Elissa Strauss has written for the Forward over a number of years. She is a regular contributor to CNN, whose work has been published in a number of publications including The New York Times, Glamour, ELLE, and Longreads.
Elissa Strauss
By Elissa Strauss
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Life McWhorter Questions Efforts To Save Dying Languages
In an essay in the recent issue of the World Affairs Journal, linguist and Columbia literature professor John McWhorter questions the effort to save dying languages: What makes the potential death of a language all the more emotionally charged is the belief that if a language dies, a cultural worldview will die with it. But…
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News Dirty Sayings Never Get Old
In the early 1970s, Marvin Zuckerman and Gershon Weltman, childhood friends from the co-ops of the Bronx, came across a rare Yiddish manuscript. Though they had never thought of putting out a book together, they quickly recognized that there was something in this document that made them want to take up the task of translating…
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Music Ending the De Facto Ban on Wagner’s ‘Bridal Chorus’
Growing up I didn’t much think about my wedding. This is not to say I didn’t dream about the man I would one day marry; I did that plenty. But the details — a white tulle dress, a tiered fondant cake — were never part of that revelry. I have stayed true to the girl…
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Israel News Identity Gleefully Revealed
On the television dramedy “Glee,” the Fox TV show that focuses on the members of an Ohio high school choir, lead character Rachel Berry officially came out — as a Jew. There were hints beforehand: her name, her allusions to her big nose, her love for Streisand. But it wasn’t until the episode that aired…
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Life ‘Glee’ Welcomes Chutzpadik Rachel Berry to the Tribe
This week on the television dramedy “Glee” — the Fox show centers on the members of an Ohio high school choir — the lead character Rachel Berry officially came out, as a Jew. There were hints before: her name, her allusions to her big nose, her love for Streisand. But wasn’t until the most recent…
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Life How Whole Foods Resembles a Kosher Kitchen
Last month Whole Foods announced that it has become the country’s first nationally certified organic grocer. In order to receive this seal, the chain implemented a series of rules to avoid any commingling of conventional and organic unwrapped products. To anyone who has ever tried to separate milk and meat, these are rules that seem…
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Israel News Brighton Beach on the Big Screen
Director and screenwriter James Gray has steadfastly avoided the Woody Allen playbook of Jewish filmmaking in his work. His previous films, crime pictures such as “Little Odessa,” “The Yards” and “We Own the Night,” feature scrappy, resilient Jewish men played by the likes of James Caan and Mark Wahlberg. In his new movie, “Two Lovers,”…
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Israel News Nick and Norah: Not Your Average Teens
After seasons of mostly vapid teenage characters dominating the screen, big and small, Kat Dennings bucks the trend with her role in the movie “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” in theaters October 3. Dennings plays Norah Silverman, a feisty high-school senior music fan whose all-nighter in Manhattan with new love interest Nick (Michael Cera who…
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