Arts

Entertainn ent

About

Global Concern

Congregation Beth Ahm in West
Bloomfield is partnering with the
Michigan Coalition on the Environment
and Jewish Life (MI-COEJL) to present
the Detroit area premiere of The Great
Warming, a new documentary about
global warming, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan.
25, at Beth Ahm, 5075 W. Maple Road.
Narrated by actor Keanu Reeves and
singer Alanis Morissette, the film reveals
how global warming affects the lives of
people worldwide, and "without under-
mining the urgency of the situation, radi-
ates optimism that the human race can
seriously explore its role in keeping Earth

a habitable planet:'
said a New York
Times reviewer.
The film's
exploration of the
climate change
that is sweeping
around the world
— with comments
from scientists
as well as voices
from America's
faith communities — bypasses economic
and scientific issues related to global
warming (such as those addressed in Al
Gore's box-office smash documentary
An Inconvenient Truth) to focus on
the moral, ethical and
spiritual issues for all
humanity.
"Jewish tradition's
concern for humanity
and the physical world
around us intersects
with contemporary
environmental concerns.
We hope that this event
will help people explore
how they can bring their

Jewish identity and
spirituality to bear
on this critical issue
said Rabbi Steven
Rubenstein of Beth
Ahm.
Coordinated by the
synagogue's newly
launched Tikkun
Olam Social Action
Committee, the pro-
gram will begin with
a colloquoy on the religious and spiritual
implications of global warming facilitated
by Rabbi Rubenstein, joined by a MI-
COEJL representative and others, followed
by the 82-minute film. A question-and-
answer and discussion period will follow.
The film is recommended for adults and
children ages 12 and up.
The entire community is invited. To
defray costs and underwrite future social
action activities at Beth Ahm, a dona-
tion of $2-per-adult (no charge for teens)
will be collected at the door. For more
information, contact Rabbi Rubenstein
at (248) 851-6880, ext. 17, or raysteven@
cbahm.org.

For Folkies

Congregation Beth Shalom's Cafe Shalom
welcomes back folksinger and WDET-FM
radio host Matt Watroba to the Oak Park
synagogue 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20.
Watroba, the genial and informative
host of radio fave Folks Like Us weekly
on WDET, was named best overall folk
performer in 2000 by the Detroit Music
Awards. His Saturday performance will
feature a mixture of traditional and con-
temporary folk music plus his own corn-
positions.
An afterglow with coffee, tea and des-
serts follows the concert; wine will be
available for purchase during the concert.
Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 at the
door. For reservations, call the synagogue
office at (248) 547-7112.
Appearing at the Ark in Ann Arbor
(where Watroba often can be found) at 8
p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, is Jewish guitar vir-
tuoso David Bromberg. Joined by the Angel
Band, he'll demonstrate his extraordinary
guitar picking and exceptional stylistic
range — from bluegrass to folk to rock 'n'
roll — and some tunes from his upcom-
ing first studio album in 17 years, Try

The Great Warming: Our children's planet.

ews

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

Straight Sacha

cu-

w

Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) is now
talking to the media as himself, and
he comes off as a very articulate,
thoughtful fellow who speaks with a
very posh British accent.
One of his best interviews was
with Terry Gross, the Jewish host of
the NPR program
Fresh Air.
Among other
things, Cohen cov-
ers break-dancing
at his bar mitzvah,
how religious he
really is, his German
Jewish ballerina
Sacha Baron
grandmother, anti-
Cohen
Semitism and how
he was almost arrested during the
filming of Borat.
You can hear the interview at:
www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyld=6723074.

Indiana Jonesky •

Digging for the Truth, Josh
Bernstein's archaeology TV show, is
the highest-rated series in the histo-

42 January 18 2007

ry of the History Channel. It begins
its third season 9 p.m. Monday, Jan.
22.
A companion book to the series,
Digging for the Truth: One Man's
Epic Adventure Exploring the World's
Great Archaeological Mysteries,
is just out. Bernstein, 35, vividly
describes his trips
to 10 exotic locales,
including his search
for the Ark of the
Covenant in Egypt,
Israel and Ethiopia.
An identical
twin, Bernstein was
Josh
born in New York to
Bernstein
an Israeli father and
an American Jewish mother. While in
high school, he became very inter-
ested in the outdoors and spent time
at BOSS, an outdoor survival skills
school in Utah.
After graduating from Cornell in
1993 with an anthropology degree,
he moved to Jerusalem and spent
a year studying Jewish mysticism
at the Pardes Institute. Bernstein
then considered entering the Jewish
Theological Seminary but was put
off by the prospect of spending so
much time indoors. Instead, he told

his Pardes teachers he was going to
look for wisdom in the desert, like
Abraham and Moses.
In 1994, Bernstein began work-
ing at BOSS and eventually became
its owner, moving its headquarters
to Boulder, Colo. He appeared as a
survival instructor on a reality TV
show and that led, in a roundabout
way, to an offer to host Digging for
the Truth.

Singing Scrubs

Tonight's episode of NBC's Scrubs
(airing 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan.18) is
an all-singing-and-dancing show. The
script and songs
are by Jeff Marx
and Robert Lopez,
the team that gave
us Avenue Q, the
hit Broadway musi-
cal comedy.
Scrubs star
Zach Braff told TV
Zach Braff
Guide: "It's nice
after six seasons to
just go and do something completely
different. It's breathed a whole new
life into it and everyone's having
fun."
The numbers include "Everything

Comes Down to Poo," which you can
preview on youtube.com

Matzah Brei

Actress Darryl Hannah, 46, recent-
ly told TV's America's Most Wanted
about a documentary she is making
on the worldwide sex-slave trade.
In addition, she is spending her own
funds to help Cambodian children
escape from the trade. Hannah
added that the sub-
ject was very person-
al: In 1978, she was
almost kidnapped
and forced into
prostitution when
she went on what she
thought was a legit
Darryl
modeling job.
Hannah
Hannah has often
referred to her father as "Jewish,"
but I didn't know the whole story
until writer Nina Amir told me about
a book she's compiled of Jewish
recipes by Jewish celebrities (10 per-
cent of the book's earnings will go to
Mazon, a Jewish charity that helps
feed the hungry).
The actress told Amir that her
birth parents weren't Jewish. They
divorced, and when Hannah was