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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See Dick. See Dick Kvell. Kvell, Dick, Kvell.
Yiddish With Dick and Jane By Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman Little, Brown, 112 pages, $14.95. —— The Dick and Jane primers left an indelible imprint on generations of Americans — myself among them — who first experienced reading inside their pages. Dick and his sister, Jane, epitomized the fresh-faced, immaculate and well-behaved offspring of…
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The Buddha From Brooklyn A Lama Talks About Enlightenment… With a Yiddish Twang
You think you know the story: A Jewish kid from Brooklyn, N.Y., goes off to India for several years, meditating on a mountaintop. He transforms himself into a new person, changing his name from Jeff Miller to Surya Das, abandoning his jeans for saffron robes, and now he spends all day expounding sweetly on peace…
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Lighting a Yahrzeit Candle, And Cursing the Darkness
‘Don’t forget you need to light the candle,” my mother responded when I asked her how she was planning on coping come Monday. I wanted to know what she was going to do, how she was going to spend the day. I was concerned about her — but I was also feeling completely at a…
The Latest
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Film Examines Court Jews Who Dominated Basketball
In Miami there are men whose memories burn with images of athletic glory long-relegated to private collections of black-and-white news reels — images of swooping majestic passes back and forth, baskets swishing with grace, running up and down a court of giants. These men possess the story of how Jewish Americans, most of them the…
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Numbers Game: Red Sox Win, Kerry Whiffs
George W. Bush played a hunch in the late winter of 2003. Against the advice of many intelligence, military and diplomatic experts, the president ordered the invasion of Iraq, convinced that the United States would uncover weapons of mass destruction, be welcomed by the native population and transform the country into a democracy. Seven months…
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A Confused Hanukkah
A Confused Hanukkah By Jon Koons With Illustrations by S.D. Schindler Dutton Children’s Books ——- Hanukkah is fast approaching in the Village of Chelm, a very simple town with some very simple people (“some might even call them fools”). Meanwhile, the rabbi has disappeared, and even the wise men can’t remember how to celebrate. Yossel…
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Mrs. Greenberg’s Messy Hanukkah
Mrs. Greenberg’s Messy Hanukkah By Linda Glaser With Illustrations by Nancy Cote Albert Whitman & Company —— It’s the first night of Hanukkah, but Mama tells Rachel they won’t be having company — or making latkes — until next week. No company? No latkes? Rachel can’t wait! She goes next door to Mrs. Greenberg’s house,…
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Now for the Hard Part: Teaching Morality
With a new baby girl and two toddler sons, my husband and I have very little use for alarm clocks these days. It is usually still dark outside when the boys creak open our bedroom door and tiptoe together to the foot of our bed, whispering, “I want milk please”; “Let’s build a LEGO castle,…
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It’s a Miracle! A Hanukkah Storybook
It’s a Miracle! A Hanukkah Storybook By Stephanie Spinner With Illustrations by Jill McElmurry Atheneum Books for Young Readers —— Owen Block is the OCL — official candle lighter — of his family, and Grandma Karen is the official storyteller. Each night, after the menorah is lit, she tucks him into bed and asks, “Ready…
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An Italian Fountain of Liberty
In Baedekar’s 19th-century guides to Italy, the small town of Ladispoli is described as a seaside resort with a fine beach. According to local lore, the sands were said to have a healing quality. Right in the middle of town, there was a little nondescript fountain. Thanks to a few historical twists, in the 20th…
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The Holy Fool How One Writer Conveys Spiritual Truths That Are Seriously Funny
Because I first met Eliezer Sobel on a meditation retreat, the first things I remember about him are his socks. The most important rule at such gatherings, where taking off one’s shoes is inevitable, is to bring good socks. But Sobel’s weren’t just the warm, wool socks that every retreat veteran has. They were loud,…
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