
Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.

Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.
On the brink of Thanksgiving, your mind is likely on the holiday – its pleasures and stresses alike – but find some time this week to indulge in great new reads, the long-heralded return of Amy Sherman Palladino’s “Gilmore Girls,” and, if you can drag yourself off your couch, concerts and plays in Chicago, Los…
In perhaps the most quintessentially New York interaction of 2016, Nicole Kidman showed up to the Manhattan premiere of her new film “Lion” this past week to receive an unexpected Yiddish lesson from Page Six columnist Cindy Adams. “You won’t believe this conversation,” Adams confided, before providing a transcript, which colorfully opened with Adams complimenting…
Participating in a Hollywood Reporter Actress Round Table with Emma Stone, Taraji P. Henson, Annette Bening, Naomi Harris, Isabelle Huppert, and Amy Adams, Natalie Portman unleashed a demand for an increased emphasis on female leadership, especially in local communities. In an abridged transcript of the conversation, Portman had a serious answer to a question on…
Soul singer Sharon Jones, whose work with the band the Dap-Kings earned her a Grammy nomination in 2014, passed away on Friday. She had battled pancreatic cancer since 2013, a period chronicled by Barbara Kopple in the documentary “Miss Sharon Jones!” Jones was known for her extraordinary energy as a performer, a quality that proved…
On Thursday, the Whitney Museum of American Arts announced the roster of artists to be included in its 2017 Biennial, which will open on March 17th. The Biennial will include Jewish artists like filmmaker and Hood By Air CEO Leilah Weinraub, Jordan Wolfson, whose art includes works in video, sculpture, performance, photography, and installation, painters…
Jon Stewart may have been a much-missed voice this past election season, but he’s showed up to provide both comfort — see him coloring away his grief in this week’s “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” — and, more recently, some uncompromising observations about understanding the result. Appearing on CBS’s “This Morning” yesterday, Stewart sat down…
Earlier this month, the New York Post reported that Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello will direct Stephen Sondheim’s new musical at the Public Theater. Don’t hold your breath — the musical is reportedly only half done — but with Mantello on board, and a miniature workshop reportedly occurring at the Public this week, the show,…
At last night’s National Book Awards, poet Daniel Borzutzky took home the top prize for poetry. His collection “The Performance of Being Human” was one of five finalists for the award; others included Rita Dove’s “Collected Poems 1974-2004” and Solmaz Sharif’s “Look.” Borzutzky, who was born to Chilean Jewish parents, is a professor at Chicago’s…
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