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Culture

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…

January 10, 2003

100 YEARS AGO • The Jews of Fez, Morocco, have been driven into a ghetto for their own protection at the behest of the city government. Apparently Muslim fanatics have been threatening the Jewish community, and the government fears that they will attack the Jews. Measures have also been taken to protect other infidel groups,…

2 min read
January 3, 2003

100 YEARS AGO • Kosher Jews have been busted with treyf schnapps. The police suspected that somewhere on Jerome Street in Brooklyn there was an illegal bootlegging operation, but were unable to find it. That is, until they discovered a barrel-laden wagon pulling out of No. 472. After stopping the wagon and arresting its drivers,…

Jan 3, 2003 | 2 min read
Mapping the Contours of a ‘New Tanakh’

The Modern Jewish Canon By Ruth Wisse Free Press, 395 pages, $28. In the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, the Yiddish writer Melekh Ravitch ignited a heated controversy in Jewish intellectual circles by calling for the redaction of a secular Jewish canon that he dubbed “a new Tanakh.” He proposed the creation of an authoritative…

By Allan Nadler Dec 15, 2000 | 6 min read

The Latest

From Yiddish to British

Writes David Chanoff of Marlboro, Mass.: “You probably know of James Kelman, the Booker Prize winner who writes in Glaswegian dialect. In his book of stories, ‘The Good Times,’ there occurs the line of dialogue, ‘Heh, I was hearing about Smiddy’s funeral, some kind of schemozzle.’” And Mr. Chanoff adds: “Meaning, apparently, something like ‘a…

By Philologos Sep 30, 2000 | 3 min read

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