Hadar Ahuvia and Tatyana Tenenbaum will perform a concert for the late days of spring that runs concurrent with the reading of B’Midbar, or the book of Numbers, in the Torah, a book of journeying but not arriving through the wilderness of midbar, or the desert, and the utterances of dibur, the Hebrew word for speech. The performance will integrate mystical traditions of chanting with Hasidic nign, fragments of musical theater, original songs, and the artists’ collaborative vocal research.

Tyler Rai’s installation applies the Ashkenazi practice of grave-measuring to “ecological relatives” in peril due to climate change. With traditional neshome likht, threads measured around graves became wicks for hand-dipped neshome likht (soul candles). Here, Rai offers of neshome likht for a portion of the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay. For the closing, Rai will activate their installation with a ritual candle burning and reading of viewer-contributed tkhines/prayers accumulated throughout the exhibition’s run.

Laura Elkeslassy will perform a musical excavation of family history in Morocco, France, and Israel. Developed in collaboration with music director Ira Khonen Temple, this concert weaves together the stories of Judeo-Arab divas from the last century with folk and sacred music. Ya Ghorbati looks across time and space to tell a tale of political upheaval, exile, and displacement—ultimately questioning the supposed binary of Arab and Jew.

Join nightlife's Jewsome Twosome Zoe Ziegfeld and Fancy Feast for an all-star, anything-goes, highbrow-meets-lowbrow burlesque and variety extravaganza that celebrates and explores Jewish identity. This performance will be at Abrons Arts Center in New York City.

On May 24, 2023, Levyosn (Adah Hetko, Lysander Jaffe, and Kaia Berman-Peters) will perform a musical celebration exploring original and traditional Yiddish, Hebrew, and Sephardic songs along with their cultural context and opportunities for participatory singing and Yiddish dance. The concert will follow the JMM’s annual meeting.

At 1pm, Julia Elsas and collaborators (Kenny Wollesen, Kirk Knuffke, and Madeleine Ventrice-Knuffke) will perform on ceramic sculptures reimagining the Biblical musical instrument referred to as the “Ugav.”

At 2pm, Liat Berdugo will deliver a performative lecture critically engaging with photographs in the archives of Keren Kayemeth Le’Yisrael/Jewish National Fund to examine the formation and maintenance of the Zionist project.

At 3pm, Rosza Daniel Lang/Levitsky will present a participatory celebration of Yiddish song and cultural revitalization activating Rosza’s banner installed in the exhibition.

At 4pm, Ira Khonen Temple and collaborators—Rachel Leader (violin), Eleonore Oppenheim (bass), and David Licht (drums)—will perform a concert engaging Yiddish song to track gender transition and offer trans frameworks for Jewish adulthood.