Blending joyful song and dance with heartfelt emotional appeals, the 13TH NCFJE annual Chanukah Telethon generated important support for the group's educational and social service programs. This broadcast one of most successful fundraising events to date for NCFJE of Long Island.  “We are so deeply grateful for the remarkable generosity shown by our viewers,” said Rabbi Anchelle Perl, Director of National Committee Furtherance of Jewish Education on Long Island and Director of Chabad of Mineola. “Our supporters once again demonstrated their strong  spirit of kindness and caring, and their support will allow us to continue to help the needy in the coming year.” The “Celebration 13” Telethon, which broadcast live from Long Island for four hours on December 11,  aired in major markets across the Tri-State  area and was also simulcast on the Internet. The show featured a lineup of political leaders, sports and entertainment figures. Live music by the Neshoma Orchestra included acts by Chassidic Sensation Avraham Fried, Broadway star Bruce Adler, Blue Fringe, Lenny Cocco & The Chimes, The Manhattan Day School Choir and The Kinderlach- Israel’s New Kid’s Band. The show aired taped segments from individuals and  families whose lives were touched by the Committees programs of caring and compassion. In addition to thanking the donors, Rabbi Perl also thanked everyone involved in the production of the show. “Many talented people worked very hard on this year’s Telethon, and a broadcast of such quality wouldn’t be possible without their efforts,” the Rabbi said. “On behalf of all of  us, we wish to offer our terrific production staff the appreciation they deserve.”

Rabbi Anchelle Perl, of Temple Beth Scholom, Mineola, NY, with Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, director of The Chaplaincy’s Jewish Institute for Pastoral Care. Rabbi Perl is an outstanding human being, a great asset to our community. He is a scholar, a humanitarian...and lots of fun!

 

 

Isi Tenenbom, spokesperson of the Jewish Theater of New York sent the New York Jewish Herald the following press release. We are hereby publishing it in its entirety without taking side.

"Ron Kuby to Represent The Jewish Theater of New York in Response to Threatened Lawsuit by Stern Family Lawyers, Pryor Cashman Sherman & Flynn LLP

Photo: Actress Emily Stern, daughter of Howard Stern and former leading star of "Kabbalah", a play produced by the Jewish Theater of New York. The show came to an end, when Stern walked out, fearing that fans might maliciously use her alleged nude photos taken from her performance on stage.

Following the shameful attempt by the lawfirm representing the Stern family, Pryor Cashman Sherman & Flynn LLP, to take this theater to court on baseless grounds, The Jewish Theater of New York announces that it has engaged the services of the renown New York attorney, Mr. Ron Kuby, to defend it against this atrocious act.  In his response letter to attorney Stephen F. Huff of Pryor Cashman, Mr. Ron Kuby writes, in part:  "I represent the Jewish Theater of New York, a not-for-profit theater group dedicated to the artistic exploration of Jewish issues and Jewish philosophy. The Jewish Theater of New York prides itself on artistic excellence and creative exploration while eschewing personal profit—concepts alien to your firm, but about which you may have read or heard. The production of Kabbalah, in which Ms. Stern sought and was awarded the lead, took over a year to research and produce. Dozens of actors and production personnel spent thousands of unpaid hours devoted to making the production a success. Your client referred to the show, in an e-mail dated December 31, 2005, as 'the most wonderful show I have been a part of.' All of that time and work was wasted when your client, in a snit because some of her father’s lewd and lunatic fans discovered she was Emily Stern, abandoned her commitment to the production. Apparently concerned that she might become the fantasy object of her father’s carefully cultivated fan base of masturbatory adolescents, Emily Stern runs to the planet’s most expensive intellectual property firm to bully the very theater that gave her the opportunity she so craved. Ironically, your firm is an expense she can afford only because her father has so successfully created the very following of drooling jerk-offs from which she flees. Now that is a story worthy of theater!" In the latter parts of the response, attorney Kuby goes over other details of the KABBALAH story and challenges Mr. Huff's threats against this theater. The Jewish Theater of New York, the only English-speaking Jewish theater company in New York, will fight with all its might against attempts by people (Jews, in this case--and sadly so) who try hard to crush it with the power of their limitless financial resources, infamous celebrity status, and sheer viciousness. The Jewish Theater of New York is grateful to Mr. Ron Kuby for once again standing on the side of justice. Contact: Isi Tenenbom, 212.494.0050 "

 

 

Isabelle Huppert takes New York by storm

Photo: Isabelle Huppert is respected for not shying from challenging roles.

