For Your Information...

October 2008 (Tishrei/Heshvan/5769)                                                                                                             News from the Riverdale Y

Festival '08:
October 30 - November 3
Opening Night Thursday, October 30
It's Mexican Night at the Y!
Shalom Amigos Family Fiesta
Mariachis and Mojitos
Opening night has never been so hot! Come salsa the night away (or just tap your feet while eating salsa!) to the sounds of Villa-Lobos, a Mexican Mariachi band whose virtuoso violinists also play in the Shul Band on the Lower East Side. Ernesto Villa-Lobos came to the United States from Mexico on a Fulbright fellowship to train at the Manhattan School of Music and later studied in Israel under violinist Shlomo Mintz. From Carnegie Hall and other outstanding venues, the Villa-Lobos blend of mariachi and klezmer kicks off our third annual Riverdale Jewish Festival of the Arts in style. Enjoy a kosher Mexican buffet feast prepared in our kitchen along with mojitos and the sounds of Villa-Lobos. Bring your friends and family to Riverdale's Festival Fiesta!
6:00 pm $12 per adult; $6 per child (12 and younger)

Stay after dinner and enjoy:
Like a Bride
Directed by Guita Schyfter 115 minutes. Not rated.
In Spanish and Ladino with English subtitles.
A familiar slice of life tops a thick layer of cultural history in the Mexican film ‘'Like a Bride," which contrasts the lives of two Jewish girls who come of age in the Jewish community of  Mexico City in the 1960's. This small, sensitive film tells the stories of Oshinica Mataraso, the daughter of Sephardic Jews who arrived from Turkey in 1927, and her friend Rifke Groman, whose family survived the Holocaust. Oshinica, played by Claudette Maille, chafes against a tradition-bound family that has reared her to become a bride, and the sooner the better. But while her mother encourages her to learn sewing, Oshi develops a yearning to study art. Rifke (Maya Mishalska), is a born rebel, active in the Zionist socialist youth movement and attracted to Saavedra (Ernesto Laguardia), a handsome young Gentile with Communist sympathies.
Will Oshinica have the courage to break her engagement to Leon, the doctor who is her miserly, controlling fiance? Will she realize her dream of studying art? Will Rifke risk breaking the hearts of her parents by marrying Saavedra? The film's chief interest lies in its exploration of Jewish life in Mexico, its illumination of the country's multi-ethnicity and its insights into the girls' sense of assimilation into - and estrangement from - an overwhelmingly Christian nation.
7:30 pm Movie tickets: $6
With thanks to ConEd whose generous support has made this evening possible. 
Click here for full festival program

Bronx Jazz Series
The Bronx Jazz Series is coming to the Y! This series is a gateway to knowledge through an active understanding of the art of jazz, seen in three different perspectives. Each concert program is preceded by visits from the performers and a guest speaker. Concerts are open to students, parents and faculty; no admission fee is charged.
The Chris Byars Ensemble has performed educational residencies, concerts, international tours and recorded groundbreaking CDs.

Modern Choices:  The Teddy Charles Project
Monday, October 6, 5 pm: pre-concert workshop
Tuesday, October 7, 7pm: Concer

The Chris Byars Ensemble will share the music and stories of their 2008 U.S. State Dept. tour of the Balkan region. The performers will lead a discussion detailing the process of cultural exchange and exploring the importance of artistic diversity. The audience will experience the highlights of this inspiring journey of American jazzambassadors.
The series continues with workshops and concerts in November. Details on our website, www.RiverdaleY.org.

Bronx Arts Ensemble Jack and the Beanstalk
Sunday, October 12, 2pm
The Y and the Bronx Arts Ensemble bring you Jack and the Beanstalk with the New York Lyric Circus' master juggler, magician, and storytellers.  Look for magic and wonder -- a moving haystack, a talking harp, the goose that lays the golden egg, and a magic sword dance.  Tickets:  $8, available on our website www.RiverdaleY.org.

The General
Silent Film with live piano accompaniment by Ben Model
Saturday, October  18, 8:00 pm
Not only is this 1927 film considered Buster Keaton’s greatest, it is also widely recognized as one of the true masterpieces of American cinema. The visually-stunning silent film is undoubtedly one of the greatest comedies ever made, with non-stop physical comedy and sight gags, shot almost entirely aboard moving trains. Keaton created this great comedy out of an authentic episode of American history during the Civil War - a story about a famous locomotive, though in real-life the locomotive was stolen by the Confederates. The two things devoted Confederate engineer Johnny Gray (Keaton) loves most in the world are his Southern belle sweetheart (Mack) and his beloved locomotive named The General.
Live musical accompaniment for the film by Ben Model, silent film accompanist for the Museum of  Modern Art; Model will also introduce the film and answer questions following the screening.  $15, which includes Café Ma'ayan after the show (coffees, teas, wine, savories and sweets upstairs in our candlelit cafe).

