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The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Joshua Rose
We are right at the beginning of what some have called "The 21st Century Jewish Cultural Renaissance," and the Art/Lab podcast is watching it unfold, in real time and up close. Each week Rabbi Josh Rose has a conversation with a different Jewish artist or cultural figure to explore questions of artistic creativity, individual Jewish identity, Jewish expression and how Jewish arts are reshaping what it means to be Jewish. So, if you're interested in 21st century Jewish life, Jewish ideas, Jewish arts or just good conversation, you're in the right place. (This podcast was previously known as "The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture")
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- Yesterday39 min
S349 How Can Jewish Culture Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century (Lou Cove)
This is a Greatest Hits episode - a re-release of the second part of my conversation with Lou Cove, from Season 2 Episode 21 (the interview spanned episdoes 20 & 21). Lou Cove is the director of CANVAS, an organization that is very important to Art/Lab, in terms of funding, guidance, netwworking iwth other Jewish creative organizations, and inspiration. Art/ Lab is part of the CANVAS network. Lou heads up CANVAS, but his impact is far greater than that. He's an author, a speaker, and really a maven in the field of nonprofit fundraising. But his professional life has been about standing at the center of Jewish creativity and the kind of renewal in Jewish arts and culture that's been such an important part of the story of the last generation. Lou is a champion fundraiser. He has raised more than $75 million for the causes he cares most about, and he has really used that skill and his insights into how to get people connected to one another and how to motivate people and to how to inspire people to really breathe new life into the Jewish world. He was the former executive director of Reboot, a network of leading young Jewish creatives devoted to rebooting modern Jewish culture such as digital entrepreneurs at Google and YouTube, creators of TV shows and films like Lost, Orange is the New Black, Transparent, Anchorman and Star Trek, journalists in the New York Times, et cetera. I am actually part of reboot myself. So that's another thing that Lou and I have in common. Besides music and many other things, it was a total joy to talk to him. So this is the second part of the conversation. I'm re-releasing this one today in part because it touches upon some of the themes that will show up in upcoming episodes. So. Enjoy my conversation with Lou Cove. Thanks so much for listening. Links Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts & Culture: artlabpdx.org CANVAS: bycanvas.org Lou's personal website: loucove.com
- 1 weeks ago38 min
S3E48 Can Americana Music Be Jewish? (Mark Rubin)
Welcome to The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture (previously The Genesis). Mark Rubin is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, bassist, tuba player, bandleader, producer, and educator whose work sits at the crossroads of American roots music and Jewish culture. Mark has spent more than three decades moving across musical boundaries: bluegrass, country, western swing, Tex-Mex, polka, klezmer, Roma brass, Cajun music, punk, and old-time American string-band traditions. His own shorthand for his recent work is "Southern Americana from a Jewish POV." He first became widely known as a co-founder of the Austin-based Bad Livers, one of the defining bands of the 1990s alternative bluegrass/proto-Americana scene. Mark helped create an old school rootsy sound with punk energy. Rubin has been described as a "legend from back in the alt country days," known for his pioneering work with Bad Livers in Austin, a band that helped usher in a generation of alternative bluegrass and acoustic bands. Mark and I talk about how his Americana punk creativity feeds his Jewish identity and vice versa. Alongside his Americana work, Mark has built an equally substantial reputation in Jewish music, especially klezmer and Yiddish cultural revival circles. He has performed and collaborated with major figures and ensembles including Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars, The Other Europeans, and Andy Statman, and he spent two decades on the faculty of KlezKamp. He has appeared as a performer and teacher at many significant major Jewish and klezmer festivals, including Toronto's Ashkenaz Festival whose Director, Eric Stein, appeared on this podcast back in season two - episode 23. Over the last decade Mark Has stepped forward under the moniker Mark Rubin, Jew of Oklahoma. That project brings together the strands of his career: Southern roots music, Jewish memory, political