We are re-releasing this episode recorded back in February because our guest is coming to Portland for a residency starting May 18th. But even if you're not here in the City of Roses the conversation is worth re-visiting. It's one of my favorites and Cara offers a lot to think about in her approach.

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Original Introduction:

In this episode I sit down with artist Cara Levine and we discuss how grief informs her work in tangible ways. Cara's work is on exhibit right now at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. She lives in California now, but was a Portlander for a time. Her multi-media work is in a sweet spot between engaged in real world problems and ethereal other-worldliness. Cara is also influenced by mysticism, and is a student of it. So I was eager to sit down with her and learn more about her and the work she's brought into the world.

Cara describes Carve; The Mystic Is Nourished From This Sphere, a large-scale "bowl / hole" that doesn't just hold people's words, but amplifies them—turning the gallery itself into an instrument and a vessel for community care. That opens into a conversation about what happens when an artwork accidentally (and then intentionally) becomes a structure for collective ritual and shared vulnerability.

From there we go into pain. We cover the surprising role that migraines play in her creative thinking and what she learned about surrender. The conversation dips into the worldliness of her work as we touch on her piece This Is Not a Gun. And of course, we finish off with her sharing something she loves and her opinion on the best Jewish food.

Enjoy the conversation.

The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose.

Links

Art/Lab: artlabpdx.org

Cara Levine caralevine.com

Oregon Jewish Museum & Center for Holocaust Education OJMCHE.org

Beit Kohenet —https://www.beitkohenet.org/

Rabbi Jill Hammer —https://jillhammer.net/

Bruce Nauman https://www.artdex.com/bruce-nauman-the-art-and-irony-of-revealing-mystic-truths/

Brian Eno's Apollo: https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Apollo:_Atmospheres_…

Rabbi Josh hosts Amitai Man and Talia Erdal of Jerusalem's Zamru Ensemble, a Fuchsberg Center project, ahead of Zamru's June 8–10 Portland residency presented with ArtLab. They describe Zamru as a network that began as a fellowship for prayer leaders and musicians and grew into weekly prayer circles and a touring ensemble creating participatory musical-prayer spaces rather than performances. Amitai (Jerusalem-based clarinetist/singer/composer with Orthodox Mizrachi roots) and Talia (cellist/composer/prayer leader, principal cellist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, raised secular and later Orthodox) discuss bridging Israeli religious–secular divides, finding spirituality and ecstasy in prayer, and how post–October 7 trauma intensified the need for communal vulnerability. They explain circle-based listening, facilitation, and music as living prayer, preview Portland workshops, movement improvisation, and a circle at East Side Jewish Commons, and Amitai recommends his album "Simanim," improvisations on Torah cantillation.

Hey Portlanders: Don't miss Zamru live in Portland on June 9th at the Eastside Jewish Commons. Ticket links are below!

The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose.

Links

Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture: artlabpdx.org

Tix for Zamru: https://events.humanitix.com/zamru-or-jerusalem-sound-portland-night

Zamru: https://fuchsbergcenter.org/zamru/

Amitai Mann: https://www.amitai-mann.com

Talia Erdal: https://www.taliaerdal.com

Welcome to The Genesis. I'm Rabbi Josh.

My guest this week is Yankl Falk. We've been on a bit of a tear interviewing musicians—Michelle Alany, Yair Dalal, and now Yankl Falk, who is a fabulous klezmer musician and a wonderful person. If you live in Portland, Oregon, you may have heard Yankl playing around the city with his fabulous band.

We talk not just about klezmer, but about growing up Jewish and growing up in a particular kind of Jewish world. We talk about Yiddish and Yiddish culture, and then, of course, we talk about music.

One of the things that's wonderful about Yankl is that he is one of those artists who was an important part of creating the very scene he now inhabits: the klezmer music scene in Portland, Oregon. And that scene, it turns out, was an important part, in some ways, of the klezmer revival that went far beyond Portland.

So we talk about all of that, and I think you'll enjoy this conversation with the wonderful Yankl Falk. Make sure to go to the show notes, where you can find out more about him and his great band, and where you can catch him playing around Portland.

Yankl Falk will also be part of the Portland Jewish Music Festival, hosted by the Eastside Jewish Commons and co-sponsored by Art/Lab, along with several other Jewish organizations. So that should be on your radar—and this excellent musician and excellent person should be on your radar, too.

If you love Jewish music, Jewish creativty and Jewish stories you will enjoy this conversation.

The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose.

Links

Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts & Culture: www.artlabpdx.org

Carpathian Pacific Express (Yankl's Band): www.facebook.com/carpathianpacific

Yiddish Book Center interview with Yankl: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/interviews/woh-fi-0001647/jack-yankl-falk-2024

Musicians mentioned in this episode:

Naftule Brandwein

Dave Tarras

The Klezmorim / East Side Wedding

Mickey Katz

The Barry Sisters

Don Byron / Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz

Frank London /

The Klezmatics

Robert Johnson

Howlin' Wolf