Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Articles written by Lisa Keys


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  • 'Cabaret' and 'Prayer for the French Republic' up for Tonys

    Lisa Keys|May 10, 2024

    (New York Jewish Week) — At a time of rising antisemitism, two shows about Jews caught up in a dangerous climate of hate received multiple nominations yesterday for the 2024 Tony Awards. A brand-new revival of the Kander and Ebb musical “Cabaret,” about the hedonistic antics at a late Weimar-era Berlin nightclub, received a total of nine nominations, while “Prayer for the French Republic,” a three-hour drama about antisemitism in France in 2016, received three. Both productions trail this year’s most-nominated: David Adjmi’s “Stereophonic,” abo...

  • Harry Belafonte, singer and civil rights activist who popularized 'Hava Nagila' in the US, dies at 96

    Lisa Keys|May 5, 2023

    (New York Jewish Week) - Barrier-smashing singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who once boasted of being "the most popular Jew in America" because of his rendition of a Hebrew classic, died Tuesday at his longtime Upper West Side home. He was 96. The New York City native was the one of the first Black artists to achieve widespread commercial success in the United States, and while he was raised Catholic, his life frequently dovetailed with Jewish causes, values and people....

  • A rabbi who went down with his torpedoed warship in 1943 will not forgotten

    Lisa Keys|Feb 10, 2023

    (JTA) - Mark Auerbach was not yet 5 years old when he noticed an unusual stamp in his father's dresser. The well-worn three-cent stamp featured a drawing of a small group of men and a sinking ship, with the words "The Immortal Chaplains... Interfaith in action." It piqued his interest, so he asked his father about it. "Our cousin is on that," Auerbach, who grew up in Brooklyn, recalls him saying, searching for an age-appropriate explanation. "He said he was a rabbi who died during World War II w...

  • A new exhibit on Jewish delis explores the roots and rise of a uniquely American phenomenon

    Lisa Keys|Dec 23, 2022

    (New York Jewish Week) — It was a stupendously bad idea to arrive at the press preview for the New-York Historical Society’s new exhibit, “‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’: The Jewish Deli,” on an empty stomach. The exhibit — which originated at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles and opens in New York on Friday, Nov. 11 — traces the mouthwatering history of the Jewish deli, beginning with the first waves of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These new Americans created a “fusion food born of immigration,” acco...

  • Woodstock Festival organizer dies

    Lisa Keys|Jan 21, 2022

    (New York Jewish Week via JTA) - Michael Lang, the Jewish co-creator of 1969's legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair, died on Saturday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital in Manhattan. He was 77. The cause, according to a family spokesperson, was a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A concert promoter who was just 24 at the time, he was one of several Jewish collaborators who made the generation-defining festival, billed as "Three Days of Peace and Music," happen. Other key players included...

  • Own a piece of the Borscht Belt

    Lisa Keys|Dec 3, 2021

    (New York Jewish Week via JTA) - Immortalized by pop-culture phenomena like "Dirty Dancing" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," New York's Catskill Mountains were once the go-to summer destination for hundreds of thousands of Jewish New Yorkers. According to the Catskills Institute at Northeastern University, "by the 1950s a half-million people each year inhabited the 'summer world' of bungalow colonies, summer camps and small hotels." And now, a little piece of Catskills history is up for grabs:...

  • It's Yelp for sheitels-the first-ever wig review site

    Lisa Keys|Jun 24, 2016

    NEW YORK (JTA)-First there was "Tinder for bras." Now there's a Yelp for sheitels, the wigs worn by many married Orthodox Jewish women. ShayTell may be the first-ever online customer review site for wigs. It's certainly the most cleverly named. And if you've never considered the demand for such a site, consider this: When was the last time you bought, say, a computer, without knowing a thing about its quality, components and warranty? That's a predicament facing many observant Jewish women,...

  • This Israeli startup will match your breasts with the perfect bra

    Lisa Keys|Jun 17, 2016

    (JTA)-They say the best stories happen when a writer gets pushed out of his or her comfort zone. Since the "they" in this case was my editor, this is how I found myself readying to post a topless photo of myself online-all in the name of good journalism. But this isn't a story about-well, whatever you're thinking it's probably about. Rather, this was an investigation into a legit Israeli startup, Brayola, a social network for lingerie shopping. The site, which also sells and ships bras, just...

  • Get your kosher dogs at Dodger Stadium!

    Lisa Keys, JTA|Aug 14, 2015

    (JTA)-The Los Angeles Dodgers may never achieve the lore of their brethren in Brooklyn, but now at least they've brought a bit of Brooklyn to the West Coast-in the form of hot dogs. Earlier this week, Dodger Stadium opened its first kosher hot dog stand, Jeff's Gourmet Sausage Factory. The stand, which is open for the season's remaining home games-except for those on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays-is serving up three versions of its titular tube steak: regular and jalapeno, both $9, and sweet...

  • Five highlights from the premiere of Bravo's show about wealthy Upper East Siders

    Lisa Keys|Jun 26, 2015

    (JTA)-Bravo's newest sitcom, "Odd Mom Out," which premiered two weeks ago, stars Jill Kargman as Jill Weber, a sassy Jewish woman who marries into a blue-blooded Upper East Side family. The show, which is based on Kargman's 2007 book, "Momzillas," is hitting the airwaves just as another book about wealthy Upper East Side moms, "Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir" by Wednesday Martin, is causing a stir for its depictions of the neighborhood's inimitable social code-and for Martin's alleged...