New York- The 52-year-old French film star has just made her New York stage debut in a play written by the late British playwright, Sarah Kane. 4.48 Psychosis is a harrowing meditation on mental illness and suicide - a virtual monologue delivered in French with minimal supertitles. "When desperation visits," the character says, "I shall hang myself to the sound of my lover's breathing." But audiences here in the United States adored her stark rendition. "It's not the Folies-Bergere," Huppert had observed. But perhaps what these theatregoers loved was the sheer proximity to her. New York, it seems, is in the grip of all things Huppert at the moment. As well as her theatrical debut, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is running a major retrospective of her films; she has made more than 70 in three decades. This selection celebrates her work with filmmakers great and good, from Jean Luc Godard to the French master of mystery, Claude Chabrol, as well as the American auteur Otto Preminger. And if that is not enough, this weekend, an exhibition entitled La Femme Aux Portraits will open at MoMA's sister museum, PS 1 Contemporary Arts Center in Queens. It features portraits from legendary photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helmut Newton and Robert Frank. The images run the gamut from freckled teenager to tragic beauty. But what does all of this adoration mean to Isabelle Huppert? What does it mean to be feted like this, tagged as legendary, an icon? "I think these are just words," she says. "I think it's an exterior perception, but if it becomes your perception of yourself, then you are in bad shape, I would say." Huppert has earned this stateside status through her body of work, not necessarily by showbiz outings on the red carpet. "She is not a star in the traditional western or Hollywood sense of being a celebrity," says Laurence Kardish, the MoMA curator who put together the Huppert retrospective. "She is a star by virtue of her passion. A Hollywood celebrity might choose roles that enhance their image, but Isabelle Huppert chooses roles that make her vulnerable."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Isabelle Huppert has long been revered in her native France.

Tour de force: Huppert has played many women who are seemingly quite placid but who quietly burn with hidden desire. Her latest film, Gabrielle, is another tour de force which just premiered at the New York Film Festival. It is a period drama based on a Joseph Conrad story that explores the collapse of an upper class marriage; the relationship deteriorates rapidly when Gabrielle decides to leave her proud husband. But she returns on the very same day to excavate her loveless marriage. Huppert sees the role as a cousin to Madame Bovary, perhaps the quintessential anti-romantic heroine which she played in 1991. "These women go very far in trying to seek a certain truth about themselves and their desires," she says. More recently, Huppert won the best actress award at Cannes for her role in the disturbing 2001 film, The Piano Teacher, in which she plays a woman with hidden sado-masochistic desires. In each case, it is alarming to see how she transforms silent despair into something so charged and potentially violent.

Photo: Isabelle Huppert has been making movies for more than 30 years.

"Horrifyingly honest': So what makes her want to act? "I just expect to forget, to have pleasure. It's a very personal and private experience. But I don't think I learn," she says. "I would say on the one hand I know who I am, and on the other hand, whatever I don't know about myself I don't think I will find out from acting." In the United States, Huppert is known primarily for her film work, but her stage debut is a reminder to American audiences that she comes from a background in theatre; she trained at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris. Her performance in 4.48 Psychosis has revealed yet another side to this actress - and even the tabloids could not resist chipping in. Although some critics here were not thrilled by this chilly French production, most seem to agree that Huppert delivered a pitch perfect performance - "horrifyingly honest" said one. "It's more like breathing for me to act," says Huppert, a few hours before one of the sold-out performances which are part of a season-long Act French Festival. "It's not difficult; it's not a big effort. But it's a big effort for me to pursue what I want to do, so that's the effort. When I act, it's just a relief. It's just a respiration." -Damian Foler

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Publishing icon Korda to exit top job

New York's Michael Korda, publishing's master raconteur and an institution as editor of Richard Nixon, Larry McMurtry, David McCullough and countless others, will relinquish his full-time position at Simon & Schuster, the publisher announced Wednesday. "After 47 years, I felt it was time to get off the stage, or at least into the wings," said  Korda. After stepping down as editor in chief at the end of the year, he will hold the title "editor in chief emeritus" and continue to edit McCullough, Mary Higgins Clark and others, but otherwise will concentrate on his own books. "I won't be going to meetings anymore. That alone will free up a lot of time," he said with a laugh. Since joining Simon & Schuster in 1958, he has had one of the remarkable careers in publishing, both for the time spent with just one company and for the people he has worked with, whether former presidents such as Nixon and Reagan, Pulitzer Prize winners such as McCullough and McMurtry, or brand names such as Jacqueline Susan and Harold Robbins.

 As his own books have proved, including Charmed Lives and Another Life, he is also a born storyteller with enviable material. As the son of English actress Gertrude Musgrove and the nephew of film impresario Alexander Korda, he grew up around artists and celebrities, including Vivien Leigh, David Selznick and Graham Greene, whom he later edited. His years as an editor enabled him to offer further portraits of the famous: Joan Crawford fuming about the white flowers in her hotel room; Nixon referring to himself in the third person during a private dinner with a Chinese delegation; a faultlessly polite Reagan offering up a plate of cookies to his guests, wishing in vain that he will get to eat the last one. "Michael combines European sophistication, show business glamour, a well-trained intellect, and a deep regard and respect for the text to remarkable effect," according to a statement issued Wednesday by Simon & Schuster.

