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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The Women Who Transformed Jewish Education
The story of the development, and the 20th century transformation, of Jewish education in America often centers on two educators: Samson Benderly and Mordecai Kaplan. Frequently absent from the narrative, however, are the female educators who inspired, or were inspired by, Benderly’s and Kaplan’s work. “The Women Who Reconstructed American Jewish Education, 1910-1965” (Brandeis University…
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Taking the Pulse of Young Jewish America on Hot-Button Issues
Where do Jewish teenagers across the country stand on issues bound to shape American Jewry? The Forward’s Allison Gaudet Yarrow polled 17- and 18-year-olds entering college within the next year, and asked them their thoughts on Jewish identity, community, education and other hot-button topics. One thing that became overwhelmingly apparent is that today’s young people…
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Interest in Israel Gap Year Grows, Cuts Across the Jewish Spectrum
As the daughter of Israeli immigrants, Sharon Bukspan always knew she wanted to spend a year in Israel before attending college, mostly to spend time with family members whom she saw sporadically after her parents moved to the United States. One night this summer, she was riding the New York City subway with her MCAT…
The Latest
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A New Curriculum For a New Museum
Linda Steinberg had worked in Philadelphia previously, for a short time, but she didn’t remember the summer heat. When she came back to town a few weeks ago, to a job at the new National Museum of American Jewish History, it was a hot day — upward of 100 degrees. For Steinberg, the contrast with…
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A Peaceful Coexistence Remains, Despite Student Turnover
In the days since Jews first put down roots in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, much has changed. The population — once mostly Ashkenazi — is now dominated by Sephardic Jews, most of whom emigrated from Syria. Avenue J, the main drag, offers sushi as well as kosher meat, and the synagogues of Coney Island…
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Small Colleges Reach Out To Expand Their Jewish Student Communities
Robert E. Lee and George Washington sound like an unlikely pair. Now, the college named after them, Washington and Lee University, is working toward another unification of very disparate backgrounds. Lexington, Va., the home of W&L, has no synagogue, no permanent rabbi and very few Jews, but soon that may change. The W&L alumni, faculty…
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The Challenging Financial Model of Jewish Early Childhood Education
When she sees how excited her 7-year-old son, Isaac, is to go with her to pick up his younger sister, Tzipporah, at his old preschool, Ginna Green is convinced that she and her husband made the right decision to send their children to Gan Mah Tov, in Oakland, Calif. Green is confident that the Jewish…
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The Nigun Project: Surely, There Will Be Vodka
For the latest installment of the Nigun Project, I am indebted to a Forward reader who posted a link in the comments section of a recent piece in the nigun series. The link led me to a website that contains many selections from a wonderful multi-volume series of albums of Chabad nigunim released during the…
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For Henry’s Sake: Pioneering a Genetic Frontier
Ten years ago, the first-ever bone-marrow transplant was performed using the umbilical cord blood of a baby deliberately selected and implanted through a combination of in-vitro fertilization and genetic testing to save the life of his older sibling. The embryo-screening procedure known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, had previously been used to enable parents…
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Laurie Strongin Discusses Her Fight To Save Her Son
In 1995 Laurie Strongin’s son Henry was born with Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disease most common in Ashkenazi Jews. The disease, as Strongin and her husband quickly learned, is almost always fatal. But scientific advancements gave them the hope that they might be able to save their newborn son. Pioneering the use of an…
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The Ties That Bind
What is the essence of Jewish identity? Is it revealed in the choices we make, like giving tzedakah or observing the Sabbath, or is it in our genetic code? Is it a matter of faith, or a matter of heritability? Is it something we can choose, or is it a biological imperative embedded in nearly…
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