This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture where you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music (including of course Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen), film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of…
Culture
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Books
Moroccan Murder Mystery
The Honored Dead: A Story of Friendship, Murder, and the Search for Truth in the Arab World By Joseph Braude Spiegel & Grau, 318 pages, $26.00 You can take the Jew out of the Arab world, but you can’t take the Arab world out of the Jew. That basically sums up Joseph Braude, a young…
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August 12, 2011
100 Years Ago in The Forward Strange things are afoot at the synagogue on Lombard Street, in Philadelphia. One day, after the cantor’s choir rehearsal, the shamus was closing up the place when he heard a knocking noise in the sanctuary. Calling out to see what it was, the caretaker suddenly heard a loud voice…
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Books Different Jokes for Different Folks
On Monday, Melissa Fay Greene shared the story behind the adoption of her daughter, Helen, from Ethiopia. Her posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit: Twenty years ago, as I set…
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Books Turning a Synagogue’s Tale Into Kid Lit
Crossposted from Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art & Monuments “If these walls could talk” is a cliché in the historic preservation world, but when standing inside an old synagogue it is still an irresistibly phrase and idea. Anita Kassof, associate director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland and illustrator Jonathon Scott Fuqua have now taken the…
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‘Catch-22’ Still Saner Than Ever
Joseph Heller is invariably omitted from lists of American Jewish writers, but he should be included, and high up. “Catch-22” — which has just celebrated its 50th birthday — is notable among American novels in the second half of the 20th century for having been read with almost no acknowledgment of its Jewish identity. Heller…
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Genes Tell Tale of Jewish Ties to Africa
In the Book of Kings, Solomon is depicted as an international businessman of sorts who sent ships from the port of Etzion-Geber, near modern day Eilat, to trade precious metals and other goods with various parts of the world, including Africa. Solomon also famously received a visit from the Queen of Sheba, who is thought…
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Books Raising an Ethiopian Jewish Child in Georgia
Melissa Fay Greene is the author of “No Biking in the House Without a Helmet.” Her posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit: In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2001, I…
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Books Jackie Robinson and the Jews
Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball By Rebecca T. Alpert Oxford University Press, 236 pages, $27.95 Recently, the Yankees’ Derek Jeter hammered out his 3,000th career hit, only the 29th batter in baseball history to reach that exalted plateau; at the age of 37, he is the fourth-youngest player to accomplish that feat,…
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Could Kashrut Be Partly To Blame for Crohn’s Disease?
Here’s a question that has puzzled scientists for decades: Why is Crohn’s disease — an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with the highest incidence among Caucasians — about two to four times more prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews than among non-Jewish whites? As some researchers continue to look for the answer in our genes, others are proposing…
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Chasidism Without Romanticism
Originally published in the Forward March 31, 2000. As the packed houses for the recent Israeli film “Kadosh” testify, the Chasidim these days are a big draw and an even bigger drag. The dark world and mysterious culture of the chasidim simultaneously fascinate and repel modern Jews. Unfortunately, both the fascination and repulsion are often…
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From Mussolini’s Estate to Shoah Memorial
In August, the city of Rome is expected to give its final approval to plans for Italy’s new Holocaust museum, the Museo Nazionale della Shoah. Designed by Rome-based architect Luca Zevi, son of famed architecture critic Bruno Zevi, together with co-designer Giorgio Tamburini, the museum will be built on the historically resonant site of the…
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