Jerusalem's top events for the week of November 12th

Jerusalem

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> Jerusalem's top events for the week of November 12th

Jerusalem's top events for the week of November 12th

Jerusalem will be agog this week over an instrument anything but new. The oud, the progenitor of the lute (try saying 'al-oud' aloud and you'll understand) and pretty much all classical guitars has been a mainstay of the Middle Eastern music ever since there was such a thing as Middle Eastern music. For the 10th year, Jerusalem will pay homage to the the instrument in one of the year's most anticipated festivals, the International Oud Festival. But while the oud may be taking center stage, there are plenty of other acts in this three-ring circus we call Jerusalem.

Tonight, though, the hot ticket in town does in fact belong to the oud festival, which will open with a tribute show to medieval Jewish poet and sage Ibn Ezra by rock group The Tractor's Revenge at the Jerusalem Theater.

Day of rest is such a misnomer, for the religious, not only do you have to go through extra-long prayers, study sessions and what-not, but you can't even rely on the wonders of modern technology to make your day a little more restful. Yet still it seems everybody works toward that one day, from Sunday on. Welcome Shabbat a little early by attending Beit Avi Chai's pre-Shabbat session on Friday afternoon.

Hearing the poetry of Rachel, the one-named, pre-state pioneer who documented her life in verse, is key to understanding the Israeli experience. Her poetry will come back to life Saturday night at the Yellow Submarine as her words are set to music.

By some mad coincidence, obscure British playwright William Shakespeare has two works from his repertoire performed in Jerusalem on Sunday. "Othelllo" will be in Hebrew at the Kahn Theater and "A Comedy of Errors" will have the audience in stitches at The Merkaz.

Just as "The Never-Ending Story" did eventually end (Atreyu!), so it goes that the Never Ending Festival of Classical Music is a misnomer. But false advertising aside, the series is still an excellent showcase for Israeli classical musicians who moved here from all over the world (read Former Soviet Union). On Monday "One Musical family" plays at the Center for Culture.

Tuesday night marks the end of the bitter holiday-less Cheshvan and the beginning of Kislev, which features eight candle-lighting, latke-eating, dreidle-spinning, present-opening, Hannukah-Harry finding days of awesomeness. Start off the month of greasy food with a talk on the month's festivities and a sing-a-long at Beit Avi Chai.

Sure, you can spend Wednesday night out on the dance floor, shaking your thing like you think you know how. Or you can watch the pros at Hama'abada (The Lab) in the dance show Perakim (pictured).

That's not all, though. We have more events listed than there are flavors of sufganiyot (no small feat) at our full events page.

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