What’s Going On In NYC This Week

‘MENTSHN-FRESSER’ (PEOPLE-EATERS)
New video, old song! Berlin-based Yiddish music stars Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird have released a brand new video of Solomon Small’s 1916 Yiddish ballad about pandemics that killed so many Jews who had escaped pograms to gather in crowded urban communities. Some lyrics have been updated, Kahn told The Times of Israel, “to make it sharper in terms of its relevance,” and the stellar performers, who include Kahn, Sveta Kundish and Patrick Farrell, practiced some social distancing during the June, 2020 filming at an estate in Brandenburg, Germany. — Ongoing on YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=RaYmQNgCtnQ&feature=youtu.be. Free

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY JUDEO-ARABIC SONG AND PERFORMANCE

Writer and performer Vanessa Paloma Elbaz, research associate of Cambridge University and director of KHOYA: Jewish Morocco Sound Archive, and multi-instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist Samuel Thomas Torjman will present “Modern and Contemporary Judeo-Arabic Song and Performance,” a program about the music of North Africa, live on Zoom. — Wednesday, July 1, 10 a.m., American Sephardi Federation, us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cyF2GFTmT128XnDo5hYK7w?mc_cid=49c6a6e06b&mc_eid=a9a90f049b. $5-$10.

JOURNEYS HOME: ILANA MASAD AND LAURA BOGART
Join a reading and conversation between Ilana Masad, author of “All My Mother’s Lovers,” which Jewish Book Council calls “a beautiful celebration of … the value of communication across generations,” and Laura Bogart, author of “Don’t You Know I Love You.” Bogart and Masad will discuss their critically acclaimed debut novels which both deal with women returning home as adults, sexuality, grief and how the past haunts the present. — Wednesday, July 1, 8-9:00 p.m., Paragraph Workspace for Writers and Books Are Magic, us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MAM-ZHV_T5emAhWTptLcxg. Free.

‘ACT ONE’
An online stream of Broadway’s 2014 production “Act One” features Tony Award-winners Tony Shalhoub, Andrea Martin and Santino Fontana in an  adaptation of the memoir of Broadway legend Moss Hart by James Lapine (“Sunday in the Park with George,” “Into the Woods”). — Friday, July 3, 8 p.m., Live From Lincoln Center, http://lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/show/act-one-428. Free.

LEIGH STEIN: ‘SELF CARE’

Join a livestreamed event to celebrate Leigh Stein’s new novel, “Self Care,” which she’ll be discussing alongside Chelsea Hodson. As the COO of Richual, which brands itself as being “the most inclusive” women’s online community platform, Maren Gelb is on a company-imposed digital detox after tweeting something terrible about the President’s daughter. Kirkus Reviews calls “Self Care” a “satire of #girlboss culture and the wellness industrial complex … Compulsively readable … Brilliant.” — Monday, July 6, 7-8 p.m., Books Are Magic, booksaremagic.net. Free.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2893882507405265/. Free.

EXPLORING NEW YORK’S JEWISH LGBT HISTORY

Jewish New Yorkers have made a profound impact on the American arts scene, LGBT activism and American religious life. These include composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, poet Allen Ginsberg, archivist and activist Joan Nestle, PFLAG co-founder Jeanne Manford and more. Join Andrew Dolkart, Ken Lustbader and Jay Shockley, co-founders of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, for an exploration of New York’s Jewish LGBT history. — Tuesday, June 7, 2 p.m., Museum of Jewish Heritage and NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, mjhnyc.org. Free.
mjhnyc.org/events/exploring-new-yorks-jewish-lgbt-history/. Free.

THE EVOLUTION OF JEWISH LAW AND TRADITION DURING THE PANDEMIC
What can we learn from Jewish text to help guide our response to COVID-19? How can we use texts such as the Talmud to be a good friend, family member, or neighbor while still practicing and referencing evolving Jewish law? Join Rabbi Peter Rubinstein as he breaks down the spiritual “do’s and don’ts” during these uncertain times. — Tuesday, July 7, 4:30 p.m., The 92nd Street Y, 92y.org/event/the-evolution-of-jewish-law-and-tradition. $18.

THE BARTON BROTHERS, MICKEY KATZ, AND OTHERS: YIDDISH-ENGLISH BILINGUAL PARODY SONGS
Parody songs by the Barton Brothers, Mickey Katz, Alan Sherman and others that relied on Yiddish theater and radio; Yiddish-mixed-with-English versions Hit Parade songs recorded by top studio musicians; and Jewish-inflected parodies of standards and folk songs will get close readings that focus on their language, their music, their delivery and what made them so influential and so very funny. — Thursday, July 9, 4:30 p.m., YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, yivo.org/YCLS2020-Robboy. Free.