Currently Browsing: Barbara Borts 5 articles
The Hollywood Chanukkiah
Barbara Borts discusses an unlikely Jewish Film Star. How does one signal to the public that the characters in a film are Jewish? Well, let me introduce you to the unlit Chanukkiah, which made at least three different appearances in three different films during the 2022 UK Jewish Film Festival. In no particular order, this […]
A Time To Mourn…
Barbara Borts reflects on the importance of Yom HaShoah. As a progressive Jew from an earlier time, I hadn’t learned about Tisha B’av, the fast of the 9th of Av. When I began my rabbinical studies, and later my congregational work, Tisha B’Av was beginning to be marked in progressive Jewish circles, mostly as the […]
Solomon and Rabbi Simon
Barbara Borts tells us how Simon and Garfunkel explain Kohelet. Paul Simon has just celebrated his 80th birthday, keyn eyn hore, and Art Garfunkel has his coming up soon. All the celebrations have sent me with nostalgia back to their music, which formed a significant part of my teenage playlist of folk and singer-songwriter melodies. […]
Challenging TV Stereotypes
Barbara Borts discusses Jews on recent television. We are the stars of this past couple of weeks. Everywhere you look, there we are. There is Ridley Road, Paris Police 1900, Scenes from a Marriage, and, on Shabbat past, Yentl. There was even more, but let’s stop there. Ridley Road and Paris Police 1900 concern themselves […]
איך האָב זיך געידישט I have Yiddished
Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts reflects on the expansion of Yiddish. The Yiddish language and I have dated over the years. I was raised with the sonic background of Yiddish. My father’s parents, Bobie and Zeidie, spoke Yiddish to each other. My parents spoke some Yiddish to each other but more importantly, my father peppered his […]