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Winnipeg Free Press
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Drag sabbath
'Mom, are all rabbis drag queens?' Sandi DuBowski overheard a 10-year-old boy in California ask that question after screening his latest film, a sprawling documentary about Amichai Lau-Lavie, a suis-generis, queer religious leader — the nephew of the former chief rabbi of Israel — who moonlights as the bombastic blond Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross. As a filmmaker, DuBowski is drawn to the stories of risk takers who defy containment. Enter Lau-Lavie, whom DuBowski first learned about while working on Trembling Before G-d, his trailblazing 2001 portrait of gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews straddling multiple worlds. Supplied Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie moonlights as the bombastic blond Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross. 'I went to Jerusalem to look for people to be in the film and everyone kept saying, 'You have to meet Amichai.' So I met him and asked him to be in the movie and he refused because he was too much of a diva: he wanted his own movie. He said, 'I don't do collage,'' recalls DuBowski, who grew up in Brooklyn. But DuBowski and Lau-Lavie developed a trusting relationship in the months that followed, and by 2003 the documentarian had hit the record button. What ensued over the next two decades was Sabbath Queen, a deeply rewarding longitudinal portrait of one man's constant religious and spiritual evolution set against the backdrop of an increasingly hostile world. 'People used to tell me it was like what Richard Linklater did in Boyhood, and I would say, yes, but it's more like Rabbihood,' says DuBowski, in Winnipeg for tonight's screening at Public Domain (633 Portage Ave.), where viewers will be treated to a Q&A and an accompanying Shabbat snack spread. The level of access and scope of his connection to his central character was unprecedented for DuBowski, 55, whose own life experiences consistently found a mirror in Lau-Lavie, who, under tremendous professional risk, conducted an interfaith wedding ceremony for the filmmaker and his husband, Eric. 'I think for me, this is really a mid-life film. It's about holding these big questions, testing and compromising around structures and systems. Like, where do you push? There's an inside-outside strategy Amichai employs, so that's part of it. I think just watching the unfolding of a life.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. That reverse origami reveals a subject, as well as a filmmaker, constantly reorienting himself within the context of both a flexible modern world and a static, text-based landscape, assessing the strictures of religion to renegotiate the boundaries of inherited tradition. As the film progresses, DuBowski and Lau-Lavie are revealed as deeply introspective, considerate and intellectually open characters, willing to engage soulfully with questions asked both within and without global Jewish communities: Who is Jewish? Who is godly? Who are we to even ask such questions? Supplied Director Sandi DuBowski 'I was at a retreat with Amichai and we were told to lie down and imagine our funeral, our eulogies, our purpose in life, and I got up that night crying. 'Amichai, I wish I could become a rabbi.' At that point, the conservative Jewish movement that I grew up in didn't accept openly gay or lesbian rabbis,' DuBowski recalls. 'And Amichai comforted me and said that artists are the new rabbis, and that's when I became an artist. I have no rabbis in my family, but I really do feel like I live by that idea — artists as the new rabbis — and that's how I'm trying to do my own version of spiritual work.' Ben WaldmanReporter Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University's (now Toronto Metropolitan University's) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben. Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
New York Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Hochul, Looking to 2026, Pushed to Weaken Oversight of Religious Schools
As Gov. Kathy Hochul prepares for what is likely to be a tough re-election fight next year, she is promoting a state budget deal stuffed with politically popular initiatives aimed at making life in New York more affordable. She has been less eager to talk about a consequential last-minute addition to the budget that is aimed at winning over a relatively small yet deeply influential group of voters — Hasidic Jews — but may be broadly unpopular with her Democratic base. The governor is facing a wave of criticism over her efforts to weaken an obscure, century-old law that requires private schools to provide a basic education. Changing the law has been a top priority of the state's Hasidic leaders, whose endorsements are highly coveted come election season. The measure is expected to pass the Senate and Assembly in the coming days. One faction of the Satmar Hasidic community celebrated the bill on social media on Wednesday, writing that the state budget 'includes amended legislation securing freedom of education!'
