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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Culture ‘Illyria’ Mixes Joe Papp, Robert Moses And McCarthyism, But It’s Not Shakespeare
Is there one right way to make art? Should it be an idealistic endeavor, best pursued without interest in fame or compensation? Can artists seek professional success without having to compromise their art to match their patrons’ values? If ideals and commercialism clash — for instance, if one has a young child to provide for,…
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Culture ‘Indecent’ To Air On PBS ‘Great Performances’ This Friday
“Indecent,” Paula Vogel’s loving paean to Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance,” will get its own resurrection this Friday; a filmed performance of the play from its Broadway run will air on PBS’s “Great Performances.” “Indecent,” which won two Tony Awards — including one for director Rebecca Taichman, a member of this year’s Forward 50 —…
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Culture Masha Gessen’s Definitive Take On Contemporary Russia Is The Work Of A Lifetime
“I wanted to write a story about how Russian democracy didn’t come to be,” Masha Gessen said. We were discussing Gessen’s “The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,” a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction. In the book, Gessen tells the story of Russia’s post-Soviet evolution through the intertwining stories of seven…
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The Schmooze Yuval Sharon’s ‘War Of The Worlds,’ DOC NYC And More To Read And Do This Weekend
It finally feels like fall, Taylor Swift’s new album is out, and if you’re like me, you’re reeling from the continued cascade of allegations of sexual assault and harassment being reported against an ever-increasing range of men in politics, Hollywood and the media. If you, like me, are resultantly in need of a mental break,…
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Film & TV Fran Drescher, Forward Gala Host, Discusses ‘The Nanny,’ Cancer Activism And Netanyahu
The voice. The hair. The unpretentious, absolute Jewishness. Fran Drescher, creator, writer and star of the hit 1990s sitcom “The Nanny,” healthcare advocate and recent “Broad City” guest star, is an essential figure in contemporary Jewish American culture. Luckily for the Forward, she’s also serving as Master of Ceremonies at our 120th Anniversary Gala on…
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Culture Does A Jewish Museum Fashion Exhibit Shortchange Jewish Culture?
A new exhibit at Manhattan’s Jewish Museum, “Veiled Meanings,” opens on a striking note, showcasing three different veiled women’s garments that many Americans would not, on first look, associate with Jews, including the Afghani chadur. The exhibit, a brief chronicle of garments common in Jewish communities of the past, has the potential to be a…
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Culture Howard Jacobson, Simon Schama Condemn Labour Party’s Failure To Address Anti-Semitism
Three of the United Kingdom’s most prominent Jewish authors stepped forward yesterday to condemn anti-Semitism in one of the country’s leading political parties. In a Letter to the Editor published in The Times, Simon Schama, Howard Jacobson and Simon Sebag Montefiore criticized the Labour Party, led since 2015 by Jeremy Corbyn, for failing to check…
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Culture Q & A: David Lang, Bang On A Can Co-Founder, Bargains With God
You have suffered a loss. You are grateful to God. You rage, you plead, you express your love. You are a sinner, a mourner, a citizen, alive. There is a psalm for most every experience in the handbook of humanity. And through a monumental program currently running at Lincoln Center, “The Psalms Experience,” audiences can…
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Fast Forward Germany’s Freidrich Merz calls Iran fight ‘the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us’
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