PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture How A Jewish Comedian Became Ukraine’s President And The Center Of Trump’s Impeachment Inquiry
Editor’s note: On September 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump. That announcement followed reports that Trump allegedly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Zelensky, a Jewish former comedian, has an unorthodox political background:…
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Culture Joachim Gans, The First Jew In North America, Honored With Historical Marker
In 1585, some 100 men made landfall on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. Sent to establish the first English North American colony, not all of the expedition’s members were English. And one, despite sailing under the auspices of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, wasn’t even Christian. Joachim Gans, a metallurgist from Prague, may well have…
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Culture Paul Rudd Had One Good Jewish Joke In ‘Between Two Ferns’ – And One Really Bad One
Paul Rudd gives us much to kvell over. Since “Clueless,” he has been a Nice Jewish Boy heartthrob; he’s pure, funny, talented, good-looking and scandal free. Like all the best movie stars, Rudd elevates everything he’s in. Even if you don’t like one of his performances or films, you always like him. If you are…
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Culture Ian McEwan Brings Brexit To Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’
Jerusalem and Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan sees the current state of British politics as a touch Kafkaesque. Along those lines, he announced September 12 the release of a new novella, “The Cockroach,” which turns Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” formula on its antenna, having the titular pest transform into a human. Not just any human, the Prime…
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Culture Jewish Activism Won The Night At The 2019 Emmys
The grand experiment of the 2019 hostless Emmys was an at-times confounding show of pageantry and schtick. It began with Homer Simpson’s apparent onstage death, was punctuated throughout with Thomas Lennon’s head-scratching commentary and, yes, featured a number of huge wins for Jews and other minorities who used their platform to push for equality and…
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Culture How Genetics Paint A Picture Of The Jewish Past
From the time of the Babylonian Exile, Jews have been spread far and wide, carrying with us mementos of our ancient past in our blood, spit and the microscopic double helix of our DNA. Among the best tools the Chosen People have for finding a link to antiquity is bleeding-edge technology that analyzes our genes…
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Culture The ‘Downton Abbey’ Film May Not Be Jewish – But The Show Was Once
I stopped watching “Downton Abbey” right after that milk truck ran Matthew Crawley off the road at the end of Season 3. Apparently, while I was gone — seeking my blue-blooded intrigue elsewhere (Westeros, mainly) — the series introduced some Jewish elements. Who knew! Well, if you are one of the millions who plan on…
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Culture How Roy Cohn’s Shame Made Him – And Trump – Shameless
Everyone was afraid of Roy Cohn — until no one was. A fixer, a liar, a self-loathing Jew and viciously homophobic homosexual, he seized on the Big Lie advanced by Adolf Hitler to advocate for his clients, smear his opponents and shield himself from a mountain of indictments. His first case to gain national attention…
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In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish אַ וויכטיק ווערק פֿון מוזיקאָלאָג משה בערעגאָווסקי פּובליקירט צום ערשטן מאָלImportant work by musicologist Moyshe Beregovsky published for the first time
דאָס בוך נעמט אַרײַן דעם ייִדישן טעקסט, זײַן רוסישע איבערזעצונג און אַ קאָמענטאַר אויף ביידע שפּראַכן.
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Fast Forward Jewish judge overturns Trump administration’s Harvard funding freeze, ruling antisemitism allegations were a ‘smokescreen’
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Fast Forward Israeli fashion brand launches campaign protesting starvation in Gaza
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Fast Forward Jewish Studies faculty at U of Oregon rally to protect their jobs from feared budget cuts
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