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Shais Rishon
Shais Rishon, also known by the pen name MaNishtana, is an African-American Orthodox rabbi, activist, and writer. He has written for '' Tablet'', '' Kveller'', ''The Forward'', ''Jewcy'', and '' Hevria'', as well as writing a semi-autobiographical novel under his pen name. In 2014, he was included in ''The Jewish Week'''s "36 Under 36", an annual list of influential Jews under age 36. Biography Rishon was born February 14, 1982 in Brooklyn, New York to an Ashkenazi Jewish family associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. According to him, his mother's ancestors have been practicing Jews since the 1780s. His father, Asher Rishon, converted to Judaism after meeting Shais' mother. Growing up, Shais felt alienated from the Jewish community due to his race and the treatment he received from other Jews. He attended James Madison High School and Brooklyn College, where he majored in English. Rishon began blogging about his black and Jewish identities as MaNishtana in 2009. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelve original counties established under English rule in 1683 in what was then the Province of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population stood at 2,736,074, making it the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City, and the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the state.Table 2: Population, Land Area, and Population Density by County, New York State - 2020 New York State Department of Health. Accessed January 2, 2024. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Studies
English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a distinct discipline. The English studies discipline involves the study, analysis, and exploration of English literature through texts. English studies include: * The study of literature, especially novels, plays, short stories, and poetry. Although any English-language literature may be studied, the most commonly analyzed literature originates from Britain, the United States, and Ireland. Additionally, any given country or region teaching English studies will often emphasize its own local or national English-language literature. * English composition, involving both the analysis of the structures of works of literature as well as the application of these structures in one's own writing. * English language arts, which is the study of gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purim
Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (usually dated to the late-5th or 4th centuries BCE). Haman was the Vizier, royal vizier to the List of monarchs of Iran, Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I or Artaxerxes I; and in Old Persian, respectively). His plans were foiled by Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin, who previously to that warned the king from an assassination attempt and thus saving his life, and Esther, Mordecai's cousin and adopted daughter who had become queen of Persia after her marriage to Ahasuerus. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing among Jews. According to the Scroll of Esther, "they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor". Purim is celebrated among Jews by: *Exchangi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackface
Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a global perspective that includes European culture and Western colonialism. Blackface became a global phenomenon as an outgrowth of theatrical practices of racial misrepresentation, racial impersonation popular throughout Britain and its colonial empire, where it was integral to the development of imperial racial politics. Scholars with this wider view may date the practice of blackface to as early as Medieval Europe's mystery plays when bitumen and coal were used to darken the skin of white performers portraying demons, devils, and damned souls. Still others date the practice to English Renaissance theatre, English Renaissance theater, in works such as William Shakespeare's ''Othello''. However, some scholars see blackface as a specific pract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dov Hikind
Dov Bernard Hikind (born June 30, 1950) is an American politician, activist, and radio talk show host in the state of New York. Hikind served as a Democratic New York State Assemblyman representing Brooklyn's Assembly district 48 for 35 years – from January 1983 until December 2018. Background and family Hikind grew up in a Haredi Jewish family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, his father being a devout follower of the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty. His parents were both Holocaust survivors, with his mother being liberated from Auschwitz. He has a BA from Queens College, and a MA from Brooklyn College. Hikind is married, and has three children: Yoni, Shmuel, and Deena. Yoni and Shmuel both work as social workers in the Jewish community in Brooklyn. Politics Hikind endorsed Michael Bloomberg the first two times he ran for mayor of New York City, then switched his endorsement to the challenger Bill Thompson in the 2009 election. During his decades as a Democrat, Hikind had broken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Letter
An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (message), letter addressed to an individual but are provided to the public through newspapers and other media, such as a letter to the editor or blog. Critical open letters addressed to political leaders are especially common. Two of the most famous and influential open letters are ''J'accuse...!'' by Émile Zola to the president of France, accusing the French government of wrongfully convicting Alfred Dreyfus for alleged espionage; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail", including the famous quotation "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". Context In previous centuries, Letter (message), letter writing was a significant form of communication. Letters were normally kept private between the sender and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Gancher
