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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August 27, 2010
100 Years Ago in the Forward It’s amazing how new technologies from America and Western Europe have made their way into Eastern Europe and are already being used by Jews. The business of bringing new technological developments such as bicycles, phonographs and moving pictures to this region is almost entirely in the hands of Jews….
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Shaping Young Jewish Minds In Cézanne Country
Two flights above the only synagogue in Aix-en-Provence, the famed birthplace of Paul Cézanne, a bit of Jewish educational history is unfolding. Two years ago, l’Ecole Juive d’Aix en Provence, or EJAP, became the first trilingual elementary school in France to include classes in Hebrew and in English. The school currently serves some 40 children,…
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Le Centre Darius Milhaud
Inaugurated 40 years ago by Darius Milhaud, the only Jewish cultural center in Aix-en-Provence is named after the famous composer and native son. At the time, it was built as a synagogue, yeshiva and social club for a community growing exponentially thanks to waves of emigrants from North Africa. Close to the Rotonde, the fabled…
The Latest
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Torah Raps:Teaching the Bible Through Music
They may not be Big Boi and Andre 3000 (or even Matisyahu), but to the kids at Jewish day schools and camps who get to rap with Matt Bar and Ori Salzberg, these young Jewish educators are hip-hop stars. The two men call themselves Bible Raps Nation and travel from Jewish camps to Jewish schools…
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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…
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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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