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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Ed Asner’s very righteous (and very Jewish) journey
The American actor Ed Asner, who died on Aug. 29 at age 91, showed that Jewish identity can mean defending a range of minority groups, not just fellow Jews. Asner had little opportunity to express this viewpoint as the editor Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” a character he described to Jewish journalist…
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How a Jewish photographer found his true calling in Chinatown
The life’s-work of the bespectacled, bow-tie wearing photojournalist Emile Bocian might have been lost forever if not for the foresight of actress Mae Wong. After Bocian died in 1990, Wong, his close friend, discovered over 120,000 photographs, negatives and contact sheets stuffed into cigarette and shoeboxes in his apartment. Knowing he had no children, and…
The Latest
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Why playing baseball on Yom Kippur matters
Yom Kippur has many particularities — repeating “Kol Nidre” three times; Leonard Cohen’s take on “Una Taneh Tokef”; bagels for breakfast. A fourth feature — more cultural, perhaps, but a Jewish practice — is wondering whether Jewish major leaguers will play on the Holy Day and how they will do. In 2019, Tablet’s Armin Rosen…
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Remembering a visit with the late Ed Asner, star of ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ and ‘Lou Grant’
Editor’s Note: Ed Asner, who starred in ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and ‘Lou Grant’ died Sunday at age 91. Today, we look back on a 2012 interview with Simi Horwitz in which he spoke about Judaism, journalism and his final wishes. Ed Asner was seated in a makeshift living room in a large, garishly…
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Here’s one big reason why online antisemitism and extremism are so hard to stop
TikTok is no stranger to antisemitic trends, from teens pretending to be Holocaust victims arriving at the gates of heaven to videos of face-distorting filters set to “Hava Nagila.” Some comments on posts by or about Jews make light of the Holocaust or say that Hitler “missed one.” But antisemitism is only one form of…
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November 15: Antisemitism in America: Stories from the front lines
This conversation will take place on Monday, November 15 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Register here. We’re excited to partner with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan for an investigation into the roots and manifestations of antisemitism in America. When antisemitism is on the rise, who are the most vulnerable targets? The “visibly…
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Film & TV I built the ‘Seinfeld’ apartment from Lego — it nearly broke me
I grew up in a house with a framed cocktail napkin signed by Jerry Seinfeld and every episode of his sitcom taped on VHS. All this is to say that I have a long history of welcoming the man into my home and am pretty familiar with the layout of the “Seinfeld” apartment. That said,…
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Will Spike Lee’s 9/11 series feature a conspiracy theorist who welcomes antisemitic canards?
Spike Lee’s searching curiosity makes him one of our best and most eclectic filmmakers. But sometimes he may be asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. As Jeremy Stahl reported Tuesday in Slate, in an advanced cut of the final episode of Lee’s new documentary miniseries on HBO, “NYC Epicenters 9/11–2021½,” the director devoted…
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In Thailand, a rich and complicated Jewish history
Thailand is usually mentioned in world media in terms of Jews when local students or rock performers use Nazi imagery frivolously, unaware of its meaning. Apologies are then duly rendered to the Embassy of Israel in Thailand, which are graciously accepted by the ambassador, and everyone moves on, although the major focus of Thai national…
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Music That time my dad, Leonard Bernstein, introduced us to The Beatles
Editor’s Note: Today, Aug. 25, 2021, would have been Leonard Bernstein’s 103rd birthday. In honor of that auspicious date, we are revisiting this excerpt from his daughter Jamie’s memoir. The following is an excerpt from “Famous Father Girl,” by Jamie Bernstein. Copyright © 2018 by Jamie Bernstein. Reprinted courtesy of Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins…
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It was the best of Streisand, it was the worst of Streisand
The idea of “outtakes” — songs recorded by an artist during sessions for an album, but which for whatever reason don’t make the final running order — has fascinated me ever since I dropped 15 bucks on “Still On the Edge,” a bootleg collection of Bruce Springsteen demos and studio outtakes, back in the early…
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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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