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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Our Evil Imaginations
The story of the Flood is preceded and followed by unkind remarks of God on the nature of human imagination. In Genesis 6:5, at the end of last week’s portion, we are told: And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of…
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The Devil Maid Me Do It
The plot is simple, even seductively coy, but it reverberates into the year ahead. In Isaac Bashevis Singer’s only Yiddish play, “Devil’s Play,” it seems the devil is bored and is looking for a little fun with an easy victim. He settles on a remote shtetl, Frampol, where he finds a happily married older couple,…
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Your Morning Coffee, Served Just and Right
What is the most valuable item of international trade in the world today? No surprise for anyone who’s read the headlines for the past decade or two: It’s oil. But you might be surprised to discover that the second most valuable item is coffee. Oil and coffee — that’ll add a bit of perspective to…
The Latest
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Tale of Twos Marks an Activist’s Life
Richard Fisher, a senior partner at Fisher Brothers, and his mother, Emily Fisher Landau, were honored at the September 22 Top Dog Gala, which raised $800,000 for The Animal Medical Center, a state-of-the-art facility that treats more than 50,000 patients each year. To the delight of the 500 black-tie guests in the Waldorf-Astoria’s Grand Ballroom,…
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Tuning in to Sounds Of the Warsaw Ghetto
Close your eyes, and you can see it. On April 19, 1943, there were 35,000 Jews remaining in the Warsaw Ghetto. Out of these, several hundred decided to fight the Nazi army rather than meet the fate of some 465,000 of their neighbors, who died of disease or were shipped off to extermination camps. They…
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Nazi Camp as Mecca for Artists?
An hour’s train ride from the Prague station from which thousands of Jews were deported in winter 1941, in a derelict small town pierced with unreal silence, Petr Larva has a dream. He imagines visual artists from all over the world converging on his adopted town, to live and work and exhibit. He imagines a…
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In Time of War, a Call To Serve Civil Society and Country
I could not help noting the potential irony during the second presidential debate when President Bush announced emphatically that “there will be no draft.” It was oddly reminiscent of the 1988 presidential debate, when then-vice president George H. W. Bush just as emphatically assured the public: “Read my lips: no new taxes.” We all know…
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Banks Eyed In Lawsuits On Funding For Terror
Major European and American financial institutions, including Citigroup, are facing the threat of lawsuits alleging that they housed accounts used to finance terrorist activities. The lawsuits would be based on allegations that Western banks allowed their Saudi subsidiaries to funnel money to Palestinian terror groups and suicide bombers after the beginning of the intifada in…
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Knesset Vote Against Sharon Seen To Signal Coalition’s End
TEL AVIV — It was, simply judging by the history books, a milestone. For the first time in Israel’s history, the Knesset on Monday refused to give its pro forma vote of approval to the prime minister’s annual “state of the nation” speech, by which he marks the opening of the winter term of the…
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CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL
In an unprecedented effort to boost young Jewish voter turnout, a Jewish Democratic group is circulating an edgy, animated Internet video that relies on biting humor and, critics say, unfair anti-Republican stereotypes. Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, says his group commissioned the satirical cartoon, “Bubbie Versus the GOP,” in order…
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CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL
CLEVELAND — Ohio is often described as an electoral battleground where domestic policies are key. Quite suddenly, though, Israel and the Middle East have become hot topics here in the Buckeye State. Senator John Edwards and Vice President Richard Cheney took time during their debate here Tuesday to spar over Iraq and to cast their…
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News Iran’s regime is obsessed with Jeffrey Epstein
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Fast Forward Dan Bilzerian wants to ‘kill Israelis’ and thinks Judaism is ‘terrible.’ Now he’s running for Congress.
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