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 Carrie Fisher Wasn’t Just a ‘Star Wars’ Icon — She Was an Author and Advocate, Too
In 1987, a Los Angeles Times photographer asked Carrie Fisher if it would hurt her image to pose on a bar stool. The actress and writer wasn’t concerned. “There is not one area of sensationalism that I have not wandered into and trespassed wildly,” she told reporter Nikki Finke. Fisher, who passed away this morning…
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49 Reasons Why 2016 Wasn't as Bad as You Think Indecent
In May I left a preview for “Indecent” at Manhattan’s Vineyard Theater uncharacteristically silent. The play was advertised as a tale about Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance,” a Yiddish play that famously closed after one night on Broadway, with its entire cast arrested on charges of obscenity. “Indecent,” co-created by playwright Paula Vogel and director…
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Culture When a Jewish Radio Icon Moved the Rockettes to New York
Think of the Rockettes, and you think of New York: Radio City Music Hall, lit up in the wintertime, glittering decadence tucked away inside. But the Rockettes, currently making headlines over their union’s unforgiving response to a dancer’s concerns about performing at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, wasn’t always Big Apple-based. They made a home in…
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Culture Chrismukkah, and 5 Other Things to Read, Watch, and Do This Weekend
As you settle in for the long Chrismukkah weekend, it’s a great time to catch up on reading, binge watch your favorite TV shows (or a great new one) and, for the daring, venture outside for some magical holiday fun. Our best picks, below. 1) Celebrate Chrismukkah! This year, Hanukkah starts on Christmas Eve for…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History of ‘The Nutcracker’
A memory of pure magic: I am eight years old, dressed in a special red fleece cap and cape, dashing to a stage door at the Denver Center for Performing Arts with snow falling around me. Backstage is magical, a cavernous room dotted with enchanting, candy-colored set pieces and filled with tutu-clad ballerinas. I was…
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Culture Superstition Vies With Faith at Yiddish New York
There they are, in Sanford Drob’s “Expulsion:” a man and woman, draped in animal skins, seized with grief – the woman gazing forward, determined but horrified, the man covering his face with his hand – and wearing armbands emblazoned with yellow Jewish stars, the word “Jude” at their centers. It’s a painting that, despite the…
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News Lawyer Slams ‘Appalling’ Lack of Evidence in Clinton Email Warrant Request
A lawyer who sued to unseal the bombshell search warrant used by the FBI to search Anthony Weiner’s laptop for emails tied to Hillary Clinton says he’s “appalled” at the lack of evidence in the document that was released Tuesday. After reading the court documents, E. Randol Schoenberg, the Los Angeles-based lawyer better known for…
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The Schmooze Yes, There are ‘Hamilton’ Themed Hanukkah Music Videos
You knew this was coming, we knew this was coming, and we’re sorry: this is your Hanukkah “Hamilton” parody roundup. As inevitable as overeating latkes at your family’s Hanukkah festivities or Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeting encouraging messages of nerdy optimism, it seems preordained that when Jewish a capella boy bands took on their annual task of…
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
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Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
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Fast Forward How the Jewish commandment to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ could help a woman challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban in court
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: יוטוב־פּערזענלעכקייט רעדט אויף ייִדיש וועגן אַ משפּחה־טראַגעדיעVIDEO: Youtube personality speaks in Yiddish about a tragedy in the family
מאַטי מענדלאָוויטשעס ברודער, וואָס האָט יאָרן לאַנג געליטן פֿון דעפּרעסיע, האָט הײַיאָר זיך גענומען דאָס לעבן. .
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Music Can 6 hours of Billy Joel turn critics into believers?
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Opinion What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?
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