Sarah Gancher is an American playwright. Gancher is known for her work exploring epic narratives, profound themes, and rich comedy. Her play ''Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy'' opened at the Vineyard Theatre in winter 2024. Gancher's plays often delve into the intersection of history and individual lives, examining how places, communities, and debates evolve over time. Her works have been produced or developed at London’s National Theatre, Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, The Public, New York Theater Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, The Vineyard, The Atlantic, Berkeley Rep, Steppenwolf, New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova, WP Theatre, The Flea, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Geva Theatre, Hartford Stage, RoundHouse, Forward Theatre, Mosaic (DC), P73, NYC Summerstage, and Telluride Theatre. Early life Gancher was raised in Oakland, California and attended Maybeck High School. Career Gancher has written two musicals with the rock band The Bengsons: "The Lucky Ones" and " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwright" and is the first person in English literature to refer to playwrights as separate from Poet, poets. The earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are the Ancient Greeks. William Shakespeare is amongst the most famous playwrights in literature, both in England and across the world. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English , from Old English ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word ''wikt:wwright'' is an archaic English term for a Artisan, craftsperson or builder (as in a wheelwright or Wagon, cartwright). The words combine to indicate a person who has "wrought" words, themes, and other elements into a dramatic form — a play. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Book Council
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of quality English language books of Jewish content in North America". The council sponsors the National Jewish Book Awards, the JBC Network, JBC Book Clubs, the Visiting Scribe series, and Jewish Book Month. It previously sponsored the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. It publishes an annual literary journal called '' Paper Brigade''. History The Jewish Book Council (JBC)'s origins date to 1925, when Fanny Goldstein, a librarian at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library, set up an exhibit of Judaic books as a focus of what she dubbed "Jewish Book Week". In 1927, with the assistance of Rabbi S. Felix Mendelssohn of Chicago, Jewish communities around the United States adopted the event. Jewish Book Week proved so successful that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jews Of Color
Jews of color (or Jews of colour) is a neologism, primarily used in North America, that describes Jews from non-white racial and ethnic backgrounds, whether mixed-race, adopted, Jews by conversion, or part of national or geographic populations (or a combination of these) that are non-white. It is often used to identify Jews who are racially non-white, whose family origins are originally in African, Asian or Latin American countries, and to acknowledge a common experience for Jews who belong to racial, national, or geographic groups beyond White people, white and Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi. The term has been used in discourse about Ashkenormativity, white Jews, and by extension white privilege, as well as racism in Jewish communities, Jewish visibility, Judaism as an ethnicity, and the question of who is a Jew. While there is consensus that this demographic group exists, there is debate over the exact definition or the use of this specific term. Origin of the term Jews who are al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Community Center
A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social, and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish culture and heritage through holiday celebrations, Israel-related programming, and other Jewish education. However, they are open to everyone in the community. JCC Association of North America is the continental umbrella organization for the Jewish Community Center movement, which includes more than 170 JCCs, YM–YWHAs, and camp sites in the U.S. and Canada. History The Hebrew Young Men's Literary Association was first set up in 1854 in a building at the corner of Fayette and Gay Streets in Baltimore, Maryland to provide support for Jewish immigrants."Young Men's Hebrew Group 100 Years Old This Week". ''The Baltimore Sun''. January 8, 1954. Dr. Aaron Friedenwald was the group's founder and first president. The first Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) was founded in New York City ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Y-Love
Yitz Jordan (born January 5, 1978), better known by his stage name Y-Love, is an American hip hop artist. An Orthodox Jew, Jordan was formerly Hasidic.Jerry Portwood"Y-Love is Ready for Love,"''Out'', May 15, 2012. He is a web developer, activist, and entrepreneur. Jordan rhymes in a mixture of English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, Latin and Aramaic, often covering social, political and religious themes. Biography Personal life Jordan, an only child, was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland to a Christian Ethiopian father and Puerto Rican mother, occasionally attending a Baptist church. As a youth, Jordan was a fan of the conscientious rhymes of KRS-One and Public Enemy's Chuck D.Jesse Serwer, "Walk Wit' Me: Black Jewish MC Has Rhymes For You Little Yentas," ''XXL'', Issue #101, April 2008. Jordan first became interested in Judaism at the age of seven. "I saw a commercial that said, 'Happy Passover from your friends at Channel 2,'" he said, "and I went drawing six-pointed stars on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
