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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September 5, 2008
100 Years Ago in the forward A dispatch from Jerusalem indicates that much of the Ottoman-ruled Middle East is thrilled with the new revolution in Constantinople. In Beirut, for example, the city was lit up for three days as the residents partied. But the news was slower to get to Palestine, and the reaction was…
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As Olympics Near Their Close, Life in Beijing Goes On
Looking up at the sky tonight, I could see stars glittering. When I mentioned this to my neighbor, she remarked that the government must be thrilled, because stars are visible above Beijing about as often as the Olympics come to town. I told her that the local Chabad rabbi would probably appreciate the great weather,…
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Beijing’s Bagels Taste Like Brooklyn’s
It’s been two weeks since the Olympics began, and Westerners here are getting rather fed up with noodles, dumplings and rice. Even the bread here can taste strange. For Jews, or anyone who has tasted a freshly baked New York bagel, the rumors of a bagel shop in Beijing circulated around hotel lobbies, tour buses…
The Latest
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For Author, Memoir Sparks New Conversation
Depending on how you look at it, Masha Gessen’s “Blood Matters” (Harcourt) is either an unusually philosophical memoir of a cancer diagnosis or an unusually personal account of the complex ethical questions surrounding the issue of genetic testing. What do we want to know, and what don’t we want to know, about our own fates?…
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Methuselah’s Children
‘It’s important to be calm, not to get excited. It’s not good for the heart,” centenarian Fred Feuerberg said. “And I never ate much. I never overate.” Feuerberg, who turned 100 in May, was sitting in his spacious apartment in Fort Lee, N.J., explaining what has allowed him to reach such a ripe old age…
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Milder Canavan Strain Opens New Possibilities
When Carly White was an infant, her parents, Jim and Dolores, noticed that she had trouble controlling the movement of her eyes. Three years later, a ballet teacher observed that Carly did not have much control over her legs. Trips to the pediatrician yielded no answers, but a visit to a neurologist ended in a…
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Bearing Jacob’s Ladder, Author Climbs the Double Helix
Jacob’s Legacy: A Genetic View of Jewish History By David B. Goldstein Yale University Press, 176 pages, $26. News articles in recent years have brought a steady stream of revelations about genetic studies of Jewish ancestry. The new data indicate that Kohanim (the “priests” among the Jews) are largely descended from a single ancient ancestor;…
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Web Site Gives Golf Fans the Chance To Caddy for Charity
Last March, after placing a successful bid on the Web site caddyforacure.com, golf lover Jon Huzarsky, a senior vice president of a Manhattan investment bank, was able to spend a day caddying for professional golfer Steve Stricker at the World Golf Championships. The caddying opportunity, which Huzarsky heard about from a friend, was “by far,…
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Documentary Offers New Breast Cancer Treatment: Sensitivity
Joanna Rudnick’s poignant new documentary, “In the Family,” opens to soft, sad music and an unlikely story. Joanna, a dark-haired young woman with expressive eyes, is laughing somewhat nervously as she confides in her boyfriend, Jimmy. “I wasn’t exactly going to tell you I had a genetic mutation and I’m making a film about it…
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Doctors Look To Raise Tay-Sachs Awareness Among Louisiana’s Cajuns
Tay-Sachs disease has been significantly curbed in the Ashkenazic Jewish community, thanks to increased awareness and a comprehensive screening process — which is especially popular in Hasidic communities. The same cannot be said for the Cajun community in Louisiana, which also suffers from a high disposition to Tay-Sachs; the community is not fully aware of…
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September Named Tay-Sachs Awareness Month
The Senate this July voted unanimously to name September National Tay-Sach’s Awareness Month. The resolution was introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and co-sponsored by Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. At this point, Tay-Sachs, a hereditary degenerative neurological disease, has no cure. The National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association, Inc., the oldest genetic disease…
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News A Jewish nonprofit was training men to prevent sexual abuse. Then the funding disappeared