Unshameful Physicality

The Jerusalem Post–July 3, 2008
Walking into the New York dance studio where Israeli choreographer Deganit Shemy guides her group of dancers on a recent Friday, it looks a little like a scientist’s lab in the very early stages of discovery.
Across the floor, pairs of dancers test a range of movements. They rub their bodies against [...]

New York Story

The Jerusalem Post–Dec. 31, 2007
When one of the two warring factions of the Satmar Hassidim was looking to advertise its annual commemoration of the late Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum’s escape from the Nazis, it decided to hire a pro.
It is after dark when Dave Porter, a burly 38-year-old Irish American with a tuft of blond [...]

Kosher Food Truck Takes Flak

The Jerusalem Post–November 1, 2007
The menu reads like many others – hamburgers, hot dogs and a slew of meat sandwiches. But on Thursday nights, the special is cholent. And behind the counter is a chef with peyot (sidelocks).
While food carts are a ubiquitous staple of New York culinary life, the arrival in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Williamsburg [...]

A Photographer’s Fateful Decision

The Jerusalem Post–September 11, 2007
On the morning of September 11, Jewish photographer Robert A. Cumins was running late. He was on his way to a coffee shop down the hill from where he lives in New Jersey for his daily ritual of coffee and breakfast, when a fateful premonition urged him to turn around.
Timing was [...]

After Seven Years of Disputation, A Map Makes Its Debut

The New York Times–April 1, 2007
Until the very last second, it was unclear whether Nathan’s Famous, the legendary Coney Island hot dog stand opened by Nathan Handwerker in 1916, would make the cut, and whether Sarah Jessica Parker, who played a racy sex columnist in the television series “Sex and the City,” should be included [...]