Mira Fox is a reporter at the Forward. Get in touch at [email protected] or on Twitter @miraefox.
Mira FoxStaff Writer
By Mira Fox
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News What does peyote have to do with pandemic minyans?
When I lived in Boston, much of my Jewish life took place in people’s living rooms and kitchens; though I also had a synagogue I loved, most of the young, engaged Jews of Somerville orbited through various monthly gatherings of egalitarian minyans and niggun singing and Shabbat meals. The coronavirus has decimated this aspect of…
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Culture How to say kaddish for Bernie Madoff
When Alicia Jo Rabins wrote “A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff,” she had no idea it would come out the year Bernie Madoff actually died. “Wow. It’s an odd experience to have my phone blowing up because someone I’ve never met died in his 80s!” she said when I emailed her today. Though the kaddish prayer…
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Culture Meet the real-life artist behind the paintings in ‘Shtisel’
Akiva Shtisel, the protagonist of the eponymous series, is a genius artist, and his gorgeous paintings lie at the heart of the show about Haredi life. In the most recent season, his paintings of his deceased wife hold much of the emotional weight of the show, symbolizing Akiva’s grief and his struggle to develop a…
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Culture Can music be educational and still be sexy? These rappers think so.
When you think of rap and hiphop, what probably springs to mind is the type of music that makes it into the Top 40 charts, with lyrics about love or sex or money. But the Brooklyn-based duo Nate and Hila are more likely to rap about compost or bees. To be fair, their bee music…
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Culture Can a new ritual shift our relationship to the Holocaust?
How will we remember the Holocaust when all the survivors are gone? This question has driven Jewish educators and historians as survivors have aged. Many educators treat it as a crisis; without testimony from those who actually experienced the atrocities, they will become easier to forget and deny. Holocaust denial is on the rise. There’s…
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Culture ‘Shtisel’ gives a surprisingly progressive picture of abortion among the Orthodox. Is it accurate?
Warning: Spoilers for “Shtisel” season three. Conservative Christian opponents to abortion are among the loudest voices in the debate. The most extreme positions often don’t even allow exceptions for rape or the mother’s health. It is easy to assume that other extremely observant religious groups would take a similar stance. Let’s not forget that the…
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Culture The New York Bagel Experience is not for hipsters
As recent transplants to this fair city of New York, we have plenty to learn about bagels. We haven’t had a chance to develop brand loyalties and identify establishments we love — or simply refuse to patronize. We don’t have firm feelings about the Montreal bagel. We can’t yet bring ourselves to speak unironically of…
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Culture In ‘Shiva Baby,’ Jewish anxiety gets so bad that it turns into a horror movie
I am not claustrophobic. But watching “Shiva Baby,” 26-year-old Emma Seligman’s first feature film, I felt the walls closing in on me. Ariel Marx’s high-pitched and plunky soundtrack felt akin to the “Psycho” score’s shrieking violins and I could feel my cortisol rising throughout the entire runtime. While the film bills itself as a comedy,…
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