protest, gallows humor, and personal identity. Mark and I talk about his being the Jew from Oklahoma - both in terms of his personal biography and how it's relevant to his worldview, but also as an in-your-face stage name and what that has to do with his own personal brand of Jewish expression. Parts of Mark's story as a Jewish artist are very much particular to his experience as a Southern Jew. But as you'll hear, he is working through, overcoming and singing about the kinds of challenges faced by so many Jewish artists all over the world, especially after October 7th. I had a lot of fun talking to Mark, and I hope you enjoy listening to this person who the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History has called him "one of the great American Jewish musicians of our time." Finally, if you like what you hear on this podcast, and especially if you are a regular listener - please give back just briefly by going to our show to follow or subscribe and even better - offer a comment about what you appreciate. It helps us broaden our audience and supports the work we do at Art/Lab. Thank you. The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links: Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts & Culture artlabpdx.org Mark Rubin's Website: https://www.jewofoklahoma.com/ The Weitzman page on Rubin: https://theweitzman.org/events/mark-rubin-concert/ Mordecai Gebirtig: https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/1076
- 2 weeks ago7 min
S3E47 Can Creativity Overcome Darkness? A Story for Shavuot
Here's one of my favorite stories from the Talmud. I hope you find some inspiration in it. Please note that starting next week the podcast will have a new name: The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture. If you are a subscriber you don't need to change a thing. You will notice some changes in the artwork for the podcast (see below), but everything else will remain the same. But do make a note about the new name so you can tell other folks what to look for when they need great podcasts! The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links: Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture: artlabpdx.org The Art/Lab Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGenesisJewishPodcast The original story: Talmud, Sukkah 53a https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.53a.12?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
- 3 weeks ago53 min
S3E46 How Jewish Mysticism - and Pain - Inform One Artist's Work (Re-Release)
We are re-releasing this episode recorded back in February because our guest is coming to Portland for a residency starting May 18th. But even if you're not here in the City of Roses the conversation is worth re-visiting. It's one of my favorites and Cara offers a lot to think about in her approach. ------------------ Original Introduction: In this episode I sit down with artist Cara Levine and we discuss how grief informs her work in tangible ways. Cara's work is on exhibit right now at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. She lives in California now, but was a Portlander for a time. Her multi-media work is in a sweet spot between engaged in real world problems and ethereal other-worldliness. Cara is also influenced by mysticism, and is a student of it. So I was eager to sit down with her and learn more about her and the work she's brought into the world. Cara describes Carve; The Mystic Is Nourished From This Sphere, a large-scale "bowl / hole" that doesn't just hold people's words, but amplifies them—turning the gallery itself into an instrument and a vessel for community care. That opens into a conversation about what happens when an artwork accidentally (and then intentionally) becomes a structure for collective ritual and shared vulnerability. From there we go into pain. We cover the surprising role that migraines play in her creative thinking and what she learned about surrender. The conversation dips into the worldliness of her work as we touch on her piece This Is Not a Gun. And of course, we finish off with her sharing something she loves and her opinion on the best Jewish food. Enjoy the conversation. The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links Art/Lab: artlabpdx.org Cara Levine caralevine.com Oregon Jewish Museum & Center for Holocaust Education OJMCHE.org Beit Kohenet —https://www.beitkohenet.org/ Rabbi Jill Hammer —https://jillhammer.net/ Bruce Nauman https://www.artdex.com/bruce-nauman-the-art-and-irony-of-revealing-mystic-truths/ Brian Eno's Apollo: https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Apollo:_Atmospheres_…
- 4 weeks ago50 min
S3E45 How Jewish Music is Creating a Space for Unity in Israel - and Right Here (with Zamru)
