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
-
‘Yekl’ at 108: Rereading a Classic With the Children of Immigrants
Why should a somewhat stiff novella about Jewish immigrants in 1896 hold an American audience today? It shouldn’t, and if Congress had not reopened the Golden Door in 1965, ushering in the second great immigration of the 20th century, Abraham Cahan’s “Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto” might now be gathering dust on…
-
Deep Roots, Far-flung Branches
This month, CLAL-The National Center for Learning and Leadership will publish a tribute book to coincide with its 30th -anniversary dinner. The tribute book will feature the work of Moico Yaker, a Peruvian-born artist who currently splits his time between Lima and New York. “Moico shatters the false divide between Jewish and human, bridging the…
-
The ‘Kosher Bachelor’ Finds Fun at Food Fest
When I first approached Shuli Madmone’s table at Kosherfest, he took one look at my press badge and said, “Have I got a story for you.” Madmone is a second-generation spice retailer whose parents had a retail operation in Israel. His company, WholeSpice.com, sells whole and freshly ground spices with a slightly up-market bent. But…
The Latest
-
Who Is a Jewish Traitor?
In this politically heated season, some Jews are eager to label others Jews, including political leaders, as traitors; many more refuse to think in these terms altogether, finding the entire exercise distasteful. But we can’t afford either this rush to judgment or such easy dismissal of the challenge. Traitors endanger the core commitments by which…
-
An American Journalist’s Hasidic Tale
The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser By Warren Kozak HarperCollins, 200 pages, $24.95. * * *| Since the era of the Baal Shem Tov and the first Hasidic leaders, one of the primary attractions of Hasidism as a movement has been the Hasidic story. A little shaggy-dog — a bit…
-
Beef Goy Ish Ah Kupp, And Other Gems
Just the other day, I picked up a copy of a cookbook that I had not seen since I was a child; back then, it occupied pride of place in my mother’s kitchen. As I held “The Chinese-Kosher Cookbook” in my hand and made my way through its recipes for Pineapple Chicken Fay Gel Lah…
-
Waters of Contention
Not long ago, I would have told you that the odds of my ever visiting a mikveh were approximately the same as those of George Bush tongue-kissing Dick Cheney. The mikveh always was an aspect of traditional Judaism I was uncomfortable with. I understand that my perspective isn’t shared by all women, and to those…
-
NOVEL JEWS
“Novel Jews” is a downtown reading series in New York that presents provocative and enlightening fiction and literary nonfiction by both today’s literary superstars and the emerging voices of tomorrow. The reading is co-sponsored by The Sol Goldman 14th Street Y, the JCC in Manhattan and the Forward. WHEN: Wednesday, November 10, 7 p.m. –…
-
Spiritual Hunger Artists
Joy Comes in the Morning By Jonathan Rosen Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 400 pages, $25. —— Jonathan Rosen came to wide public attention, first as the editor (for some 10 years) of this newspaper’s highly regarded Arts & Letters section, and then as the author of “Eve’s Apple” (Random House Inc., l997), an impressive debut…
-
Bridging a Rift Between Israelis and Americans
Outside a velvet rope on a recent fall evening last month, three dark-haired men tossed their cigarettes, passed a security check and queued up to pay a cover charge. They were chatting in Hebrew about a hot new software program as they entered the club, where a celebrity D.J. dubbed “Van Jee” was spinning tunes…
-
A Jewish Doctor Who Put Nazis on the Couch
In 1946, Dr. Leon Goldensohn, a Jewish psychiatrist from Newark, N.J., spent six months conducting lengthy interviews with dozens of Nazis during the Nuremberg trials. Unfortunately, he died before he could write a book about the experience. But now, nearly 60 years after the trials, thanks to his brother, Goldensohn’s copious and detailed notes are…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point
- 2
Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
- 3
News They texted about Torah and mitzvahs. Feds say they were insider trading
- 4
Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump national Shabbat divides America’s Jews ahead of National Mall prayer rally
-
Fast Forward Talarico won’t campaign with Democratic House candidate who wants to open ‘a prison for American Zionists’
-
Fast Forward Cornell trustees back Jewish president after confrontation with pro-Palestinian protesters
-
Fast Forward Jewish Rep. Steve Cohen will not run for reelection after Tennessee GOP redraws his district