Downtown Jewish Life Presents INTO THE NIGHT

Downtown Jewish Life presents INTO THE NIGHT, a contemporary spin on an ancient tradition of all night study during the Jewish Holiday of Shavuot, hosted by The 14th Street Y on Saturday, May 19, 2018 beginning 6pm.

The In[heir]itance Project will start the night with The Abraham Play from The Genesis Plays at 6pm. The Opening Ritual, hosted by several community leaders with live music, liturgy, poetry, and performance, will follow at 7:30pm, and programming will continue throughout the evening until dawn at 344 E. 14th Street, NYC. More than 30 downtown community partners, including museums, synagogues, and artists, will join in this fifth-annual night-time journey through conversation, culture, and ritual.

The Tikkun is a night-long journey through culture in the vein of the "White Nights" of European traditions. The event will feature conversations and rituals led by artists, musicians, shamans, teachers, scholars, and rabbis. Downtown synagogues and community organizations will lead sessions and workshops designed to provoke philosophical discussion with attendees from all levels of observance.

Introducing this year's Downtown Tikkun at the 14th Street Y, the In[heir]itance Project will provide a thoughtful, interactive performance of Abraham; Abe, a Wall Street stock jock, returns to the office of his recently deceased, estranged father to search for a lost deed. Among the piles of papers strewn about the office, Abe doesn't find the deed, but instead, finds a scavenger hunt his father that has left behind for him - and the audience holds the clues.

Another exciting performance will be presented in our pool to further push the boundaries of where we find art in our space. "Beneath the Surface", a site-specific underwater dance experience by Lenora Lee Dance, featuring Yi-Ting Hsu and Peter Cheng, is sure to engage all audiences.

For the first time ever, this year's offerings include a Hebrew Track, during which all will engage with artists, stories, texts, and Kabalah in Hebrew, led by Midrasha New York. Another special program will feature A Talmud Shiur Focusing on Women's Voices in the Talmud, and Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder from the Shul of NY will lead guests through English and Hebrew chants as we explore our own paths through the wilderness, bamidbar, to receiving Torah. Come with an open heart for this participatory chanting, drumming, and meditation experience.

"It has actually been a long desire for us to host a Tikkun track in Hebrew. A nightlong study track co-curated by Temima Goldberg Shulman, Founder/Director of The Midrasha in Manhattan and our own Fellowship program, LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture, will invite our Israeli and Jewish American community to spend the night speaking and studying in Hebrew with Yael Kanarek, Ruby Namdar, and Liel Leibovitz. This will add another layer of intrigue and a gateway to this mystical night, without translation and bridging of the original classical texts. Inspired by the 5 plays of the In[heir]itance Project, the night of study will focus on women architypes of the bible." Ronit Muszkatblit, Director of Arts & Culture at the 14th Street Y.

The evening will include many more incredible programs led by Downtown Jewish Life partners and Rabbis. While learning deep INTO THE NIGHT, Jewish texts will be explored and unique insights will be discovered as people from all ages and backgrounds grow and change.

"I spent the past three years making five plays around the country inspired by the book of Genesis. For the first time ever and for one night only all five plays will be performed in order in one theater, back to back. We will begin at the beginning (Abraham) and end at the beginning (Sarah). In between we'll explore a family soap opera that is brutal and raw, honest and over the top. There will be battles and love triangles and sibling rivalry and parental favoritism all in one package, all in one night. As an artist, I am overwhelmed at the idea of seeing these five plays in conversation with each other in such a concentrated period of time. As a morning person, I'm overwhelmed at the amount of caffeine I'm gonna need to get through it!" Jon Adam Ross, actor and playwright of the In[heir]itance Project.

Admission is free and there will be programs for all levels of observance. A photo ID is required for entry. Advance RSVP is recommended. For more information and to reserve a spot, please visit http://www.14streety.org/IntoTheNight.

A full schedule of participants and program can be found below and online at www.14streety.org/IntoTheNight.

Downtown Jewish Life is a network of downtown Jewish organizations and individuals hosted by The 14th Street Y. Downtown Jewish Life experiences welcome people of every background, identity, age, family configuration, and religious affiliation (or none), who are interested in finding meaning, values, and community inspired by Jewish sensibilities. Downtown Jewish Life includes: American Jewish Historical Society, Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, Base Hillel, Brotherhood Synagogue, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, Center for Jewish History, Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue, East End Temple, Educational Alliance Hazon, JCP Downtown, The Jewish Plays Project, Kol Hakfar, Honeymoon Israel, LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture, LAB/Shul, Leo Baeck Institute, Manny Cantor Center, Museum of Jewish Heritage, The New Shul, Ohel Ayalah, NYU Bronfman Center, The Center for Creative Judaism, Reboot, The Stanton Street Shul, The Sixth Street Community Synagogue, The Shul of NY, Tamid: The Downtown Synagogue, Town & Village Synagogue, The Village Temple, and Yivo.

INTO THE NIGHT is made possible thanks to the generous support of the UJA-Federation of New York and a grant from the Covenant Foundation.

Teachers, Musicians and Artists:

Rabbi Dr. Judith Hauptman, Rabbi Rachel Weiss, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Rabbi David Dunn Bauer, Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein, Elana Friedman, Rabbi Gavriel Bellino, Misha Shulman, Cantor Michael Weis, Dr. Sharon Keller, Rabbi Larry Sebert & Rabbi Bronwen Mullin, Rabbi David Gaffney, Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder, Shira Kline, Amichai Lau-Lavie, Reverend Kimberleigh Jordan, Ph.D, Julie Gayer Kris, Ruby Namdar, Shawn Shafner, Dan Nadel, David Deblinger, Glenn Grossman, Andy Tierstein, Jon Adam Ross, Ariel Warmflash, Temima Goldberg Shulman, Yael Kanarek, Nathaniel Bernam, Lenora Lee, and Foreignfire.

About The Arts at the 14th Street Y

The 14th Street Y is a cultural center focused on innovation and connection. We play host to some of New York City's most cutting-Edge Theater and dance companies and produce our own original programming through LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture. The center serves more than 26,000 people annually with a variety of community programs and is proud to be a part of Educational Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a 128-year history of serving New Yorkers in Downtown Manhattan.

About the 14th Street Y

We are a vibrant community center grounded in the belief that contemporary Jewish sensibilities can be a source of inspiration, connection, and learning for the individuals and families we serve throughout Downtown Manhattan. We focus on health and fitness, education and enrichment programs, and innovative arts and cultural programming.

We are committed to the development of the whole person and bettering people's lives and strengthening individual and family connections by building an inclusive, vibrant, and sustainable communities.

The 14th Street Y is part of Educational Alliance, a Downtown Manhattan nonprofit that serves 50,000 New Yorkers annually. It provides a wide range of services for people of all ages, including preschools, camps, after school programs, senior centers, health & wellness programs, arts & culture classes, counseling services, and addiction recovery programs.

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