Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.
Talya ZaxOpinion Editor
By Talya Zax
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Forward 50 2018 Elaine May
American Comedy’s Insurgent Genius And Jewish Mother What ties together “The Birdcage,” a mid-90s comedy about the clash between a gay couple and their conservative soon-to-be in-laws, “Labyrinth,” a terrifyingly weird children’s movie about a magical David Bowie, and “The Graduate”? Why, it’s Elaine May, who wrote the former two and made a fleeting cameo…
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Forward 50 2018 Rachel Kushner
Man Booker Shortlisted Author And ‘Girl Citizen’ Speaking to The New Yorker’s Dana Goodyear this spring, the novelist Rachel Kushner explained that she thought of herself as a “girl citizen.” Kushner was soon to publish her third novel, “The Mars Room,” which is set inside a California women’s prison. She’d spent a good deal of…
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Forward 50 2018 Amy Sherman-Palladino
Bringing Joyful, Kvetchy New York Jewishness To Television In 2018, TV offers a plethora of wonders: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’s frighteningly durable “Game of Thrones,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s bold performance on “The Deuce,” Pete Davidson’s regrettable foot-in-mouthism on “SNL.” But the age of peak TV may have met the age of peak Jewish fantasy in…
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Culture The World Set Rules For Returning Nazi-Looted Art. Are They Working?
In November, the Austrian government revealed that nearly two decades ago it returned the wrong Nazi-looted Gustav Klimt painting to the wrong Jewish family. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is working to return cultural items looted by colonialists to their African countries of origin. Elaborate, precise heists are targeting Chinese artifacts in museums across the globe,…
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Forward 50 2018 Jamie Bernstein
Reflecting On Dad, His Legacy, Eccentricities And How He Lives On Growing up with Leonard Bernstein wasn’t always easy. The conductor and composer was brilliant and loving, but also controlling, inappropriate and so much larger than life that his presence could be suffocating. Jamie Bernstein, 66, his eldest daughter, gave powerful voice to the experience…
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Theater Folksbiene To Follow ‘Fiddler’ With Premiere Of Opera About The Rise Of The Nazis
Erich Rosenthal, a Jewish scholar, watched the rise of the Nazis from the United States. He’d managed to escape his native Germany, but his family wasn’t so lucky. Now his son, the composer Ted Rosenthal, is poised to give new voice to the tormented years his father spent praying for his family from afar. In…
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Theater ‘Heil Hitler!’ He Yelled During ‘Fiddler.’ The Audience Feared For Their Lives.
Lyn Levine, 26, heard a commotion from the balcony. But it was only when she heard a man shout “Go home, Nazi” that she got a clue what was happening. Someone had said something anti-Semitic, she realized. People were moving quickly out of the way. Faces showed surprise, confusion. “The first thing that went through…
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Culture In Russia, A Jewish Director’s Trial Marks A New Threat To Freedom
At the Cannes International Film Festival in May, Kirill Serebrennikov was everywhere. His nametag on a table at a press conference. His film “Leto” mentioned as a top contender for the Palme d’Or. His eyes looking out from square-frame glasses, printed on a paper bag the actress Franziska Petri wore over her head. On a…
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