The stage is askew and sounds of seagulls squawk at the off-Broadway Castillo Theatre, where Dan Friedman’s “The Learning Play of Rabbi Levi-Yitzhak, Son of Sara, of Berdichev,” takes the setting of a deck aboard a late 19th century steamer heading to America, with four Russian Jews representing the religious spectrum between socialism and Orthodoxy. more

Howard Jacobson is the author of “The Finkler Question,” a novel that won the prestigious 2010 Man Booker prize. We spoke with him about the book and what it’s like to be one of the premier … more

By Michael Orbach It was a pretty good Chanukah for the Maccabeats. Weeks before, the 14-member a cappella group composed of Yeshiva University students had been virtually unknown outside of … more

On the last night of the holiday, 10 of the 14 band members performed in Manhattan Day School in front of a several hundreds in a sold-out show. more

After the first lights of Chanukah melted away, the young artists came out to play. Inside a Gowanus factory space, on the first night of the fifth annual Sephardic Music Festival the walls were … more

By Michael Orbach This year, seven students from Yeshiva University High Schools will be participating in a new independent study Hebrew literature course where they will be mentored by a renowned … more

Eishes Chayil is the pseudonymous author of “Hush,” a young-adult novel about sexual abuse inside the Jewish community.The Jewish Star: What motivated you to write this book?Eishes … more

“Hush” is the pseudonymous’ Eishes Chayil’s daring foray into the forbidden territory of sexual abuse in the closed enclave of Hasidic Boro Park. Gittel and Devory, the main … more