critical / constructive

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 2 / SPRING 2016


T he Spring issue of Contact explores Jewish community, diversity and expression in worlds ranging from a Russian Jewish festival in New York to an artistic interpretation of the Talmud in London. Opening with a report on the Russian Jewish community in North America today, the issue offers surprising and often ambivalent perspectives on the degree to which Soviet Jewish immigrants have acclimated, or even wish to acclimate, into pre-existing Jewish communal organizations and life.

The issue then takes a tour through Hagigah Ivrit, an annual multi-city festival celebrating Hebrew language and culture, now in its second year. In the Profiles section, we visit three individuals who have taken unorthodox and creative avenues towards Jewish living. We visit a new film that suggests a broader historical view on Jewish involvement in the civil rights struggle, and we spend time with an extraordinary British artist whose visual interpretation of “Daf Yomi” — daily Talmud study — is both fascinating and provocative.

Taken together, the articles and profiles reveal a multifaceted community embracing history as it embarks on new vistas of experience and expression.

in this issue
THE RUSSIANS ARE HERE
Josh Tapper | paintings by Polina Barskaya
RUSSIAN, AMERICAN, JEWISH:
NOT SO FAST
Boris Fishman
HAGIGAH IVRIT: A CELEBRATION
OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
Naava Frank
THREE PROFILES
Batya Ungar-Sargon
ROSENWALD
Ari L. Goldman
DAF YOMI: DRAWING THE TALMUD
WITH JACQUELINE NICHOLLS
Spring 2016
FRONT COVER
Spring 2016
BACK COVER