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 Origins of Ashkenaz
Sol Schindler of Bethesda, Md., writes: “Paul Kriwaczek tells us in his book ‘In Search of Zarathustra: Across Iran and Central Asia To Find the World’s First Prophet’ that the Hebrew word ashkenazi originally meant a Scythian. I myself always thought it meant a German. Did ancient Hebrew speakers use one term to describe all…
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Sacred Fusion: Jewish and Muslim Melodies Mingle Easily at Moroccan Music Festival
Earlier in the life of this historic city, it wouldn’t have been odd to hear a Sephardic Jewish melody and the Muslim call to prayer ring out and interweave simultaneously. Fes, widely considered Morocco’s spiritual and intellectual capital, was once home to Maimonides himself. One still can walk through the Mellah, or Jewish section, of…
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The Dynamic Duo Behind Poland’s Jewish Revival
Wojtek and Malgosia Ornat are pioneers in the promotion of Jewish culture and Jewish-themed tourism in Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow, Poland. Today, the Ornats, who in 1992 opened the first Jewish-style café in Krakow, run the popular Klezmer Hois café-hotel-restaurant, a Jewish publishing house called Austeria, and Jewish bookstores in Krakow and…
The Latest
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A Forgotten Conductor’s Triumphant Return
Sometimes, historic recordings are more than just opportunities to hear great forgotten performances. The just completed 43-volume “Karel Ancerl Gold Edition” of CDs from Supraphon (www.supraphon.com; distributed in the United States by www.qualiton.com) conducted by the Czech maestro Karel Ancerl is a case in point. The new DVD — “Who Is Karel Ancerl?” — also…
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Homeschool of Rock
When Yuda Piamenta was 15, he skipped a day of school. His father, legendary Israeli guitarist Yossi Piamenta, punished his son in somewhat unusual fashion: He picked up a guitar, handed another one to Yuda and instructed him to start playing. Yossi then played a series of dissonant chords over Yuda’s melody. The cacophony might…
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Following a Musical Silk Road to Central Asia
A series of happy accidents. That, in a nutshell, is how 32-year-old saxophonist and scholar Evan Rapport describes the arc of his career — a career that began in the nightclubs of Maryland and ultimately carried him to the Bukharian Jewish enclaves of New York City. It’s hogwash, of course. I’m willing to believe that…
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She’s Scot Game
Celtic and Jewish music and dance traditions are rarely compared, and even more rarely combined, but the upbeat circle dances of the Celtic ceilidh have much in common with the hops, kicks and turns of the hora. And in the music of the harp-and-fiddle duo Tzalool, which fuses Celtic and Jewish rhythms, the parallels are…
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Playing Telephone
You all know the children’s party game of “Telephone,” in which everyone sits in a circle and one child thinks of a word or phrase and quickly whispers it to the next child, who whispers it to the next child, and so on all around the circle — the idea being to see how many…
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Film & TV Jeffrey Goldberg and Michael Chabon on Sandler’s ‘Zohan’: ‘The Worst Movie’ But Quite Enjoyable
Not to be too self-referential (as if there’s any such thing), but I’d just like to point out that in my recent paean to Adam Sandler’s (goyish) wit and (Jewish) wisdom, I rendered the following verdict: “‘You Don’t Mess With the Zohan’ is a stupid movie; I couldn’t stop laughing.” Now, I’m happy to report,…
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July 4, 2008
100 Years Ago in the forward It seems that Brooklyn’s police are up to their old antisemitic tricks. This past weekend, 58 people, 57 of whom are Jewish, were arrested in Prospect Park. The charges ranged from lewd behavior and littering to destruction of property. “Lewd behavior” usually means that young people were caught kissing…
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Unterzakhn, Part 17
Read this week’s installment of Leela Corman’s new graphic novel, “Unterzakhn,” which is being serialized in the Forward. (Or, to start at the very beginning, click here). CLICK FOR LARGER VIEW
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