Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture. Here, you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music, film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of everything and everyone from The Rolling Stones to…
Culture
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The towering Jewish critic who taught me to grok art and hate Picasso
After Max Kozloff died at 91, a New York community came together to remember and to mourn
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Why ‘Checkout’ may be the Israeli show that we need to see right now
Americans seem to have a growing obsession with shows about Haredi Jews, whether that’s “Shtisel,” “Unorthodox,” or “My Unorthodox Life,” all on Netflix. Meanwhile, Israeli shows such as “Fauda,” which delves into the violence and drama of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Mossad spies and Hamas bombs, have also been hits. But will that same interest…
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How an Arab Schindler saved Jews during the Holocaust but still eludes recognition
Ronen Steinke, a German Jewish lawyer and journalist at the Süddeutsche Zeitung, has worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. His books include a study of the political function of war crimes tribunals since 1945 and a biography of Fritz Bauer, the German Jewish judge and prosecutor instrumental in the postwar capture…
The Latest
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In the rise and fall of a Jewish politician named Mandel, a cautionary tale for Josh Mandel
Though he was Jewish, he won fame as an archly conservative nationalist; while he graduated from a state, not an elite university, he believed he was destined for high political office; though his fellow party members disliked him, they also acknowledged his determination; caught more than once in telling lies, he confused his brashness with…
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He drew Leonard Cohen’s life, death and underwear
What did Leonard Cohen see at the moment of his death? No one can say for sure. But it’s possible he was thinking about the time he found his childhood dog dead beneath a neighbor’s porch. Or his cameo on “Miami Vice.” Or his final recording session with his son, Adam. There was a lot…
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With ‘All Too Well,’ Taylor Swift stakes her claim to a time-honored Jewish tradition
In case you haven’t been paying attention to the latest celebrity gossip, pop star Taylor Swift is once again the talk of the town – this time around for re-recording her 2012 kiss-off song “All Too Well”; she has made no secret of the fact that the song was aimed at actor Jake Gyllenhaal, whom…
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How Tony Kushner changed ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Change’ itself
The Broadway musical “Caroline, or Change” is set in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1963, in the early years of the civil rights movement, in the home of a Jewish family with an 8-year-old son, Noah and a Black maid, Caroline Thibodeaux. The Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, who wrote the musical’s book…
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In the slums of Tel Aviv, a disturbing tale of Beauty meeting the Beast
Though the film “Woman Alive” may be a retread of themes we’ve seen before, it is cinematically riveting — from its imagery to most seminally, its ambience, which evokes a marginalized, nihilistic world. It marks an impressive narrative debut for its director Macabit Abramson, who is best known for her documentaries and experimental aesthetic. Jerusalem-based…
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Can anyone help Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin find their lost boys?
For 15 years, Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin have been searching for their sons. Apparently, during an apartment-move in 2006, they lost the two boys, ages 5 and 2. Well, not the real-life boys, but a painting of them that used to hang chez Grody and Patinkin. “I noticed the frame seemed slightly warped, so…
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After a house is destroyed in a fire, a Jewish artist finds a way to preserve its spirit
Driving up the hill, there was a point where you could always catch the first glimpse of the house, the pitch of the roof and the top of this one tall tree. Whenever Windy Dougall came home to visit her family, that spot in the road was when she knew she was home. “It was…
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What does the Talmud say about Larry David spilling coffee on a Klansman’s robe?
The fact that Judaism has its own vast corpus of legal arguments is of little interest to Larry David — he’s a law unto himself. But every so often his actions give way to a question of Talmudic precedent. When, for instance, Larry accidentally spilled coffee on a Klansman’s robe on Sunday’s episode and then…
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Is ‘Charm Circle’ a Jewish ‘Grey Gardens,’ or a failed therapy session?
The first thing I did after finishing “Charm Circle” was clean my room. Named for a patch of Kew Garden Hills in Queens, NY, where red brick semidetached homes form a pseudo suburb, the documentary by Nira Burstein is as intimate — and dirty — as filmmaking gets. Burstein follows her parents, Uri and Raya,…
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