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 Squirrel Hill’s Sophie Masloff Was Pittsburgh’s First Female Jewish Mayor
Pittsburgh’s Jewish history is receiving renewed attention in the wake of the October 28 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. But while we mourn, we also acknowledge that there is much to celebrate about the community’s past. Did you know, for instance, that the first female Mayor of Pittsburgh was also Jewish?* Sophie Masloff,…
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Music Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood On The Tracks’ Was Pretty Jewish Behind The Scenes
More like “Tangled Up in Jew.” In an October 31, 2018 piece for the New Yorker music journalist Jeff Slate revealed the early recording history of Bob Dylan’s 1975 album “Blood on the Tracks” and its little known Jewish connections. Slate, who wrote the liner notes for “More Blood, More Tracks,” the latest in Dylan’s…
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Culture Will The Pittsburgh Bloodbath Forge A Bond Between American Jews And Muslims?
Within hours of the October 27 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Muslim-American activists sprang into action. Tarek El-Messidi, founding director of the faith-based nonprofit Celebrate Mercy launched a “Muslims Unite for Pittsburgh Synagogue” campaign on LaunchGood, a Muslim fundraising website, with the goal of providing for the short-term needs of…
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Culture Russian Scientist In Antarctica Attacked Co-Worker For Spoiling Book Endings
By its nature Antarctica, has the lowest crime rate of any continent. Housing only a few thousand souls across approximately 66 research bases, spread far apart, the small population of mostly scientists doesn’t allow for many opportunities for extralegal activities. But this month a Russian scientist has been extradited back to his home country after…
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Fast Forward VIRAL PHOTO: Pittsburgh Boy In Kippah Gives Cookies To Police Officer
The boy is wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates kippah and glasses, and he’s sheltering in the arm of a Pittsburgh police officer to whom he’s given a Tupperware container full of what looks like homemade cookies. There’s also a handwritten note, from Lily, 6, and Mikey, 9: “Thank you for keeping the Jews in the neighborhood…
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Fast Forward Trump Mocks Pipe Bomb Target Tom Steyer On Twitter
On Sunday, President Trump mocked pipe bomb target Tom Steyer on Twitter following his appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Politico reported. “Just watched Wacky Tom Steyer, who I have not seen in action before, be interviewed by @jaketapper,” Trump tweeted. “He comes off as a crazed & stumbling lunatic who should be running…
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Culture Henrik Galeen: The Jewish Master Of Silent Horror
We all know the story of Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the legendary rabbi of Prague who, from the mud of the Vltava River, willed his famous Golem into existence. But what of Henrik Galeen, the Austrian Jewish horror maven who first committed the story to the silver screen? In Galeen’s hands, the servile terracotta enforcer…
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Film & TV Will Kushner And Spielberg ‘West Side Story’ Cause Rumble With Sondheim?
Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist for “West Side Story,” dislikes the movie version of the seminal musical for sticking too closely to the source material. “I don’t think ‘West Side Story’ [is] a good movie at all because it’s not a movie. It’s a photograph of a stage,” the Tony-winning composer said in a 2016 interview…
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