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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I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
San Wei, which serves pastrami sandwiches along with churros and biang biang noodles, represents an immigrant's fulfillment of the American dream
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Music The secret Jewish history of ABBA (holographic edition)
Fans of the greatest pop group of all time with a Hebrew name received a special treat after decades of waiting Thursday. In a livestream the band not only debuted a new song, but announced they will reunite for the first time in 40 years with a new album, “Voyage.” But that’s not all, beginning…
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In a tale of Holocaust resistance, glimpses of Anne Frank’s last days
Roxane van Iperen’s “The Sisters of Auscwhitz” revives the story of Lien and Janny Brilleslijper
The Latest
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Finally, a calendar that embraces the miraculous and circular nature of Jewish time
The past two years, the High Holidays have come late in autumn, requiring several sweaters and rain coats, especially for last year’s outdoor pandemic services. This year, Jews around the world are startled to discover that with September barely underway, we’re closing in on early Rosh Hashanah. Holidays sneak up every year, but Jewish holidays…
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Is the shofar really a musical instrument — and other horned dilemmas that are surprisingly difficult to resolve.
Qol Tamid (Eternal Voice): The Shofar in Ritual, History, and Culture. Edited by Jonathan L. Friedmann and Joel Gereboff Claremont Press, 358 pages, $27.99 Two kinds of horns mentioned in the Hebrew bible. One, a metal trumpet, is described in great detail. The description of the other, the shofar, is, shall we say, limited? Guess…
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A Black Jewish poet’s call: High Holiday atonement means reckoning with racial injustice
Last year’s High Holidays followed a summer filled with racial justice protests, as many Jewish communities reckoned with their treatment of Jews of color and broader history on issues of race. Amidst this tumult, Aaron Levy Samuels, a co-founder of the media company Blavity, began to write a new poem, titled “Forgiveness.” The poem ties…
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When Jake Tapper dated Monica Lewinsky — and wrote a gross piece about it
Will Jake Tapper be a character on “Impeachment: American Crime Story?” I don’t mean Jake Tapper the respected CNN anchor, but his former self, Jake Tapper the young Beltway reporter, who made a name for himself when he wrote a detailed dispatch from his date with Monica Lewinsky. That Tapper, whose article, published in the…
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How schmaltz, schtick and schteak are bringing back old Jewish New York
Dani Luv is getting a new gig. After 22 years in the basement digs of Sammy’s Roumanian, singing songs like “Strangers With My Wife,” the Israeli keyboard player and insult comic is taking his show to Times Square. Starting on Sept. 16th, he will perform his bawdy Yiddish-inflected act four nights a week at Bacall’s…
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The French Tucker Carlson is Jewish, xenophobic — and maybe a presidential candidate
France has lurched into its annual exodus known as la rentrée. It is the moment when the French, after a long summer at the shore or in the mountains, return to their offices and schools. Accompanying this vast population shift is la rentrée politique, when the nation’s politicians return to partisan sniping and intraparty squabbles,…
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She’s 16. She’s Jewish. She’s Gotham’s newest superhero.
Willow Zimmerman is a 16-year-old activist. When she isn’t in school or holding up a picket sign, she can be found batch-baking rugelach or splitting a Reuben with a stray Great Dane she named Lebowitz (after Fran). But Willow has a secret set of extracurriculars. She helps run an illegal poker game for one of…
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An All-American journey through Blackness, whiteness, Christianity, Judaism, slavery and freedom
Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multiracial Jewish Family By Laura Arnold Leibman Oxford University Press, 320 pages, $27.95 Race has always been an important category in American life. But its contours have never been fixed. Laws denoting who should be classified as white — or Black — have varied from state…
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Why a master of languages decided to reveal his true identity
“A Complicated Jew,” the Israeli translator and literary critic Hillel Halkin’s new essay collection, includes his thoughts on over half a century of Hebrew and Yiddish literary experience. Among Halkin’s acclaimed translations are works by Sholem Aleichem, Yosef Haim Brenner, S. Y. Agnon, Shulamith Hareven, A. B. Yehoshua, and Meir Shalev. He has also written…
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Most Popular
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
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Fast Forward Right-wing activists riot outside Israeli-Palestinian memorial event at Reform synagogue in Israel
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