by Webmaster | Mar 1, 2016 | Arts & Culture, Identity
It was not until she was already on her way to adulthood, that singer Sarah Aroeste discovered the connection between her Sephardic roots in Greece and her love of music with the Sephardic musical traditions in Ladino. Becoming a mother for the first time, she did not...
by Webmaster | Feb 10, 2016 | Arts & Culture, Identity
Their love was evident to everyone who was there on that beautiful day in October when Yechochanan and Aminah Perkins stood under the chuppah. Three years later, the couple still glow in each other’s presence. “There is so much I love about Aminah,” says Yechochanan,...
by Shekhiynah Larks | Nov 10, 2015 | Arts & Culture, Identity
My name is Sandra Lawson, and I am rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. I’m spending this semester in Israel studying at the Conservative Yeshiva, in Jerusalem. I’m having a great time studying Talmud, Jewish spirituality and Hebrew. I’m...
by Webmaster | Oct 7, 2015 | Arts & Culture, Identity
When my then fiance and I were planning our wedding, I told him that I didn’t want to circle around him under the chuppah (wedding canopy). His reaction was not what I expected. Instead of him saying, “Okay” or “Why not?,” I got something along the lines of, “What are...
by Webmaster | Jan 27, 2015 | Arts & Culture, Identity, Jewish Ritual
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past…” When William Faulkner wrote these words in Requiem for a Nun, I’m pretty certain he didn’t have a formerly opera-singing African-American performer of Yiddish in mind. Nonetheless, for me Faulkner’s words still manage to...
by Webmaster | Jan 22, 2015 | Arts & Culture, Identity
There is a myth that Jewish music is “always in a minor key,” and often echoes themes of pieces like “Hava Nagila” and “Kol Nidrei.” So last spring when I met with Judi Lamble, the coordinator and Michael Olsen, the conductor of the Twin Cities Jewish Choral, we knew...
