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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Timeless anthems, Hanukkah lyrics and Yiddish illustrations — Woody Guthrie contained multitudes
Just about everyone can sing a verse or two of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” a folk ballad so popular that it can almost double as an American hymn. But did you know that Guthrie also wrote Hanukkah lyrics, sketched illustrations for Yiddish poems, drew a colorful birth announcement of his son Arlo…
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The 33 greatest Jewish pop songs of all time (that we left off our list)
Much as we expected when we published “The 150 greatest Jewish pop songs of all time” on January 31, 2022, readers responded with their likes, dislikes, and suggestions for songs that did not make the list. Attendees at the Zoom event we hosted about the list offered their opinions, and at our invitation, readers sent…
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Nominated for 13 Oscars, she hasn’t won one yet — that’s a record
Diane Warren is the Susan Lucci of the Oscars
The Latest
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With Jewish practice being constantly updated, it’s about time for Judaica to catch up
For a religion that has never been static, Judaism has been utilizing many of the same outdated, unchanging ritual objects for what seems like eternity. Judaica has never kept pace with Judaism’s ever-evolving rituals and beliefs, and that’s precisely what Montreal-based potter Sarah Dolin is determined to change. Dolin creates updated, progressive Jewish ritual objects…
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Adrift after a biblical catastrophe, trying to survive a flood of a different sort
Clean Air By Sarah Blake Algonquin Books, 320pp, $26.95 Sarah Blake’s new novel “Clean Air” is set in a near future with just a hint of the supernatural. It’s a decade after “The Turning” when the trees shed so much pollen into the air that the atmosphere became unbreathable for humans. The trees have, ironically,…
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Rallying behind Mila Kunis, Jews in entertainment raise millions for Ukraine
A Ukraine fundraiser launched by Ukrainian-American Jewish actor Mila Kunis has racked up $17 million in donations in four days — and some of the biggest Jewish names in the entertainment industry are atop the donor list. Since Kunis and her husband, her “That ‘70s Show” co-star Ashton Kutcher, launched the GoFundMe page — vowing…
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Kyiv or Kiev? Zelensky or Zelenskyy? For Ukraine, spelling is a political act
As tanks advance and homes burn while the Russian invasion of Ukraine intensifies, the spelling of place names may seem like a minor concern. But spelling — and the English transliteration of it — can have tremendous political significance. Spelling can also indicate how credible a news source is, and it can clarify which side…
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Books In new book, former AG Bill Barr praises Jared Kushner’s knack for navigating Trump chaos
Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, said early in the 2020 presidential race that Trump’s erratic and contentious behavior would lead to defeat, former Attorney General Bill Barr writes in his memoir, to be released Tuesday. “As they say, there is only one man who can beat Donald Trump and his…
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Books What happens when a New York kvetcher meets modern-day kitsch?
It is hard to imagine Rabbi Akiva eating lime Jell-O, Maimonides living in a trailer park, or Martin Buber twirling a baton. These are all, according to the famous mid-century comedian Lenny Bruce, quintessentially goyish activities. I.B. Singer is more likely to have slathered his cream cheese on pumpernickel than white bread. Bruce defined Jewishness…
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Why Peter Bogdanovich’s overlooked masterpiece still matters (and so does the rest of his career)
In 1961, Peter Bogdanovich convinced the film curators at the Museum of Modern Art that they should a) organize an Orson Welles retrospective, and b) let him write the accompanying monograph. These were no small achievements, since a) there had never been an Orson Welles retrospective in the United States and b) Peter Bogdanovich was…
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Can a Christian theater company put on a good Purim spiel?
I learned about "Queen Esther" from a TV ad. How could I resist going?
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