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Author Archives: admin
September 22, 2020 by admin
RBG Taught Us to Be the “Singing Lady” in the Room
My daughter tugged my sleeve. “Ima, who’s this guy?” We were snuggling during the first weekend of high holidays and reading Apples and Honey, one of my kids’ favorite Rosh Hashana books. Usually she races through this sweet lift-the-flap story, eager to get to the next “door” (as she calls the flaps), but this time she lingered over an illustration of a man in kippah and tallit. He is holding a large book and standing at a lectern festooned with flowers; nearby stands another man, draped in a tallit and blowing a shofar.
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September 17, 2020 by admin
Black Jewish Women Artists You Should Know… Tatiana Wechsler
Art–whether it be dancing, painting, drawing, film–creates a space for self-examination, helping us to envision possible futures, and better versions of ourselves. And the Jewish month of Elul is traditionally an opportunity for introspection before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Recognizing the power of art to be transformative, Lilith is highlighting Black Jewish women artists in this time leading up to and through Elul. On Lilith’s platforms you’ll have a chance to experience, share, and celebrate their work.
You can also participate by letting us know (at info@Lilith.org) Black Jewish women creators we should include!
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September 9, 2020 by admin
My Hair as a Metaphor
I lived trying to fit in. It was much more than “curly hair wasn’t in style back then.” It was: “You can’t exist.” It was: “Do not exist.” It was expressed as: “What’s wrong with your hair?” with the questioner trying not to laugh when asking.
My hair was a problem to be solved. From inside and outside the walls of my house, my hair was a symbol of something larger that had nothing and everything to do with me.
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September 8, 2020 by admin
Black Jewish Women Artists You Should Know… Nirit Takele
Art–whether it be dancing, painting, drawing, film–creates a space for self-examination, helping us to envision possible futures, and better versions of ourselves. And the Jewish month of Elul is traditionally an opportunity for introspection before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Recognizing the power of art to be transformative, Lilith is highlighting Black Jewish women artists in this time leading up to and through Elul. On Lilith’s platforms you’ll have a chance to experience, share, and celebrate their work.
You can also participate by letting us know (at info@Lilith.org) Black Jewish women creators we should include!
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September 8, 2020 by admin
It’s the First Day of School. Institutions Are Failing Our Kids.
Parents of young children are masters at winging it. Scary movie? Apply some magical thinking and it qualifies as a comedy. Laundry to fold? Transform the chore into a game show. Healthy dinner? Add broccoli to boxed mac and cheese.
But few of us have had to wing it on such a huge scale. On a Sunday evening in mid-March, New York City public school families learned that school was to shut down beginning the next day, Monday, March 16. Like so many, my children went to school on a Friday and at the end of the day gathered a few belongings, bid goodbye to the teachers they loved and never set foot in their classrooms again.
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September 1, 2020 by admin
Black Jewish Women Artists You Should Know… Jordana Daumec
Art–whether it be dancing, painting, drawing, film–creates a space for self-examination, helping us to envision possible futures, and better versions of ourselves. And the Jewish month of Elul is traditionally an opportunity for introspection before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Recognizing the power of art to be transformative, Lilith is highlighting Black Jewish women artists in this time leading up to and through Elul. On Lilith’s platforms you’ll have a chance to experience, share, and celebrate their work.
You can also participate by letting us know (at info@Lilith.org) Black Jewish women creators we should include!
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This week Lilith is featuring Jordana Daumec.
Website: https://national.ballet.ca/Meet/Dancers/1st-Soloists/Jordana-Daumec
Jordana Daumec was born in New York City. She trained at Studio Maestro in New York City and Canada’s National Ballet School. Jordana joined The National Ballet of Canada as an RBC Apprentice in 2003 and was promoted to First Soloist in 2015.
What is the comfort food you’re making during the pandemic?
This is an easy answer, challah! I make my husband and me a loaf every week. Such a great way to spend a day. I love the smell of the baking bread, you can see the love that you put into it and it comes out so delicious. I’m sure we’d eat more than one loaf a week if I made us more.
What is the world calling you to be/do in this moment?
Tackling issues of diversity have always been a calling to me but in this time of the pandemic, when we are all home and have more free time, my focus has been on what I can do for my dance community in a positive and constructive way. Starting conversations, bringing awareness, listening, being active to help make change. It’s really wonderful to see so many people coming together to use this time to make a difference.
For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
This is a hard one to limit to just one thing. I’m grateful for the love and support of my husband and family on a daily basis. With their constant love, I feel like I can accomplish anything. I am also grateful that I am in a profession that I love to do. I get to work with amazing people who have had such an impact on me. An example was getting to work with William Forsythe and Crystal Pite this year. It was career changing! Honestly, I can say I feel the Mazels coming down from the stars.
