Tagged: judaism

Ori Alboher is a unique musician from Jerusalem, Israel, who makes abstract soundscapes within a traditional Jewish Hasidic context (which should make the music all but traditional). His deep-seated Hasidism doesn't exactly shine through in the recorded music as he might have hoped for, though I'm sure it'd be fairly obvious on stage with the rest of his Ori crew: Noam Helfer – guitar, Ben Greenberg – french horn, Rani Megiddo – computer & xylophone. Regardless, Alboher is a talented fellow. Ori - "Milka's Dream" [MP3] I love that Hasidism and Indie-ism has [...]

• Ori - Milka's Dream

Christmas is arguably the only major religious holiday where non-Christians have developed yearly traditions. So whether you plan to spend the holiday with family, volunteering with an organization or, like us, at a Chinese restaurant with the Jewish homies, you'll be in good company. Face it, you could be getting barked at by the staff of the Maury Povich show, receiving a pet rat as a gift or being torn between which family to spend the day with. Cheers! Hercules and Love Affair : DJ Dregs . [...]

What. The. Fuck. This is not from The Onion : Major League Dreidel (MLD) is an amped-up Hanukkah party and battle royale where players vie for the longest dreidel spin. As competitors with such names as Spindiana Jones, Goy Wonder and Spinona Ryder play with the traditional four-sided spinning top, the mid-twenties crowd shouts, high-fives and swigs such Jewish-themed beers as Genesis Ale and Messiah Bold. The league's main venue, the infamous Brooklyn music hot spot the Knitting Factory, is located in the hipster haven of Williamsburg. The Jewish puns [...]

There isn't much new information in this short National Geographic article promoting their upcoming show about the Dead Sea Scrolls , but they do claim that conventional wisdom - the scrolls were written only by the Essenes in Qumran - might not be entirely accurate . New research suggests many of the Dead Sea Scrolls originated elsewhere and were written by multiple Jewish groups, some fleeing the circa-A.D. 70 Roman siege that destroyed the legendary Temple in Jerusalem. "Jews wrote the Scrolls, but it may not have been just [...]

In case you aren't chosen, we're coming up on the heels of the Jewish New Year. Unlike in other arty fields, like being a writer or comedian, rock music isn't a field known for its Jews. I mean, of course there's Bob Dylan, but a lot of rock stars are hiding their Judaism with stage names. Some rockin' Jews who you might have thought were goyim: Neil Diamond Paula Abdul Babydaddy of the Scissor Sisters (aka Scott Hoffman) Ike Turner Sammy Davis, Jr. Scott Ian of Anthrax [...]

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that is in some way relevant to their recently published books. In The Story of Yiddish: How a Mish-Mosh of Languages Saved the Jews , Neal Karlen recounts the history of the Yiddish language and examines its relatively recent renaissance. Popular culture references abound and make the book as entertaining as it is informative. In his own words, here is Neal Karlen's Book Notes essay for his book, The Story of Yiddish: [...]