Rabbi Josh hosts Amitai Man and Talia Erdal of Jerusalem's Zamru Ensemble, a Fuchsberg Center project, ahead of Zamru's June 8–10 Portland residency presented with ArtLab. They describe Zamru as a network that began as a fellowship for prayer leaders and musicians and grew into weekly prayer circles and a touring ensemble creating participatory musical-prayer spaces rather than performances. Amitai (Jerusalem-based clarinetist/singer/composer with Orthodox Mizrachi roots) and Talia (cellist/composer/prayer leader, principal cellist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, raised secular and later Orthodox) discuss bridging Israeli religious–secular divides, finding spirituality and ecstasy in prayer, and how post–October 7 trauma intensified the need for communal vulnerability. They explain circle-based listening, facilitation, and music as living prayer, preview Portland workshops, movement improvisation, and a circle at East Side Jewish Commons, and Amitai recommends his album "Simanim," improvisations on Torah cantillation. Hey Portlanders: Don't miss Zamru live in Portland on June 9th at the Eastside Jewish Commons. Ticket links are below! The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture: artlabpdx.org Tix for Zamru: https://events.humanitix.com/zamru-or-jerusalem-sound-portland-night Zamru: https://fuchsbergcenter.org/zamru/ Amitai Mann: https://www.amitai-mann.com Talia Erdal: https://www.taliaerdal.com
- Apr 29, 202644 min
S3E44 What is the Source of Jewish Musical Creativity? (with Yankl Falk)
Welcome to The Genesis. I'm Rabbi Josh. My guest this week is Yankl Falk. We've been on a bit of a tear interviewing musicians—Michelle Alany, Yair Dalal, and now Yankl Falk, who is a fabulous klezmer musician and a wonderful person. If you live in Portland, Oregon, you may have heard Yankl playing around the city with his fabulous band. We talk not just about klezmer, but about growing up Jewish and growing up in a particular kind of Jewish world. We talk about Yiddish and Yiddish culture, and then, of course, we talk about music. One of the things that's wonderful about Yankl is that he is one of those artists who was an important part of creating the very scene he now inhabits: the klezmer music scene in Portland, Oregon. And that scene, it turns out, was an important part, in some ways, of the klezmer revival that went far beyond Portland. So we talk about all of that, and I think you'll enjoy this conversation with the wonderful Yankl Falk. Make sure to go to the show notes, where you can find out more about him and his great band, and where you can catch him playing around Portland. Yankl Falk will also be part of the Portland Jewish Music Festival, hosted by the Eastside Jewish Commons and co-sponsored by Art/Lab, along with several other Jewish organizations. So that should be on your radar—and this excellent musician and excellent person should be on your radar, too. If you love Jewish music, Jewish creativty and Jewish stories you will enjoy this conversation. The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts & Culture: www.artlabpdx.org Carpathian Pacific Express (Yankl's Band): www.facebook.com/carpathianpacific Yiddish Book Center interview with Yankl: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/interviews/woh-fi-0001647/jack-yankl-falk-2024 Musicians mentioned in this episode: Naftule Brandwein Dave Tarras The Klezmorim / East Side Wedding Mickey Katz The Barry Sisters Don Byron / Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz Frank London / The Klezmatics Robert Johnson Howlin' Wolf
- Apr 23, 202646 min
SE43 Special Edition on Jewish Music: Israeli Master Musician Yair Dalal
Welcome to The Genesis. If you heard my episode with Eric Stern, then you already know that today's guest will be performing at the Portland Jewish Music Festival on Saturday, May 16. If you have not heard that episode, go back and listen to it—you will hear about all the remarkable things happening at this year's festival. I was especially grateful to have the chance to speak with today's guest, Yair Dalal. Because I was able to talk with Yair before he comes to Portland next month, I thought it was only right to include a little of his music after our conversation. If you are watching on The Genesis YouTube channel, you will see Yair performing live in a video from his YouTube channel. If you are listening to the audio podcast, you will hear some of his beautiful music. Either way, I wanted to give you a sense of the kind of artist he is. Yair Dalal is a composer, violinist, oud player, singer, and teacher. Over the last several decades, he has released 12 albums that traverse a wide cultural landscape, drawing on Israeli, Jewish, and Middle Eastern musical traditions. His work reflects deep roots in classical European, jazz, and Arabic music, and we talk in this conversation about how he moved among those worlds and, in some sense, returned to his own roots. Dalal's family came to Israel from