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cops clash with anti-Israel protesters outside NYC synagogue where Israeli minister was set to speak before event canceled
Anti-Israel protesters Sunday clashed with cops outside a Brooklyn synagogue where Israel's embattled security minister was set to speak — with the speech ending up canceled and at least one arrest. The protest outside Congregation Shaare ZIon on Ocean Parkway turned violent shortly after 9:30 a.m. as NYPD officers and some members of the crowd scuffled while the rowdy mob demonstrated against Sunday's scheduled speech by Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The speech was nixed, and the under-fire minister is now set to return home a day early, the Israeli outlet Haaretz reported. The violent clash came two days after anti-Israel demonstrators and Hasidic Jews scuffled outside the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where Ben-Gvir made an appearance. Police said at least a half-dozen people were arrested at that protest. Last week, protesters also hurled water bottles at Ben-Gvir after an event near Yale University's campus. Photos from Sunday's scene in Brooklyn showed cops taking some protesters into custody, including one who was wrestling with police on the ground — as counter-protesters confronted the demonstrators. Video posted by Freedom News TV captured an angry exchange between the two sides. A rep for the NYPD said police were called to the scene at 9:43 a.m. and confirmed that there was at least one arrest. Jennifer Hansen, 33, of Brooklyn, was charged with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and three counts of disorderly conduct during the protest, police said. Hansen has at least one prior arrest at anti-Israeli demonstrations in the Big Apple, when she was among 60 protesters locked up in Midtown Manhattan in October 2023, one week after a sneak raid on Israel by Hamas terrorists. In that incident, Hansen was charged with resisting arrest, obstruction, assault and disorderly conduct, police said. No other arrests were immediately reported at Sunday's protest. The protest was scheduled by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation of New York and New Jersey.
New York Post
27-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Cops clash with anti-Israel protesters outside NYC synagogue where Israeli minister was set to speak before event canceled
Anti-Israel protesters Sunday clashed with cops outside a Brooklyn synagogue where Israel's embattled security minister was set to speak — with the event ending up canceled and several people arrested. The protest outside Congregation Shaare ZIon on Ocean Parkway turned violent shortly after 9:30 a.m. as NYPD officers and some members of the crowd scuffled while the rowdy mob demonstrated against Sunday's scheduled speech by Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The speech was nixed, and the under-fire minister is now set to return home a day early, the Israeli outlet Haaretz reported. 5 Anti-Israel protesters clash with counter-demonstrators outside a Brooklyn synagogue Sunday. FNTV 5 Several people were arrested at Sunday's protest. FNTV The violent clash came two days after anti-Israel demonstrators and Hasidic Jews scuffled outside the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where Ben-Gvir made an appearance. Police said at least a half-dozen people were arrested at that protest. Last week, protesters also hurled water bottles at Ben-Gvir after an event near Yale University's campus. Photos from Sunday's scene in Brooklyn showed cops taking some protesters into custody, including one who was wresting with police on the ground — as counter-protesters confronted the demonstrators. 5 Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sparked at least two protests in New York City on his latest visit to the US. REUTERS 5 Jews and anti-Israel protesters clash during the demonstration outside Congregation Shaare Zion in Brooklyn on Sunday. FNTV 5 The crowd grew violent at times. FNTV Video posted by Freedom News TV captured an angry exchange between the two sides. A rep for the NYPD said police were called to the scene at 9:43 a.m. and confirmed that there were several arrests, but details were not immediately available. The protest was scheduled by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation of New York and New Jersey.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Education and Sharing Day held in honor of influential Rabbi
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Dignitaries from all levels of government and both major political parties gathered at Binghamton City Hall today to recognize a day of learning and kindness in honor of an influential Rabbi. The Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life hosted a celebration of Education and Sharing Day. It's held each year on the anniversary of the birth of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Schneerson lived from 1902 to 1994, was the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Hasidic Jews and is credited with the creation of hundreds of schools, synagogues and social centers like the Rohr Chabad Center on Murray Hill Road in Vestal which serves Jewish students at neighboring Binghamton University. Rabbi Levi Slonim says the Rebbe worked to create a better, brighter and more hopeful future for all. 'This event, thank God, grows from year to year and it's one of the unique events in our area that, thank God, annually bringing everyone together in a beautiful bipartisan show of unity,' said Slonim. This year to mark the occasion, Slonim is distributing yellow plastic arks that people and organizations can fill with loose change to donate to the charity of their choice. Sheriff Fred Akshar says his office will have extra on hand for anyone who wants to participate. Stray emu found in Harpursville and brought to Animal Adventure Binghamton raises Rumble Ponies' flag ahead of home-opener Education and Sharing Day held in honor of influential Rabbi Endicott PD find fentanyl, assault weapon during traffic stop New York Attorney General joins lawsuit against Trump NIH funding cuts Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
