
PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
The weathered words on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty endure to this day, even though most immigrants no longer encounter them on their journey. But the sonnet “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus, is only the poet’s most visible contribution to literature. This year, the American Jewish Historical Society, the steward of…
On April 1, 1939, Hitler was in a very bad mood. The previous day the Führer had learned that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had grown something resembling a spine. After reversing Britain’s policy of appeasement on March 15, following Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia, on March 31 Chamberlain made a pledge of Anglo-French support to…
The New York Police Department is investigating magician David Blaine after two women accused him of sexual assault. In a news conference April 1, Dermot F. Shea, the department’s chief of detectives confirmed the investigation into the complaints, first reported by The Daily Beast. Shea refused to comment on the details of the allegations or…
Twitter is a commons of free thought that has no equivalent in our history. Every so often we’re granted reminders of how thoroughly connected the little blue bird has made our lives. Who could have foreseen, for instance, that we would one day have a medium wherein Jim Carrey and Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter could engage…
On April 1 the Jewish Book Council announced the finalists for the 2019 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Awarded since 2007, the Rohr Prize recognizes early career English-language writers whose work reflects the Jewish experience. The five finalists in contention for the top $100,000 prize include two past National Jewish Book Award winners —…
On the afternoon of March 31, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a rare public appearance at the Temple Sinai synagogue in Washington, DC to pay her respects to Israeli author Amos Oz, who died of cancer in December at the age of 79. Ginsburg, who has been keeping a low profile since undergoing…
Every day this week we’ll be highlighting classic and cutting-edge Jewish comedy, from the best Jewish memes to the best jokes about Jews by non-Jews. L’chaim! It’s a strange time in comedy when world events feel increasingly absurd, but, like…not in a fun way. Comedians can help us contextualize the absurdity. Or they can be…
An artwork displayed last week at Northern Virginia Community College’s Ernst Community Cultural Center in Annandale, Virginia drew condemnation from a local rabbi for anti-Semitism. The picture, which has since been removed, was drawn by a 17-year-old high school student and depicts a squint-eyed man with a hooknose, sidelocks and kippah standing near a well…
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