Television

Mad Men
By 1960, New York’s Madison Ave­nue was home to the world’s most powerful advertising agencies, but Jewish agencies—and clients—often weren’t welcome at the table. In its award-winning first season, AMC’s original series has brought that bit of history front and center, forcing executives at the fictional Sterling Cooper agency to confront their ignorance about Zionism and Jew­ish culture through a series of challenging clients, in­cluding the Israeli Board of Tourism.

Sparks fly as Rachel Men­ken (Mag­gie Siff), a client, emerges as a central character. The head of a major Jew­ish department store, Menken wades coolly through the sexism and anti-Sem­itism of Madison Aven­ue in hopes of bringing more affluent custom­ers to the family business; however, the attraction that blooms be­tween Men­ken and adman Donald Draper (John Hamm, above with Siff) threatens to capsize their personal and pro­f­essional lives. Look for Sea­son 1 on DVD.(www.amctv.com/madmen).
—Tom Blunt

In the Family
When Joanna Rudnik learned she had the BRCA gene—she was tested because three close relatives had either ovarian or breast cancer—the 27-year-old filmmaker had to decide whether to have her breasts and ovaries removed, the only preventative option available. Her personal journey and interviews with families at risk, researchers and physicians make this a valuable and informative film. A coproduction of Joanna Rudnik, Kartemquin Films and Independent Television Service. On PBS October 1; check local listings.
—Zelda Shluker

Film

The Little Traitor
Set in Jerusalem in 1947, when Jews were “Palestinians” and British Mandate soldiers were the enemies, the film centers on the unlikely friendship between an 11-year-old would-be underground fighter (Ido Port) and a British sergeant (Alfred Molina). Writer-director Lynn Roth has transformed a semiautobiographical Amos Oz novel into an in­sightful film on the Jewish state’s struggle for independence. Evanstone Films.
—Tom Tugend

My Father, My Lord
There is a great deal of love between a haredi father (played by Assi Day­an) and his young, and only, son. For the father, the will of God is supreme—and at times he squelches his child’s natural interest in animals, which he sees as inimical to Yiddishkeit. But what happens to that kind of faith after a tragedy occurs—when God’s expected protection does not intervene? This award-winning film by David Volach conveys authentic belief and heartbreak. Kino (www.kino.com).
—S.A.

A Hebrew Lesson 
Like tracking the rays of the sun, co­writer and director David Ofek takes as his starting point a group act­ivity— an ulpan for olim—and follows the lives of individual students as they come and go from class. Ofek combines his fictional and nonfictional cin­ema skills to create a documentary that has all the suspense and dra­ma of a feature film. Eden Productions (www.edenproductions.co.il).
—Judith Gelman Myers

Love Comes Lately
Jan Schütte has incorporated three Isaac Bashevis Singer stories in this film that looks at the imagination, nightmares and desires of a writer approaching his eighties. Though the charming Max Kohn (Otto Tausig) depends on his long-suffering girlfriend (Rhea Perlman), he finds it hard to deny his romantic inclinations toward Barb­ara Hershey and Tovah Feldshuh (who play real and imagined women). Kino (www.kino.com).
—S.A.

Recordings

Odessa/Havana
It’s hard to separate the Cuban rhythms from the East European essence in this instrumental fusion. Still, there is variation in trumpeter David Buchbinder’s melodies; they are shtetl-prayful, jazz-inflected or carried along by hard drumming. The most danceably Jewish is “Freylekhs Tumbao.” Tzadik/DB Works, (www.odessahavana.com).
—Susan Adler

Two Faiths, One Voice
A multicultural, multilingual collaboration brings together Maria Krupoves, a Christian Yid­­­dish professor in Lithuania, and Gerard Edery, a Ca­s­a­blanca-born promoter of Sefardic-Ladino works. Surprising musical and cultural similarities are in evidence in melody and verse: The Ladino “Gülpembe” has a refrain in Turkish. There are secular/liturgical echoes of “Song of Songs” in the love ballad “Morcna me Ilaman.” The lyrics can be followed in translation, but the rhythms are easy to get. Sefarad Records (www.sefaradrecords.com).
—Z.S.

Theater

Gypsy
Everything’s coming up roses in Jewish writer-director Arthur Laur­ents’s labor-of-love revival. Patti Lu­pone is commandingly definitive as scary showbiz Mama Rose, but the gifted, 90-year-old Laur­ents also brings sublime insight to the Jewish am­bi­ence of the show’s ongoing vaudeville odyssey—most notably in a me­m­ora­bly madcap rendition of “Mr. Gold­stone.” The Chicago Sym­phony Or­ch­estra performs. At the St. James The­atre, New York, open-ended run (800-432-7250).
—Jules Becker.

Exhibits

Archaeology Zone: Discovering Treasures From Playgrounds to Palaces
Tucked away in a colorful corner of the museum, youngsters (ages 3 to 10) can watch a video of a dig, puzzle out uses of real artifacts (an ostrich eggshell used as a perfume bottle), draw mo­saics of the zodiac found on a 1,500-year-old synagogue floor—or re­cline on a cush­ion in a 100-year-old Ottoman-style home. Through June 15, 2009, at The Jewish Museum, New York (212-423-3200,www.jewishmuseum.org).
—Z.S.

DVD

Jews in Space
This Buenos Aires family—for which the term “dysfunctional” might have been coined—includes a suicidal grandfather, his three warring daughters and a grandson in love with his cou­sin. The plot in director Gabriel Lichtman’s charming but thin film re­volves around who will host the upcoming Seder. Primer Plano Film Group (www. primerplano.com).
—Renata Polt

Web Sighting
The number of adults over 80 in the United States is rising, and increasingly the responsibility of caring for these men and women falls on their children. Caring for aging parents is the focus of New York Times reporter Jane Gross’s blog at newoldage.blogs. nytimes.com. Launched in July, her first entry re­ceived over 500 comments, as readers shared experiences and asked questions about topics such as nursing homes versus at-home care. The New Old Age addresses both emo­tional and pra­ctical issues and has quickly be­come a much-needed resource on a topic that is af­fecting so many.
—Leah F. Finkelshteyn