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 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…
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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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Monumental Epic ‘Soldiers’ Into N.Y.: ‘Die Soldaten’ To Be Staged at Armory
This summer, from July 5 to July 12, the Festival at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will present a massive production of the strident, atonal German opera “Die Soldaten” (“The Soldiers”) by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970). This work, composed from 1957 to 1964, is so vast that it will be performed in Manhattan’s Park…
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Playing Jewish Geography With Julius Shulman
Julius Shulman is arguably the greatest architectural photographer of all time. His 77 years as a professional photographer coincided with the rise of Modernism in Los Angeles and its transformation from city to megalopolis — a coincidence that enabled Shulman to create an unparalleled visual chronicle of Los Angeles in the 20th century. He became…
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