Baghdad, and his Iraqi heritage is deeply embedded in his music. Alongside his work as a performer and composer, he has devoted himself to preserving endangered musical traditions, especially the Babylonian Jewish-Iraqi musical heritage and the music of the Bedouins. We speak about his time with the Bedouins, and about the desert, which seems in many ways to be his truest home. Over the years, Dalal has performed in concerts and festivals around the world, including at major venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, at world music festivals from England to Australia and New Zealand, and also in far more intimate settings, including playing with Bedouins in their tents. Beyond his musical life, Yair Dalal is also a peace activist who has devoted much of his energy to building bridges of understanding and creativity among different cultures, especially between Jews and Arabs. In 1994, he performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Gala Concert honoring Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat. Dalal has received numerous Israeli awards in recognition of both his music and his contribution to Israeli culture. In 2021, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture. He has also been honored by other organizations for his dedication to the oud and for his role in bringing its musical traditions to audiences in Israel and abroad. He was also nominated for a Grammy. He has made a profound impact on Israeli music, Israeli culture, and what we now call world music. I think you are really going to enjoy this conversation with Yair Dalal. And you do not want to miss him—or the other musicians performing at the Portland Jewish Music Festival, which is co-sponsored by Art/Lab along with a host of Portland Jewish organizations. Enjoy my conversation with the remarkable Yair Dalal. The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts & Culture: www.artlabpdx.org Yair Dalal: https://www.yairdalal.com Portland Jewish Music Festival: https://ejcpdx.org/pjmf26 Documentary About Yair, "Ain't Got no Jeep and My Camel Died": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AOSmzIPG7g Documentary about Iraqi-Israeli music and musicians (recommended by Yair): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=baghdad+bandstand
- Apr 16, 202630 min
S3E42 The Portland Jewish Music Festival: What to Expect (w/ Eric Stern of Eastside Jewish Commons)
My guest this week is Eric Stern. If you're a long time listener to the podcast, you may remember the episode that I did with Eric way back when, but that time it was really just a goal to get to know Eric as a musician and as a creative person, which he is. But this time I have Eric on because he is the Director of Programming and Cultural Arts Ambassador at the East Side Jewish Commons, which is hosting the festival. It's coming up on from May 6th to May 17th Eric and I and I use the time together on this episode basically to go through some of the highlights over the course of the festival. There are local talents and talents from elsewhere. A range of performances and styles of Jewish music, and also workshops for musicians and all kinds of really, really wonderful things. So Eric is really here to talk about that during this episode, as he and I do, we sometimes wander off to broader topics and what music means and the experience of listening to music. But by and large, this is a chance for you to find out about this festival, which just keeps getting better and better every year under Eric's leadership and the EJ C'S leadership. So Art Lab is a co-sponsor for the Jewish Music Festival, and we would love for you to benefit from this thing. So after you hear the episode, go to the show notes, get your tickets right away, and I look forward to seeing you there. In the meantime, enjoy my conversation with Eric Stern about the Portland Jewish Music Festival. The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links Art/Lab: artlabpdx.org Jewish Music Festival: https://ejcpdx.org/pjmf26 Yair Dalal (headlining the PJMFestival): https://www.yairdalal.com
About The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture
We are right at the beginning of what some have called "The 21st Century Jewish Cultural Renaissance," and the Art/Lab podcast is watching it unfold, in real time and up close. Each week Rabbi Josh Rose has a conversation with a different Jewish artist or cultural figure to explore questions of artistic creativity, individual Jewish identity, Jewish expression and how Jewish arts are reshaping what it means to be Jewish. So, if you're interested in 21st century Jewish life, Jewish ideas, Jewish arts or just good conversation, you're in the right place. (This podcast was previously known as "The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture")
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