify against Leo Frank with evidence fabricated by the prosecution.
“If we refuse to embrace our inherent otherness — the parts that make us definitively Jewish Americans — we forget our common struggle with other marginalized people,” Diamond writes.
“Parade,” which is set to run until at least early August, is up for six Tony Awards this weekend, including best actor for Platt and best actress for Diamond.
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The post The cast of Broadway’s ‘Parade’ says Kaddish before each show, says star Micaela Diamond appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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VIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press
די ייִדיש־ליגע האָט לעצטנס אַרויפֿגעשטעלט אַ ווידעאָ, וווּ די היסטאָריקערין וויווי לאַקס דערציילט וועגן דער אַמאָליקער ייִדישער פּרעסע אין לאָנדאָן.
צווישן 1884 און 1954 האָט די לאָנדאָנער פּרעסע אַרויסגעגעבן הונדערטער פֿעליעטאָנען פֿון אָרטיקע שרײַבערס וועגן אָרטיקן ייִדישן לעבן.
די קורצע דערציילונגען זענען סאַטיריש, קאָמיש און רירנדיק, אויף טשיקאַווע טעמעס ווי למשל קאַמפֿן אין דער היים צווישן די מינים; פּאָליטיק אין די קאַפֿעען, און ספֿרי־תּורה אויף די גאַסן. די דערציילונגען האָבן געשריבן סײַ גוט באַקאַנטע שרײַבער (למשל, מאָריס ווינטשעווסקי, יוסף־חיים ברענער און אסתּר קרייטמאַן), סײַ היפּש ווייניקער באַקאַנטע.
שבֿע צוקער, די ייִדיש־לערערין און מחבר פֿון אַ ייִדישן לערנבוך, פֿירט דעם שמועס מיט וויווי לאַקס. זיי וועלן פֿאָרלייענען אַ טייל פֿון די פֿעליעטאָנען אויף ענגליש און ייִדיש, און אַרומרעדן די טעמעס וואָס די פּרעסע האָט אַרויסגעהויבן.
וויווי לאַקס איז אַ היסטאָריקערין פֿון לאָנדאָנס ייִדישן „איסט־ענד“, ווי אויך אַן איבערזעצער און זינגערין. זי איז די מחברטע פֿון Whitechapel Noise און London Yiddishtown, ווי אויך אַקאַדעמישע און פּאָפּולערע אַרטיקלען. זי איז אַ קולטור־טוערין אין לאָנדאָן און האָט מיטאָרגאַניזירט סײַ דעם גרויסן ייִדישן פּאַראַד, סײַ דעם Yiddish Café Trust. זי זינגט פּאָפּולערע לידער אויפֿן „קאָקני־ייִדיש“ מיט די גרופּעס קלעזמער־קלאָב און קאַטשאַנעס, און פֿירט שפּאַצירטורן איבער דעם „איסט־ענד“.
The post VIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press appeared first on The Forward.
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Puppet Monty Pickle is guest on the Forward’s ‘Yiddish Word of the Day’
It’s not every day that a kosher dill pickle puppet gets a chance to learn some Yiddish.
Monty Pickle, star of the children’s series The Monty Pickle Show, recently joined Rukhl Schaechter, host of the Forward’s YouTube series Yiddish Word of the Day, for an episode teaching viewers the Yiddish words for various wild animals.
Or as they’re called in Yiddish: vilde khayes.
The Monty Pickle Show, a puppet comedy on YouTube and TikTok, aims to show young viewers what it means to be Jewish in a fun, lively way. The series was created by the Emmy Award-winning producers of Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock.
So far, he’s met a number of Jewish personalities, including rabbis, musicians and chefs, and explored holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah and Passover.
Sitting alongside Rukhl during the lesson, Monty eagerly tries to guess what each word means, providing for some very funny moments.
The post Puppet Monty Pickle is guest on the Forward’s ‘Yiddish Word of the Day’ appeared first on The Forward.
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IDF Nabs Islamic State Terror Suspect in Syria
Guns seized in the course of the operation. Photo: IDF Spokesperson via i24
i24 News – Israel Defense Forces soldiers conducted an operation on Wednesday in the area of Rafid in southern Syria to apprehend a suspected terrorist affiliated with ISIS, the military spokesperson said on Saturday.
The announcement comes as Washington announced a major operation to eliminated Islamic State terrorists in Syria after three Americans lost their lives in a jihadist attack in Palmyra.
The Israeli soldiers completed the operation in Syria “in cooperation with IDF intelligence,” the statement read, adding that “the suspect was transferred for further processing in Israeli territory.”
Additionally, during the operation, weapons were found and seized.
IDF troops “continue to remain deployed along the Golan Heights border in order to protect the State of Israel and its citizens,” the statement from the spokesperson concluded.