In the Land of Israel
Sunday, October 19, 2 pm
based on the book by Amos Oz  Adapted and performed by TAMIR
This award winning one-woman show portrays contemporary Israel through six diverse characters.  A Zionist farmer, a religious zealot, a Catholic nun, an Israeli right-wing extremist, a Palestinian Arab, and a Rumanian immigrant.  The actress takes the audience on a journey through Israel’s human landscapes as she transforms onstage from one character to another. These characters present an unusually wide spectrum of political views and raise questions of universal human concern. More importantly they examine Jewish identity and the essence of life in Israel.  Followed by a talk-back with the actress. $18 general admission/$12 seniors and students.

Jazz Great Judy Carmichael
Saturday, Ocotber 25, 8:00pm
Grammy nominated pianist Judy Carmichael is one of the world’s leading interpreters of stride piano and swing. Count Basie nicknamed her “Stride”, acknowledging the command with which she plays this technically and physically demanding jazz piano style.  She is one of a handful of musicians who approach jazz from a perspective of its entire history. Choosing to study jazz piano from its early roots on, she explores the music deeply, infusing it with a “fresh, dynamic interpretation of her own” (Washington Post ). The National Endowment for the Arts rewarded Carmichael’s knowledge of jazz piano with a major grant to present early jazz greats on film. Her Grammy-nominated recording “Two Handed Stride” teamed her with four giants of jazz from the Count Basie Orchestra, Red Callendar, Harold Jones, Freddie Green and Marshall Royal.  $20 general admission/$15 seniors and students.  Tickets available on our website.

Bronx Arts Ensemble Chamber Music
Sunday, October 26, 2 pm
Featuring the music of Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, and Dvorak.  $12

Eat Your Veggies ...
Fresh and locally grown!  Buy them at Riverdale's Youth Market Good for you, the environment, and our community Open every Thursday through October 30, 3-7 PM
The finest locally grown seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables from Greenmarkets favorite farms and operated by our community youths. Eat Smart ...Eat Healthy... taste how good really fresh seasonal food can be - your family deserves it!
at the Riverdale Neighborhood House  in front of the Dodge Building on Mosholu Ave. & 256 St.
Rosh Hashanah Special Market:
Thursday, September 25, 3-8 pm
Israeli honey for sale.  Giftpacks available.  Special holiday fruits and vegetables available.

Wiffleball is Back for its Second Season!
Beginning later this month, children will learn the fundamentals of Wiffleball in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, indoors at the Y.Children in Grades K-1 use a batting tee while adults will pitch to all other grades.  All children will play the entire game.

The divisions for Wiffleball are:
T-Ball League (Grades K-1)
The emphasis on fun and learning. A batting tee will be used with a hard foam bat and ball.
Games will be played Thursday nights starting November 6th from 5:45-6:30pm.

Minor League (Grades 2-5)
A standard wiffleball and bat will be used. An adult will pitch to the players and they will learn the basic rules of wiffleball and be introduced to proper fielding, hitting and running techniques.
Games will be played on Tuesday nights starting October 29.
To register go to www.RiverdaleY.org

Upcoming Special Needs Parent Workshops
Navigating the System
October 27*, 7:30-9:00 pm (*Please note:  changed from originally scheduled Oct. 28th)
Ellen McHugh, lead coordinator for the New York City Office of Parent to Parent of NYS and parent of a child with a disability, will provide parents with information to help them navigate the educational system and become the best advocates for their children.

Parent Support Group
For parents of children up to 5 years.
8 Tuesdays, 7:30 – 9:00 pm Fall Session begins October 28
Led by Tammy Kaminer, who holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from St. John’s University and a B.A. in Psychology from Brown University.  For the past 15 years, Dr. Kaminer has been working with children and their families, with a particular focus on providing support to young children with delays and their parents.  

