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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Just Say ‘Nu?’: Manners Maketh the Mensch
Our previous installment looked at how Yiddish will often use the third person as a sign of respect. Day-to-day use of the third person in addressing male strangers is pretty much restricted to der yeed, “the Jew,” which is sometimes used instead of reb yeed, “Mister Jew,” in addressing strangers. IKH MIZ BAITN BEI DAIM…
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California: Made in Germany, by Jews
California has always been different from every other place not only in America, but also in the world. The Golden State’s human landscape has been as spectacularly varied as its natural one, a unique blending of dreamers, strivers, crackpots and hustlers. Perhaps nowhere is this historical divergence more notable than in the history of California’s…
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A Turn of Phrase
David Gruber writes from Win–nipeg, Manitoba: “I have recently encountered a new use of the word ‘trope.’ The first instance was a commentator describing a politician deviating from his party’s platform as ‘not following the party trope.’ The second, in an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail*, was the sentence ‘A Cameron Diaz character…
The Latest
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November 28, 2008
100 Years Ago in the Forward Police are currently investigating the murder-suicide that occurred in New York City at 123 Clinton Street, in the apartment of Max and Molly Goldstein. As it appears, following a fight, Max, a 75-year-old pushcart peddler, stabbed his wife to death and then killed himself. The couple’s boarders said that…
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God in the Dock: Auschwitz Inmates Look To Apportion Ultimate Blame
Why do bad things happen to good people? The fact that this question is a cliché doesn’t make it any less pressing. Especially when we’re talking about the Shoah, which was bad in ways that we still have a hard time imagining. The question is one theme of “God on Trial,” the made-for-TV movie that…
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Jesus, Bob: To Live Outside the Law You Must Be Honest
Of all the intangible elements contributing to Bob Dylan’s sustaining genius — prodigious recall of the breadth and depth of American song; a restless, creative spirit, and abiding intellectual curiosity — none has been more powerful than his ability to confound expectations. Pop vocalists on the radio were not supposed to sing through their noses,…
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Whose House? Whose Homeland?
This month, Israeli moviegoers may get just a little more than they bargained for at one of the country’s best-known movie theaters. Through the end of November, the entrance hall to the Tel Aviv Cinematheque will exhibit a series of black-and-white photographs by British photographer Alan Gignoux that places photos of Palestinian refugees alongside photos…
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A Case of Uncertain Murder
Rabbi Michael Lotker of Camarillo, Calif., writes: “Some years ago I heard a Christian minister say that the King James translation of the fifth of the Ten Commandments, the Hebrew lo tirtsaḥ, as ‘Thou shalt not kill’ rather than ‘Thou shalt not murder’ was an accurate translation for its day. His claim was that when…
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No Green Cards at the Green Line
On July 31, 2003, the Israeli Knesset enacted the Nationality and Entry Into Israel Law, prohibiting any residency or citizenship status to Palestinians who live in the territories and are married to Israeli citizens. The law, initiated in the midst of the second intifada by prime minister Ariel Sharon, impacted thousands of people and forced…
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Not-for-Profits Brace for Trouble
Every morning for the past month, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi has arisen at 5 to check the Asian markets. Every day, she scrutinizes the fluctuations in the financial world and reads up on the latest business news, trying to gauge which way stocks are heading and what the fallout will be. Mizrahi does this not because…
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Moishe House: Building in Beijing
My roommates and I built the only rooftop sukkah in Beijing, 16 floors above the traffic on Second Ring Road, overlooking Sinopec headquarters and the small Olympic park next door. It was a true Chinese sukkah — made in part with PVC pipes and metal wire from a local construction market — and we were…
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