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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Reminders of the Lost Ark
Jonathan, a member of Temple Har Zion’s New Building Committee, has accepted the assignment of developing a design approach for its new ark. Jonathan figures that he might as well start at the beginning and be as authentic as possible, so he types “ark of the covenant” into his computer’s Internet search engine. He is…
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Focus on HBO
Next week, one of television’s most acclaimed series returns for its final season. In its success, “The Sopranos” has joined a family of contemporary American icons, all presented by one channel: Home Box Office. In fact, when veteran journalist Michael Kinsley went looking for America’s Jane Austen —“Where in America is the essence of our…
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What Makes Ari Run
Ari Gold, the smarmy 10-percenter who pulls the strings of HBO’s Hollywood send-up “Entourage,” has it all: degrees from Harvard and Michigan Law, a former-actress wife, a $3 million house in one of the hillier enclaves of West Los Angeles, a full head of hair and a conveniently malleable sense of ethics. He is the…
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The Couch Becomes Him
If leaders are measured by how they treat their Jews, then Tony Soprano qualifies as a world-class statesman. Of course, “The Sopranos” features its share of corrupt Jews — ultra-Orthodox and secular — as well as several marginally antisemitic wiseguys. Yet Tony has evinced a decidedly philosemitic streak — one that might, in fact, explain…
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A Jew and a Lawyer Are Sitting in a Bar…
Watching “The Wire,” HBO’s serial drama about the gritty underbelly of the Baltimore streets, one sometimes gets the impression of honest men and women trapped in a hopeless machine of corruption, violence and despair. Many of the show’s most likable characters are killed off, while those who remain have a world-weary look in their eyes….
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Life Among the Goyim
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is edited by everyone who wants to make an entry in it, can be outrageously wrong, but it is often surprisingly reliable. If you look up Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator and star of “Da Ali G Show,” you will find him categorized under “English comedians” and “Jewish comedy.” Baron…
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Curb Your Judaism
True, Larry David doesn’t much like whitefish. True, he makes fun of the Orthodox and — yes — he made far too public two dark, shameful secrets of Judaism: that we sell tickets for High Holy Day services and that Gina Gershon is one of us. But don’t be fooled. It’d be easy to dismiss…
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Seeing Double in Deadwood
The HBO drama “Deadwood” chronicles its namesake: the historic gold-rush town of 1877, legendary for its alleged frontier lawlessness and for such infamous characters as “Wild Bill” Hickok and Calamity Jane. A rarity among Westerns, “Deadwood” depicts the gold rush’s multiracial and multiethnic community, including a tip of the hat to the “pioneering” Jews of…
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Stereotypes and the City
Describing someone as “New York,” Nora Ephron once observed, is really just a euphemism for Jewish, and since “Sex and the City” epitomized New York, one could easily understand why Darren Star, the show’s creator, has said he considers the denizens of his hit show — particularly Carrie Bradshaw, the main character, played by Sarah…
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German Director Performs Penance Through Film
In the 1940s, German director Marc Rothemund’s grandmother pledged her allegiance to Hitler and to Nazi Germany. Sixty years later, in what might be seen as an act of penance, Rothemund is offering audiences the story of a German girl who took a very different path from the director’s own ancestor. And recognition has come…
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Looking Back February 24, 2006
100 YEARS AGO IN THE FORWARD The Hasidic Rebbe of Kopists, near the city of Mohilev, is known throughout the region for his wise ways — and not only among Jews. It is well known that nearby nobles as well as peasants often seek out the rebbe for his sage advice. Therefore, local gendarmes and…
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