Early Childhood News
Sometimes beginnings and transitions continue for a long time.  Even though Nursery School began last month, some children are still adjusting. The process of transition is a big part of children’s lives at school.  Teachers know that it takes time for children to feel settled, especially with the  interruptions of routine caused by the holiday closings.
All of us manage transitions in different ways, but we all look for answers to some basic questions:  Will I be safe here? Who will take care of me? What will I do here? Will they treat me well?
Young children need direct answers to these question and teachers give them in several ways.  For the very youngest children, teachers schedule home visit so that children can meet them in their own homes and share their special toys and people.  Children’s first visits to school are short introductions to the classroom and the teachers.  Families stay with children during these short classroom visits.  Children are gradually introduced to classmates and to the daily schedule.  Gradually, children stay without family members as they learn that their teachers will take care of them, keep them safe and provide fun and interesting things to do.  
Teachers are aware that the transition from home to school occurs each day throughout the school year and that some children will need help daily as they arrive.  Greeting the child and the adult at the door every day is an important part of the daily routine.  It gives adults a chance to feel welcome in school and to share any information that might be helpful (“Josh went to bed late last night and might be a little tired today.”  “Dad left on a business trip over the weekend and Emma misses him.”)  Teachers can point out to children all the interesting activities in the carefully designed classroom, and help them find comfortable way to begin their day at school.
A good beginning helps everyone get the most out of every day.  At the Y’s Nursery School, each day provides a good beginning.
Nursery School Staff

Festival Events Continued
Friday, October 31 Saturday, November 1 Sunday, November 2 
Shabbat Across Riverdale
Chabad Lubavitch of Riverdale
Saturday, November 1, 9 am Service with special d'var Torah dedicated to Shabbat Across Riverdale
535 West 246 Street, (718) 549-1000

Congregation Shaarei Shalom
Friday, October 31, 6:30 pm Interactive children's Shabbat service (age 7 and younger, and
their families); 7:30 pm Shabbat service with the music of Shlomo Carlebach. Both services
led by Rabbi Steven D. Burton and Cantor Ronald J. Broden at PS 24 on West 235th Street off  Independence Avenue(entrance opposite the Spuyten Duyvil library.)  (718) 796-0305

Congregation Tehillah
Friday, October 31, 6:00 pm Potluck dinner, music and davening with Rabbi Linda Shriner-
Cahn.  Call for location (718) 884-4389

Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel(CSAIR)
Friday, October 31, 5:35 pm Artists Beit Midrash Exhibit: Kabbalat Shabbat Service followed by a "wine and challah" reception in honor of the artists who participated in last fall's Artist's Beit Midrash. See works of art in a variety of media created by members of the community, based on the theme of Darkness and Light in Jewish sources. Service 5:35 pm (the only service that night); Reception: 6:45-7:15 pm; Dinner: 7:15 pm. Open to all. Reservations required for dinner. Call the office to arrange for pre-payment.
475 West 250 Street, (718) 543-8400

Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (HIR)
Saturday, November 1, 5:30 pm Seudah Shlishit, Jen Taylor Friedman, will talk about The Intersection between Art and Halakha: a Scribe's Reflections on Writing Megillah Scrolls.
3700 Henry Hudson Parkway, (718) 796-4730

Riverdale Jewish Center
Friday, October 31 Service followed by Community Dinner at Riverdale Jewish Center (call the synagogue for time).
3700 Independence Avenue, (718) 548-1850

Riverdale Temple
Sunday, November 2, 9 am A morning of "The Art of the Torah," with a guest Torah scribe. Learn how and why Torah scrolls are made. There will be hands-on activities for children and adults of all ages - art projects, calligraphy demonstrations, text study and refreshments.
4545 Independence Avenue, (718) 548-8300

Young Israel Ohab Zedek of North Riverdale
Saturday, November 1, 11:00 am with special d'var Torah on the arts and Judaism by Rabbi Shmuel Hain.
6015 Riverdale Avenue, (718) 548-0105

