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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December 18, 2009
100 Years Ago in the Forward A young man by the name of Samuel Chapin committed suicide in New York’s Turkish Baths on 1st Street and Third Avenue. After taking a shvitz for about an hour, Chapin, who also lived on 1st Street, gave one of the employees a 50 cent tip, then got into…
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The Miracle of Hanukkah Songs
When it comes to singing the praises of Hanukkah, Adam Sandler’s “The Hanukkah Song” has become a contemporary classic, yet his is hardly the first — nor, I suspect, the last — musical expression of affection and appreciation for the ancient holiday and its Maccabean heroes. “So drink your gin-and-tonic-ah, and smoke your mara-juanic-ah,/If you…
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Seduced by Stavans
A Critic’s Journey By Ilan Stavans University of Michigan Press, 208 pages, $24.95 Ilan Stavans is no stranger to the pages of the Forward. Since 1994, the Mexican-American writer and critic has contributed numerous essays and reviews to the newspaper, including an article from 2007 called “Forverts & I.” In it, he reflects on his…
The Latest
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Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet
Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet By Seth Rogovoy Scribner, 336 pages, $26.00 In writing “Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet,” what he describes as a “Jewish biography” of Bob Dylan, Seth Rogovoy joins an ever-growing guild of critics and thinkers who have attempted to offer definitive interpretations of one of the most purposefully elusive and iconic…
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How Many Circles Has Gehinom?
‘In order to receive a building permit, you have to pass through the seven circles of hell,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared not long ago, in a Hebrew address in which he spoke of the need to streamline bureaucratic procedures that make Israeli life difficult. The Hebrew idiom “to pass through the seven circles of…
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‘Alas, Poor Andrzej’: The Strange Case of Tchaikowsky’s Skull
The admission by London’s Royal Shakespeare Company that, despite previous disavowals, a production of “Hamlet” featured not only Dr Who actor David Tennant, but also a real human skull onstage — as Hamlet’s deceased friend the jester Yorick — brings the donor of that skull back into the limelight. The Polish-Jewish pianist Andrzej Czajkowski (who…
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Yiddish King Lear on the Relief Roll
of director Joseph Seiden. The play was better received than the film.” photo-credit=”Image by COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR JEWISH FILM ” src=”https://images.forwardcdn.com/image/675x/center/images/cropped/kinglear-article2-1208-1425721454.jpg”] The United States government bankrolled some of the most innovative Yiddish stage productions in the 20th century when it paid the salaries of actors, writers and directors under the auspices of…
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The Workmen’s Circle Goes Beyond the Pale
If, when you think of Toronto, you think of white people living by a lake, siding with the redcoats and dodging the draft, you are way out of date. Yes their money has the queen’s head on it, but twenty first century Toronto has a thriving multiethnic cultural scene to go with their excellent healthcare,…
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Constitution as Talmud
The Citizen’s Constitution: An Annotated Guide By Seth Lipsky Basic Books, 352 pages, $25.95 Seth Lipsky says that while he was writing his new book about the U.S. Constitution, one of his children suggested he design it like the Talmud, with text in the middle and commentary all around. The book he did write, “The…
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The Man Who Shaped 20,000 Penises
Philip Sherman has a good claim to have handled more foreskins than any man alive. And possibly more Jewish foreskins than anyone in history. He’s a Mohel who markets himself as a dependable cutter rather than someone who is going to make each bris memorable. Based in Manhattan, but prepared to hop from borough to…
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Israel’s Naked Truth
Documentary film is a sprawling, big tent of a genre. Any topic could, conceivably, be made into a documentary. But I’ll venture a semi-controversial opinion: It shouldn’t. What do I mean by that? Well, not everything is best said within the visual, dynamic medium of film. A good, if not great, documentary will intrigue and…
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