"He is one of the few in our industry who has forged an identity outside Publisher's Row, becoming a well-known public figure in his own right." Asked to cite a highlight of his long career, Korda hesitated, then mentioned the publication of McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, winner of the Pulitzer for fiction in 1986 and a bestseller that became the basis for a beloved TV miniseries. "He would write book after book that I liked, and at every meeting I would get up and say, 'One of these days Larry McMurtry is going to write the great novel of the American West, the Moby Dick of the Plains.' And Lonesome Dove fulfilled everything I had been saying about him." Korda has had health problems in recent years, including prostate cancer and a heart attack, but has remained active as an editor and a writer. He and wife Margaret have just published a pair of books, Horse Housekeeping and Cat People, and he is planning a "big, big" biography of Dwight Eisenhower and a work on the Battle of Britain.

"I know plenty of people who think the magic in publishing is gone, but I don't," he said. - By Hilel Italli

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FROM HOLLYWOOD TO NEW YORK

 

City keeps close eye on Stone 9/11 film

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Oliver Stone is treading on still-sensitive turf as he films a movie about 9/11 in New York.

Oliver Stone has begun shooting one of the first Hollywood films about Sept. 11 in New York -- without recreating the large-scale devastation that's all too familiar to residents who lived through the 2001 attacks. After months of meetings with community and family groups, producers of the untitled movie have promised to tread carefully on sensitive ground. Most of the major action portraying the World Trade Center collapse will be shot on a Los Angeles sound stage. And although news footage of the towers themselves will be shown during the film, it will play on television screens in the background. "We're not doing the Towering Inferno-Titanic version," said Michael Shamberg, who's producing the Paramount film with his partner, Stacey Sher.

Stone started shooting scenes in New York last month for the as-yet untitled film, starring Nicolas Cage as one of two policemen who survived the towers' collapse and were rescued from the trade centre ruins after 22 hours. After holding dozens of meetings, producers decided to limit their filming in the city, shooting the bulk of the action in Los Angeles and staying away from the Trade Center site. Family members who met with the producers said they still weren't sure whether Hollywood would treat Sept. 11 with proper respect. "Are there going to be love scenes in it? How do you portray it correctly?" said Lee Ielpi, who lost his firefighter son on Sept. 11, and met with producers about the film. "It has to be done with some reverence." Others said they were concerned about how Stone -- whose more controversial films include JFK, which offered conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination -- might interpret the attacks in the film. In October 2001, Stone was quoted as referring to the attacks as a "revolt" against multinational corporations. But in July, Stone called the untitled project "a work of collective passion, a serious meditation on what happened, and carries within a compassion that heals." "It's an exploration of heroism in our country -- but it's international at the same time in its humanity," he said. Charles Wolf, who lost his wife on Sept. 11, has met with producers and asked to see a copy of Andrea Berloff's script. He said he appreciated the outreach and sensitivity of the filmmakers, but wanted to make sure that the day's events, including details as precise as the officers' view of the elevator from the rubble, are represented accurately. "I think they need to be factual. It's too close in people's minds," Wolf said. " 'Based on a true story' should not happen here." Because Berloff's script focuses entirely on McLoughlin and Jimeno's experience on Sept. 11, the film will not interpret the politics or meaning of Sept. 11, the producers said. Stone has taken great care to portray the event as it happened, and has worked to make sure that Cage, Pena and the other actors playing officers are using authentic equipment. "We're not doing everyone's story that day," said Shamberg. "We're trusted with the accuracy of the particular story that we're telling." The Stone film may not be the first studio film about Sept. 11 to be released. Flight 93, a Universal Studios film about the hijacked plane that left Newark, N.J., and crashed into a Pennsylvania field, is scheduled for an April release. Stone's film will be shooting in New York through mid-November and is tentatively scheduled to open Aug. 11, one month before the attacks' fifth anniversary. Other Sept. 11 films are in development, including an adaptation of the book 102 Minutes, and a TV miniseries based on the findings of the Sept. 11 commission. Paramount hired Jennifer Brown, a former vice president for community development at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. in charge of rebuilding the Trade Center site, to act as a liaison with the community. Brown set up more than a dozen meetings with business, community, family and survivor groups, along with police and fire officials. Brown said that once people understood that the story was only about the officers and not about the entire story of Sept. 11, they were supportive. "What we've heard mostly, is just to be real," she said. -By Amy Wetfeld.