Aviya Kushner is the Forward’s language columnist and the author of Wolf Lamb Bomb and The Grammar of God.
Aviya Kushner
By Aviya Kushner
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Culture Why It’s So Hard To Be A Kushner In The Age Of Jared And Ivanka
People used to be curious about my first name, but now, everyone wants to know the real deal with my last name. Specifically — am I related to Jared Kushner? The short answer: no. I am also not related to other famous Kushners: Tony, for instance. Or Rabbi Harold. Or France’s famed Bernard Kouchner. Or…
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Culture Remembering The Man Who Translated The Holocaust’s Most Haunting Poem
John Felstiner, the distinguished translator and literary scholar who brought Paul Celan into English and who also translated Pablo Neruda, will be remembered at a memorial at Stanford University today. Felstiner taught at Stanford for nearly fifty years, in English, Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature. He is the author of an essential biography of Celan,…
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Culture Did One Of Spain’s Greatest Artists Actually Have A Feminist Streak?
Israel’s official relationship with Spain is only 30 years old, and is being celebrated with a remarkable exhibit of prints and paintings by the great Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746–1828), now on view at The Israel Museum, in Jerusalem. Unofficially, of course, Spain occupies a unique space in the history and memory of the Jewish…
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Culture How Translators Are Helping To Resist Trump’s Immigration Policies
Translators are stepping up to the plate to help refugees, immigrants, and travelers traveling to or living in the U.S. The impetus for forming the brand-new Translation Outreach Network was the widely-publicized case of Henry Rousso, a prominent Holocaust scholar who was detained for more than ten hours on his way to an academic conference….
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Culture How To Deconstruct The Graffiti In Tel Aviv’s Hippest Neighborhood
Florentin, a neighborhood full of artists, hipsters, mom-and-pop businesses, lighting stores and quirky home-décor emporiums, is Tel Aviv’s answer to Brooklyn’s Williamsburg — at least before it gentrified entirely. It’s also a great place to check out graffiti that reveals Israel’s political pulse. Most of the graffiti is in Hebrew, and a lot of it…
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Culture In Israel, Even The Dogs Dress Up For Purim
In Tel Aviv, Purim is not just a holiday for humans. Plenty of dogs are decked out in fashionable costumes. One dog I saw was dressed like a lion. The dog-lion attracted claps and whistles from passersby. Another more feminine dog wore a headband with a pink sequined bow, and still another had an elaborate…
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Culture Here’s One Way To Fight The Gender Gap In Literature
Just in time for International Women’s Day, The University of Warwick in the United Kingdom announced that it is establishing an annual £1000 prize for women in translation — prompting elation from writers, translators and translation activists who are working hard to close the gender gap in international literature. The Warwick Prize for Women in…
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Culture How One Israeli Grocery Bag Solves A Vexing Dating Dilemma
Ever wish you could tell at a glance if someone was single or not? A Tel Aviv convenience-store has a novel solution to this problem. Tel Aviv is known for its nightlife and its large number of single residents, but Israel itself is a family-centric culture. The divide between solo freedom and traditional home life…
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