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August 25, 2020 by admin
Black Jewish Women Artists You Should Know… Ayeola Omolara Kaplan
Art–whether it be dancing, painting, drawing, film–creates a space for self-examination, helping us to envision possible futures, and better versions of ourselves. And the Jewish month of Elul is traditionally an opportunity for introspection before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Recognizing the power of art to be transformative, Lilith is highlighting Black Jewish women artists in this time leading up to and through Elul. On Lilith’s platforms you’ll have a chance to experience, share, and celebrate their work.
You can also participate by letting us know (at info@Lilith.org) Black Jewish women creators we should include!
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August 19, 2020 by admin
Black Jewish Women Artists You Should Know…Rachel Harrison-Gordon
Art–whether it be dancing, painting, drawing, film–creates a space for self-examination, helping us to envision possible futures, and better versions of ourselves. And the Jewish month of Elul is traditionally an opportunity for introspection before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Recognizing the power of art to be transformative, Lilith is highlighting Black Jewish women artists in this time leading up to and through Elul. On Lilith’s platforms you’ll have a chance to experience, share, buy and celebrate their work.
You can also participate by letting us know (at info@Lilith.org) Black Jewish women creators we should include!
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Rachel Harrison-Gordon is an MFA/MBA candidate at NYU Tisch/Stern and a Sundance 2020 Blackhouse Fellow. Rachel’s interest in storytelling evolved through pursuits of perspectives in journalism and in government. She has studied people through quantitative behavioral data and through their stories, and hopes to create films, commercials and music videos that highlight the different ways people come of age. Her work challenges expectations of race, family and addiction.
Prior to NYU, she served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for the Obama Administration, learning about Veterans and their experience returning home. She worked as a data analyst within a consumer insights group at The New York Times. Rachel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering, where she studied Mechanical Engineering. Broken Bird is Rachel’s first film.
Instagram: @raawwwwrrrrrrrrr
Website:rachelhg.com // brokenbirdfilm.com/
What’s the best gift you’ve ever given––or received?
Before I thought I could or would be a filmmaker, my partner and in-laws gifted me a beautiful photography camera. It changed the course of my life. When I would listen to music, I would always imagine the images that corresponded to those moments in my mind. Now I was able to create those images, and work the other way around. There’s something so empowering about learning something technical to create something new.
When was the last time you said no?
I was offered to produce a music video with a team who helped give me my start in filmmaking, and with an artist I love and would be eternally grateful to create with. Unfortunately due to COVID and some health circumstances, I had to turn down the opportunity. At least this time, I feel like I’m saying no because of something that matters, and not saying no because I don’t think I’m qualified, which is definitely something that has held me back.
What is one question that you found yourself asking over and over again this year? What version of an answer are you living your way into?
I used to ask “why does no one hear me? Listen to me?” I’ve found a way to be seen and heard, and to not place so much emphasis on the people who choose not to. I am no longer expending energy on people who refuse to look inside themselves and admit the pain they cause with their limited view of the world.
What is something you need to say? To whom?
To the Black girls everywhere, to the mixed girls, to the Black-Jewish girls – your life is special and valid. People will try to put you into a box so their world-view isn’t shook. Don’t let them do that, don’t let that effort subdue or censor who you are. We are all here and have something to offer. Believe in yourself, especially when you’re getting constant signals and discouragements not to.
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August 11, 2020 by admin
Black Jewish Women Artists You Should Know…Jessica Valoris
Art–whether it be dancing, painting, drawing, film–creates a space for self-examination, helping us to envision possible futures, and better versions of ourselves. And the Jewish month of Elul is traditionally an opportunity for introspection before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Recognizing the power of art to be transformative, Lilith is highlighting Black Jewish women artists in this time leading up to and through Elul. On Lilith’s platforms you’ll have a chance to experience, share, buy and celebrate their work.
You can also participate by letting us know (at info@Lilith.org) Black Jewish women creators we should include!
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Jessica Valoris is a multidisciplinary installation artist who weaves together sound, collage, painting, sculpture, and facilitated ritual to build installations and experiences that have been described as sacred, intentional, and activated. She’s inspired by Afrofuturism, metaphysics, and historical memory.
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August 4, 2020 by admin
Discussing the Holocaust… at Comic-Con
The Holocaust might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Comic-Con—the annual international convention that usually takes place in San Diego, California, and that spotlights comic books and related popular arts. But as Stephen D. Smith, Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation, explained when he recently introduced the panel, “Art and the Holocaust,” as part of this year’s Comic-Con@home programming: “One of the things that I have noticed over the years is just how many witnesses of the Holocaust have turned their experience not only to testimony in words but also in art.”
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