Adventures > Forums > Activities

By Laura Blum Sixty-five years ago, Jews had no country to call home -- only faith and vision. The State of Israel changed that, and now we have 65 years of Israeli independence to celebrate. Spearheaded by JCC Greenwich, a community-wide palooza will do just that on Sunday, April 21, 11 am - 1:30 pm at the Greenwich Civic Center, 90 Harding Road, Old Greenwich. Israel at ...

By Laura Blum Sherwin Nuland, octogenerian author and professor of surgery at Yale Medical School, knows a thing or two about getting older. The golden years have their "surprising blessings," he says. And even vigorous souls heading into their 30s can already start thinking about -- and prepping for -- life's later journey.

"Bring a lot of Alka-seltzer and Tums!" is the advice Ellen Davis offers from her recent family vacation in the Kingdon of Bhutan. "The food is tricky -- it's extremely starchy and very, very spicy," she says. Known for its liberal use of chili peppers, Bhutanese cuisine can give deliver quite the culture shock to American stomachs accustomed to what passes for Asian food back home. In the Land of the Thunder Dragon, the fiery pe ...

In the South Asian kingdom of Bhutan, Gross National Happiness is famously considered more important than Gross National Product. Visitors will want to contribute to the bliss, and enjoying fine hotels is one way to start.    The boutique hotel Uma by COMO, Paro may spark nirvana with its Himalayan scenery alone. Located 1 ...

Two years after JCC Greenwich began life with a celebration of photography -- Frédéric Brenner's -- we're stoking the tradition with an exclusive private tour of Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, on Thursday, April 4, 11 am - noon. (Registration link t ...

Interview by Laura Blum Brazil’s 2007 foreign-language Oscar entry, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, is a sad, funny saga set in 1970. That was the year when Brazil swept the World Cup for the third time, entered its sixth year of military dictatorship and, in Cao Hamburger’s film, witnessed the coming ...

By Laura Blum Depending on your philosophy, the fact that Daniel Burman's newest film All In won audience kudos at the 2013 New York Jewish Film Festival -- not to mention the best screenplay award at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival -- is a matter of chance or will. The romantic comedy about poker explores luck vs determination in shaping one´s destiny, as suggested in its original title, ...

By Laura Blum Early word on Holy Motors was that it's seriously loopy. But little could prepare filmgoers for this latest hallucination from director  Leox Carax. It's a doozy. More than a decade has elapsed since the French auteurist last regaled -- or bedeviled -- us with a feature film. And now the creator of such titles as Pola X, The Lovers on the Bridge and Ba ...

By Laura Blum Gregory Crewdson’s photography isn’t like sausage: it’s best to see it being made. To watch Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters – coming soon to Netflix – is to crave a closer look at his haunting Beneath the Roses series. How the Brooklyn native created it over nearly a decade supplies the meat of this riveting documentary by Ben Shapiro.

By Laura Blum It may sound odd that a shopping spree should turn into a talmudic inquiry, but that's what happened during my recent quest for the ideal water purifier. I set out with two certainties: it's time to upgrade from my Brita and alkalize, alkalize, alkalize. Never mind that I hadn't bothered about pH or "potential hydrogen" levels since high school. But now that health science is the new black, it's chi ...

This past June, JCC Greenwich showed Claude Miller's wartime remembrance Un Secret (A Secret) at the Byram Shubert Library. Based on a best-selling autobiographical novel by Phillippe Grimbert, Un Secret charts a Jewish couple’s survival in Nazi-occupied France. Miller drew on his own family's experience to adapt the story. Born in 1942 in a Paris suburb, Miller credits his father’s unwill ...

Touring London is hard work. Buckingham Palace, West End -- just thinking about the British Museum sounds exhausting! When siteseeing zaps your reserves, time to ditch culture and refuel. Carbs, glorious carbs... Baker & Spice is there to help out. The artisanal café rolls out breads, muffins and other baked treats daily, using seasonal, local produce first and organic whenever possible.  There's a French version of ch ...

South Beach hotels bring to mind glamour, fawning service and the exacting standards of their jet-set clientele. Apparently not W South Beach. The Collins Avenue franchise is “terrible,” says a friend of JCC Greenwich who is a savvy world traveler.  “It tries to be fashion-forward and chic, and on the surface it is, but it is ridiculously overpriced for what you get,” she reports from her recent stay. Sc ...

Whether you’re a golfer or just craving relaxation in gorgeous surroundings, Turnberry Resort Scotland takes the Cup. The sports-minded hotel boasts thoroughbred class, 800 lush acres and breath-stealing views of Isle of Arran, Alisa Craig and the Irish Sea.  “The setting is spectacular,” confirms Ellen Davis. “And the inside is beautiful too – it’s contemporary yet feels appropriate given th ...

  As reported on August 14 by NPR's Eyder Peralta:   There's a story out of Hungary that has received quite a bit of play from the religious press but hadn't quite risen to the mainstream until the AP ran a piece about it today.   It's quite dramatic with an incredible plot twist: One of the leaders of Hungary's Jobbik Party, which the Anti-Defamation League says is on ...

The following clip reveals in plain and simple terms how President Obama has treated the United States' strongest ally in the region.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xO8qZP_iU9I#t=6s    

By Laura Blum On October 23, when JCC Greenwich brings the winner of the 1971 Oscar for Best Foreign Film to the Avon Theatre, don’t miss this rare chance to catch legendary director Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief) at the top of his game. You'll bask in the lush setting, the ripe score, the dreamy ambiance. But you won't want to get too comfortable. This being The Garden of the Finzi-C ...

By Laura Blum Not since Steve McQueen rode his motorcycle out of Stalag Luft III in the 1963 wartime epic The Great Escape has the fate of POWs so intoxicated the senses. Now that Hulu is streaming the hit Israeli TV drama Hatufim -- about soldiers who return to their native Israel after being held hostage in Lebanon and Syria for 17 years -- American viewers are discovering the addictive properties of the ser ...

By Laura Blum Einat Admony is as cheerful and welcoming as her Mediterranean trattoria in Manhattan, Balaboosta. The name means "perfect housewife" or "gracious hostess" in Yiddish. On Wednesday, October 10, the Israeli-born chef brings her warm smile and culinary talents to Greenwich at a cooking demo to be held in a private home. Participants will learn how to make specialties of the house, including roasted bu ...

By Laura Blum On a fall morning in 1942, watching her and her parents, sister and brother being thrown into a cattle car, a 4-year-old girl named Judith did what anyone would do in the circumstances. She screamed. A soldier put a gun to her head and threatened to drag her aboard as well. She shut up. Listen closely and you'll hear the silent scream in Judith Alter Kallman’s memoir, A Candle in the Heart ...