Seth Rogovoy, a contributing editor at the Forward, is the author of Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet (Scribner) and Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison (Oxford University Press).
Seth Rogovoy
By Seth Rogovoy
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Film & TV The Secret Jewish History Of Al Pacino
Is Al Pacino one of the great Jewish actors of our time? Hear me out. While best known for portraying characters of Italian and Latino descent – think Michael Corleone of “The Godfather” films, Carlito Brigante of “Carlito’s Way,” and Tony Montana of “Scarface,” Pacino has an arm’s-length resumé of portraying Jews in film and…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History Of The Chinese New Year
This year, the Chinese New Year falls on Friday, February 16, the day when revelers — by some estimates, fully one-sixth of the earth’s population — will usher in the Year of the Dog. The day is observed throughout China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and some other Asian countries, as well as in Chinatowns around the…
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Culture The Real Reason Donald Trump Loves Norway — Hint: It’s Not The Fjords
Why Norway? Well, we know why President Donald Trump wondered aloud why more people from Norway don’t emigrate to the United States in comparison to those from “shithole” countries in Africa and Latin America. It’s because only the day before Trump had met with Erna Solberg, the prime minister of Norway. The president’s attention span…
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Culture Will Oprah Winfrey Be Our First Jewish President?
Now that Oprah Winfrey has all but been inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States – thereby becoming the first woman to hold the office (and only the second African-American) – the question on everyone’s mind is: will Oprah also count as the first Jewish president? Well, let’s see. It’s not true that…
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Music Look No Further: Your Ultimate Jewish Christmas Spotify Playlist Is Here!
Maybe you find yourself quietly humming along to Christmas songs, not wanting to attract attention to yourself out of a sense of embarrassment or guilt. Maybe you find yourself at this time of year overwhelmed or oppressed by the onslaught of overplayed Christmas ditties pretending to be “holiday songs.” Maybe you secretly love Christmas songs…
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Art The Secret Jewish History Of The Rockettes
Is there anything more goyish than the Rockettes, the “precision-dance” troupe best known for its starring role in the annual “Christmas Spectacular” at Radio City Music Hall? Well, yes. As it turns out, the entire creative team behind the annual Radio City holiday event, which began in 1932, were Jewish men brought together by Samuel…
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Music The Secret Jewish History of ‘You’re Sixteen,’ That Song Joel Pollak Was Yammering About
The old rockabilly standard “You’re Sixteen,” first made famous by Johnny Burnette in 1960 and then revived by Ringo Starr in 1973, is back in the news again after right-wing commentator Joel Pollak, of Breitbart News, referred to the pop hit in defense of Alabama Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of…
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Culture Was Bob Dylan At His Best When He Was Christian?
I recently attended an alumni reunion at the Berkshires summer camp where I worked in the kitchen in the 1970s. More than one person came up to me at the reunion and said, “I’ll never forget how upset you were when Bob Dylan became a born-again Christian.” When early in the summer of 1979 it…
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Yiddish פֿאָרשונגען פֿון וויכטיקע היסטאָריקער אויף ייִדיש — איצט אַרויס אויף ענגלישResearch studies in Yiddish by noted historians, now in English
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Culture In the course of his 104 years, he resisted the Nazis, fought against blood libel and became a towering Jewish intellectual