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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Film & TV Scarlett Johansson’s new baby is named Cosmo… like Kramer
Some people enter the world with a spasm of life, commanding attention as they jerk their way into existence. Kinda like how Kramer bursts into a room, only probably with more medical equipment and less studio audience applause. On Wednesday, a baby boy made one such entrance — at least if his name, like Moses…
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How this Broadway star brings her Jewishness to the Wicked Witch of the West
Talia Suskauer first stepped onto the stage at her synagogue’s preschool as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” Now, she’s starring as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the national tour of the musical “Wicked.” After making her Broadway debut as an understudy in the musical “Be More Chill,” Suskauer, then 23, joined…
The Latest
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Facebook has a new prayer feature. But is it made for Jews?
After her daughter was killed in a drive-by shooting earlier this year and her son began using drugs to cope with the pain, one mother was overwhelmed. Unsure what to do or how to help, she posted about it on Wednesday in “PRAYER WARRIORS,” a Christian Facebook group with over 827 thousand members, requesting prayers…
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Can this astonishing poem hold the key to Israeli-Palestinian dialogue?
History has taught us that Zionism and Palestinian nationalism are mutually exclusive. Therefore, Zionists and Palestinians have never been, and could not have been, engaged seriously in joint political reconstruction. Moreover, violence has been the real master of their mutual relations. Palestinians cannot forgive Zionists for the original sin, the Nakba, and its continuous and…
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Can a visionary Jewish philosopher help us make sense of the chaos in Afghanistan?
As scenes of turmoil and terror in Kabul unfold on our screens, our politicians and pundits are in hot pursuit of those responsible for this nightmare. There is, remarkably enough, something of a consensus when it comes to an answer: President Joseph Biden. These critics may be right, but as the work of a Jewish…
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In Facebook’s first documentary, a self-taught photography expert becomes an unlikely 9/11 hero
Even before it opened its doors in 2014, the 9/11 Museum at Ground Zero was awash in controversies, not least its designated mission: Was it supposed to be a memorial or a “living exhibition” — and what does “living exhibition” even mean? Now as we approach the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, “The Outsider,”…
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The world’s most famous lox slicer faces life as a celebrity
“You’re the guy that slices lox!” she screamed as I passed her on my way to the garage after a day’s work at Zabar’s. She was very excited. “Did you see it?” she asked. “See what?” I said. “You’re on my phone; come here and I’ll show you.” Earlier that day, shortly after I arrived…
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‘A lot of Black artists feel that burden — the atypical ascent of choreographer Claudia Schreier’
In the late afternoon and evening light of August, two solo hikers meet by a yellow steel structure in a grassy field. Their faces are obscured behind masks etched with anxiety as they navigate a world inhospitable to Black bodies like theirs. When they happen upon each other, their masks come off as they find…
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How tales of Jewish resistance inspire a 21st Century Nazi hunter
“The madness of the brave moves the world forward,” Chaika Grossman said when she was fighting Nazis in the Polish ghettos. She had a ticket out of Poland in 1938 but chose to stay behind and lead the resistance in her hometown of Bialystok. The Nazis entered the city and punished it at the height…
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Former Folksbiene CEO quits 6-figure job after résumé-padding investigation
The former CEO of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, who was recently found to have padded his résumé with fake jobs and professional honors, is resigning from his post at the University of Utah’s Pioneer Theatre Company, citing mental illness. “Despite many good things that have happened over the last two years under my direction,…
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100 years of baseball on radio, a century of Jewish announcers
This month marks the centennial of the first live radio broadcast of a Major League Baseball game. Which provides as good excuse as any to examine the tragicomic lore of a century of Jewish baseball announcers. Setting a precedent was Albert Stark, an umpire-turned-announcer in the 1930s who was nicknamed Dolly, because a player who…
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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 Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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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.
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion The secret cost of Israel’s wars ravaged my family. It’s only getting worse
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Yiddish מחשבֿות פֿון אַן אַהיים־געקומענעם (אַ מלחמה־טאָגגבוך)Reflections of a soldier after returning home (a wartime diary)
דער מחבר איז אַ סטודענט אינעם ירושלימער העברעיִשן אוניווערסיטעט, אינעם צווייטן יאָר ייִדיש־לימוד
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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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News At Harvard, reports on antisemitism and anti-Palestinian bias reflect campus conflict over Israel
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