Movie: Arranged  8:30 pm
Two young women - one an Orthodox Jew, the other Muslim - meet and become friends as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn. Over the course of the year they learn they share much in common, not least of which is that they are both going through arranged marriages.
ARRANGED is based loosely on the experiences of Yuta Silverman, an Orthodox Jewish woman from Borough Park, Brooklyn. Seeing the Israeli film USHPIZIN, produced by Orthodox filmmakers, gave her the courage and inspiration to try and tell one of her many stories.
With no connections or experiences in the film world, and working from a directory on the Independent Feature Project's website, she began making random calls to New York-based production companies. She reached Cicala Filmworks in November, 2005. During a series of meetings - in which she used a pseudonym - she told Stefan Schaefer about her experiences of going through an arranged marriage process and also about her friendship with a Pakistani Muslim woman.
Stefan, although he found the story elements very promising, would often remind Yuta that he was a man and non-Jew. He offered to write the treatment and then pass it along to his good friend, the director Jessica Sharzer. Yuta responded: "If she's not Orthodox, it makes no difference to me, you may as well direct it."
As the months past, Yuta convinced Stefan to write the screenplay on spec. He did and, at a certain point, discussed the possibility of producing it through his company Cicala Filmworks, with his partner Diane Crespo as a co-director. Yuta said she could bring some financing to the project and, together with the HD camera package and production services Cicala could provide, the three began to consider shooting the film over the summer. Yuta showed the screenplay to her rabbi and, though he wouldn't bless it, he did say he was not going to forbid her from moving forward.
Meet the movie's director, Stefan Schaefer, at a post-movie audience Q&A.
8:30 pm $10 per person

Sunday, November 2
Klezmer/Gospel Get-Out-the-Vote Brunch
11:00 am Tickets: $12 for adults /$6 for children (12 and younger)
Gospel and Klezmer Get-Out-the-Vote Brunch Celebrate American
democracy less than 48-hours before the historic 2008 presidential elections
with a fun and inspirational family-friendly brunch!
The program includes: Rousing performances by the Green Pastures Gospel Choir and Metroplitan Klezmer.
Inspirational words from Yeshiva University President Richard Joel and Lehman College President Ricardo R. Fernandez. Strategies to encourage your friends and neighbors to exercise their right to vote on Election Day.
Delicious all-you-could-eat kosher breakfast buffet.

International Mask Making Workshop
We invite kids ages 7 and older to create international masks with textiles, beads and other media, following the styles of masks from Africa, Venice, South America, Japan and other cultures, led by the Y's Visual Arts Director Janine Intervallo.
1:30-3:00 pm Tickets: $5

Family Concert: Hayes Greenfield, Music for a Green Planet 
Interactive jazz for children ages 3 and older, and their families. Hayes Greenfield involves the audience in learning scat and other foundations of jazz. His Music for a Green Planet is full of joyful and witty jazz tunes that celebrate the environment and every human being's part in saving it. Many songs play on classic children's songs and have been given new lyrics and a jazzy update; for instance, "This Old Man" has morphed into "This Green Man," with a soulful sax accompaniment and a chorus about hybrid cars and compact fluorescent light bulbs. "Catch the man who's making jazz cool for kids" says New York Magazine. "The true pied piper of jazz," says Philip Glass.
3:00 pm Tickets: $5

Community Drumming Circle
Join us in the Y's lobby -- and bring your percussion instruments! This has been a highlight of the Y's Jewish Festival of the Arts each year. Don't miss this high-energy, fun and creative community event. 4:00 pm FREE!

Dr. Ruth Westheimer and HBO's In Treatment and Israel's Betipul
7 pm, FREE!  Come watch two episodes of the hit series In Treatment and then watch the Israeli show, in Hebrew with English subtitles, upon which it was based.  Followed by a discussion of therapy and culture, US and Israel, led by local mental health experts, moderated by Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

Monday, November 3
Shalom Ireland 2008 An Evening of Dance and Dialogue
Note: This unique event is back by popular demand for the third year in a row - Shalom Ireland 2006 and 2007 both sold out in record time!
Celebrate Jewish and Irish heritage and enjoy dance performances by the Parparim Ensemble and the Keltic Dreams. The Parparim Ensemble is a spirited and captivating dance company formed by Ruth Goodman to help demonstrate the diversity of the Jewish people. The Parparim Ensemble will perform a show entitled Kaleidoscope - an exhilarating program which reflects the multiplicity of ethnic influences inherent in Jewish dance and modern Israeli culture.
The Keltic Dreams is an Irish dance troupe conceived by Caroline Duggan, a music teacher from Dublin who transformed PS 59 in the Bronx, an elementary school that is 71 percent Hispanic and 27 percent black, by turning her students on to the joys of Irish dancing. The Keltic Dreams will perform traditional Irish dancing infused with elements of hip-hop, salsa and African dance.
The dance performances will be followed by a panel discussion, exploring the similarities between the Jewish and Irish cultures.
Guests will then be invited to conclude their evening upstairs at the Y's "McJerusalem Pub" featuring kosher beer and Irish food along with instructor-led folk dancing.
7:00 pm $5
Sponsored by the Riverdale Jewish Community Council with the generous support of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and the Riverdale Y