Jake Marmer
By Jake Marmer
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The Schmooze Greg Wall’s Kosher Brass
Saxophone/clarinet player Greg Wall, described by Time Out NY as the “fiery, eclectic Jewish-jazz luminary,” has, more recently, been ordained as an Orthodox rabbi. Aside from playing in a number of well-known klezmer projects (Hasidic New Wave, Later Prophets, etc.) he has been appointed to lead the Sixth Street Community Synagogue. On most Monday nights,…
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Culture Terminal Nostalgia
Sure, I have a soft spot for the Blue Jew Yorker, the on-line journal dedicated to the “culture of ecstasy and survival”, because a few of my own works have appeared there. But, even the strictest seekers of objective opinions would be impressed by the rag’s young, crisp and acidic intellectualism, as well as the…
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Culture Orgies on the Green Line
Theodor Adorno famously wrote: “To still write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric and it corrodes also the knowledge which expresses why it has become impossible to write poetry today.” For me, his dictum has always meant that poetry about the Holocaust is inadmissible — being, a priori, inadequate — and what’s the use of…
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Culture To (Richard) Hell and Back
You might think that the Venn diagram circles of arty intellectuals and punk rockers would never intersect. Yet, back in the 1970’s many of the original punk musicians considered themselves primarily poets or writers, with singing just a way to liberate their thoughts from their heads or writing paper. These writers included Patti Smith, Jim…
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Culture Transports of Jazz
A moment of auspicious transatlantic coincidence: while the Jewish Museum Berlin features an exhibit of jazz photography by two Jewish photographers, Francis Wolff and Jimmy Katz, New York’s Lincoln Center is showing “In the Best Possible Light: Herman Leonard’s Jazz,” featuring the work of another Jewish photographer who covered the same era, and shot many…
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Culture Driving Home a Reality Check
I’ve seen Philip Levine’s face on the back cover of his books, and once in a while, on podiums at readings. When I saw him two feet away, in an NYU bathroom of all places, I was totally baffled. “That’s Philip Levine!” I exclaimed, my voice echoing through the stalls. To which the poet answered:…
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Life Orthodox Zornberg Receives Coveted Reform Award
In an unprecedented cross-denominational move, Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, who describes herself as an Orthodox Jew, received the highest honor of the Reform Movement — the Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award. Zornberg, the Jerusalem-based writer and teacher, delivered an acceptance speech that was no less heartfelt for going well beyond the normal hackneyed…
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News Chana Bloch?s ?Blood Honey?
Many of us know Chana Bloch as the translator of Yehuda Amichai, Israel?s most illustrious poet. In collaboration with Chana Kronfeld, she also recently translated Dahlia Ravikovitch, another iconic Israeli writer. Bloch?s own poetry, however, in her recent collection, ?Blood Honey,? engages Israel?s arch foil: the Diaspora. The poet delves into her Ashkenazic Jewish heritage…
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