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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Simple, Offensive and Out There
Cartoons and Extremism: Israel and the Jews in Arab and Western Media By Joel Kotek Vallentine Mitchell, 201 pages, $26.95. Joel Kotek’s “Cartoons and Extremism: Israel and the Jews in Arab and Western Media” is overwhelming. A portable gallery of some of the most revolting antisemitic cartoons and images available, the book traces popular antisemitic…
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Latuff: Cartoonist in Conversation
Although Kotek (whose book “Cartoons and Extremism” is reviewed above) thanks the cartoonists whose work he has published for their “friendly collaboration,” he never contacted Latuff. With such a heavy presence in “Cartoons and Extremism,” and without a response from any of the cartoonists exhibited, it seemed of value to try and make contact with…
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Peace Plan Linguistics
The “Saudi peace plan” is back again. Officially known as the “Arab Peace Initiative,” and first formulated at an Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, it is now being aggressively pushed by the Palestinian Authority, with the support of other Arab states. Last month, the P.A. published full-page ads in Israel’s daily Hebrew newspapers, colorfully…
The Latest
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Colors and Cultures Happily Married in India
Three weeks after Mumbai’s terror attacks, one of the most abiding images is of the golden-haired toddler orphaned by the siege at the local Jewish center. His plight haunted me. I have a son almost exactly the same age. During the early months of my pregnancy with him, I was in India researching a book…
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Knesset Eliyahu Synagogue, Mumbai
the incongruity of the sky-blue synagogue set against the filthy Mumbai sky screams of the innocence of another time when dark skinned Jews in saris and long kurtas streamed through the great blue doors to worship their one God who dwelt among them in this land of many gods. Those Jews are long gone now,…
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December 26, 2008
100 Years Ago in the forward One of the most active members of the Jewish community of Boston’s South End was a young Mr. Kadelsky, who not only belonged to a number of different Jewish organizations, but also was given the honor of reading from the Torah this past Yom Kippur and led the circuits…
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Music Faux Hasidim, Real Hasid Unite on Network TV…
…to sing a dreidel song on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” The real Hasid is Bostoner Hasid/rapper Y-Love. The fellows in the fake beards are Erran Baron Cohen (brother of “Borat” comic Sacha) and his band. The song is from Erran’s new album “Songs in the Key of Hanukkah.” The motley crew’s performance can be…
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The Borrowers Aloft: The Strange Case of Rembrandt, Picasso, Schama, and Cohen
In Paris, art gazers have been lining up in droves for “Picasso and the Masters,” this season’s blockbuster show at the Grand Palais. There’s also “Picasso and Manet” at the Orsay and “Picasso and Delacroix” at the Louvre. Never before has the mighty Spaniard’s communing with — and cribbing from — great artists of the…
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Every Word of Oscar-winning Oscar
**The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II ** By Oscar Hammerstein II Edited by Amy Asch Alfred A. Knopf, 448 pages, $65. Strange as it is, “The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II” is, like its subject — and unlike its hero — a musical in its own right. Physically Broadway-sized (11.6 by 10.8 and…
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Girls Just Want to Have Fun (And Do Their Duty)
Over the years, much has been made of American Jewry’s child-centeredness, of its determination to transform ancient holidays like Hanukkah into fun-filled occasions designed to appeal to the most youthful members of the community. But what of its teenagers? Has American Jewry effectively reckoned with that element of the population? Has it successfully integrated its…
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No Fear For Veil: France’s Newest Academician
On November 20, when the French-Jewish politician Simone Veil (pronounced Vay), 81, was elected to the prestigious Académie Française, her family took the news with typical self-deflating humor. Her husband, Antoine, exclaimed: “First she’s in the Grévin wax museum and now the French Academy. I hope all this isn’t leading to the Panthéon!” Veil, known…
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Yiddish פֿאַר וואָס הערט מען ניט וועגן דעם גלעצנדיקן וווּקס פֿון דער ישׂראל־בערזע? Why aren’t we hearing about the dramatic growth of the Israeli stock market?
וואָלט דער אָפּרוף געווען אַנדערש, ווען דער ציל פֿון די טעראָריסטן וואָלט ניט געווען ייִדן, נאָר אַן אַנדער גרופּע?
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