Arts & En -
ainment
•
L
& Abo ut
Ethiopian Artist
In 1978, at the age of 12, future artist
Bizu Riki Mullu was among the first 150
Ethiopian children who left their families
to live in Israel. Seven years later, she
was reunited with her three sisters when
Operation Moses airlifted 2;500 Ethiopian
Jewish orphans to Israel. In 1987, she
returned to
Ethiopia, where
she spent eight
months getting
her parents and
other siblings
permission to
emigrate to Israel.
Having played
an active role
in Operation
Solomon in 1991,
Bizu Riki Mullu
'Mullu has been a
leading advocate
for Ethiopian Jewry. Today, she devotes
much of her time to speaking about
Jewish life in Ethiopia and the cultural
challenges of Ethiopian-Israeli immi-
grants.
As an artist, Mullu, who divides her
time between Jerusalem (where her
parents, eight siblings and 45 nieces and
nephews now live)
and Manhattan,
designs bold,
bright jewelry with
Ethiopian silver,
bronze and a rich
array of beads, as
well as brilliantly col-
ored, hand-embroidered tallitot (prayer
shawls).
"As a child in Ethiopia, I spent endless
hours watching my father, a blacksmith,
shape metals into farm tools and decora-
tive jewelry' she says. "In Ethiopia, most of
the Jewish people did handicrafts to make
a living because they could not own land.
My mother was a midwife and a pottery-
maker. My parents never wanted us to do
what they did for a living. But, I always
watched my father and I always loved it."
On Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 12:30 p.m.,
Mullu will provide the "food for thought"
at a luncheon hosted by Federation's
Women's Campaign and Education
Department. The event will be held at
Knollwood Country Club, 5050 W. Maple
Road in West Bloomfield. Registration will
begin at noon. Co-chairs of the program
are Jodie Krasnick and Gail K. Mayer.
The cost to attend is $30 per person
with reservations requested by Friday, Dec.
1. Reservations can be
made online at www.
thisisfederation.org/fft.
Universal
Yearnings
Rabbi Irwin Kula, an
eighth-generation rabbi and the presi-
dent of the National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership, was the host of
a 13-part public television series called
Simple Wisdom, an amalgam of religion,
self-hel s and s i irituality. Taped in front
of a live audience, it
tackled such topics
as work, love, money,
sex, community,
family, the body, for-
giveness, connection,
conversation, iden-
tity, spirituality and
Rabbi Irwin Kula
death.
Now, Rabbi Kula
offers a new public television special,
Hidden Wisdom of Our Yearnings, a
two-hour program based on his new, and
first, book, Yearnings: Embracing the
Sacred Messiness of Life (Hyperion;
$23.95).
In this book, the rabbi explores the
essence of human desire, our yearnings
for truth, for meaning, for certainty, for
love,*for happiness, for transcendence and
our desire to create. As he guides readers
through these yearnings, he shows how
individuals can use them as a path to new
ways of being and believing.
As viewers of the TV special will see,
Rabbi Kula maintains that an individual
can transform his/her life into one of
greater meaning, passion and love.
Drawing upon ancient "wisdom" texts,
Old Testament and talmudic teachings,
Buddhism, modern literature and con-
temporary life stories, he explains how
to celebrate, embrace and grow from the
paradoxes, contradictions and "sacred
messiness" of life.
Yearnings is scheduled to air on Detroit
Public Television-Channel 56 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 26; 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28;
and 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7. Check
your local listings.
Black Saturday
Known for its upbeat classic rock style
and vulgar comedy, the band Tenacious
which first gained popularity in the late
'90s when co-founders Jack Black and Kyle
FYI: For Arts related events that you wish to have considered for Out & About, please send the item, with a detailed description of the event, times, dates, place, ticket prices and publishable phone number, to: Gail Zimmerman, JN Out
& About, The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034; fax us at (248) 304-8885; or e-mail to gzimmerman@thejewishnews.com . Notice must be received at least three weeks
before the scheduled
event. Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.
4Q WS
Or e
w
G
,
42
I Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish. News
TBS Premieres
TBS cable begins two original series
next week, My Boys and Ten Items or
Less.
My Boys stars pretty, blonde
Jewish actress Jordana Spiro as
"Pk
a sportswriter
who hangs out
with her mostly
male colleagues.
Boys is centered
around its 20-
something char-
Jordana Spiro
acters', romantic
lives. It premieres 10 p.m. Tuesday,
Nov. 28.
Ten Items stars comedian John
Lehr, 40, as a bumbler who takes
over his family's supermarket after
his father's death. His management
style makes for a chaotically comic
workplace. The series premieres 11
p.m. Monday, Nov. 27.
November 23 • 2006
In 2003, Lehr told the Los Angeles
Jewish Journal about his unusual
path to Judaism. He described
himself as an alcoholic from a "hill-
billy Kansas white-trash family." He
became sober in 1996 and began a
comedy stand-up
career.
However, he
still battled
demons, which
led his Jewish
girlfriend, now his
wife, to, put him
John Lehr
in touch with her
rabbi. The rabbi
suggested Judaism classes — includ-
ing Jewish meditation courses. The
meditation classes gave Lehr some
emotional peace, and he converted to
Judaism* in 2000.
Lehr added that he needed to be
circumcised to complete his conver-
sion. Well, he had the procedure in
Hollywood and, sure enough, he got
a "show biz" mohel who asked Lehr
— whose pants were down at the time
— whether he had read the mohel's
son's movie script.
Fortunately, the newly minted Jew
saw the humor in the situation.
Wedding Day
The new ABC series$ig Day, pre-
miering 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28,
covers "every aspect" of a wedding
day over the course of an entire sea-
son run. Co-starring as the bride-to-
b- e is Marla Sokoloff, best known for
her role as Lucy on the TV series The
Practice.
Sokoloff, 25, recently told reporter
Gerri Miller that her long-term boy-
friend, musician Alec Puro, is Jewish
(which makes
her mother very
happy) and that
she, personally,
would prefer a
small Jewish
wedding on a
beach.
Miriam Shor,
35, has a sup-
Maria Sokoloff
porting role in Big Day as Sokoloff's
older sister (see the JN article
"Broadcast News," on page 56 of
the Nov. 2 issue, for more on the
Michigan native).
More On Guest
As noted in last week's Arts
& Entertainment cover story,
Christopher Guest co-wrote (with
actor Eugene Levy) and directed
For Your Consideration, now in area
theaters. He also co-stars in the film,
as Jay Berman, a "very Jewish" film
director.
Guest seems at first glance
like a total WASP — his name is
"Christopher," and he holds the
English title "Baron of Haden-Guest."
But his background is mostly Jewish
— albeit of the secular-liberal variety.
A recent New York Times Magazine
profile confirmed that Guest's
mother, a former top CBS executive,
is an American Jew, the daugh-
ter of Russian-Jewish immigrants.
(Christopher grew up in the States).