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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The Great British Bake Off finally got Jewish food (sort of) right
“The Great British Bake Off” is the most comforting television around; it was my balm in the early pandemic lockdown. Crisp accents, bad British humor, the low-stakes drama of cakes coming out stodgy or tarts ending up with soggy bottoms — nothing more calming. Except when the show takes on Jewish foods. Last year, the…
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No, David Zucker, you couldn’t make ‘Airplane!’ today — but why would you want to?
In a lengthy essay published in the New York Post, we learn that filmmaker David Zucker was recently asked an inane question at an anniversary screening of his 1980 film “Airplane!” “Could you make ‘Airplane!’ today?” an audience member asked. Zucker’s response was, “Of course, we could. Just without the jokes.” Really? Is there a…
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New, bizarre (and sometimes gross) ‘Data’ about the Jewishness of ‘Star Trek’
Fan Fiction A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events By Brent Spiner St. Martin’s Press, 256page, $27.99 What is it with “Star Trek and the Jews?” Leonard Nimoy imbued Mr. Spock with Jewishness from his Orthodox upbringing and William Shatner went to Jewish summer camp. Some people, wrongly, think that Gene Roddenberry, creator of “Star Trek,”…
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In 1961, a shameful moment when the horrors of WWII seemed to be returning
This past weekend, Paris marked the 60th anniversary of one of the darkest moments in its recent history — a terrible moment that reminds both French Muslims and French Jews of their fragile place in France. On the evening of October 17, 1961, more than 20,000 Algerian immigrants boarded suburban trains and buses to meet…
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The stories behind the art on my (and your) walls
From my desk, I can see a cloudy blue sky. Below it, the Catskills in autumn — lavender mountains and an empty stretch of road beside the water. Lower down, a spoonbill contemplates the water below him. Maybe he’s looking for a fish. Some distance away, unfazed by the incongruous presence of autumn mountains and winter…
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Why this boxing champ’s jacket says “Remember the Masada”
If you’re Jewish, and you can swing a bat or throw a punch, you’re the Hebrew Hammer. That’s how it works. So it follows that Cletus Seldin, a pro boxer straight out of Long Island who wears a Star of David on his trunks, is the Hebrew Hammer. That’s how it works. “I love it,”…
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The likely MLB Manager of the Year has Hebrew written all over him — literally
Update: The Dodgers beat the Giants Thursday night to take the National League Divisional Series. The manager of the San Francisco Giants wants the world to know he’s Jewish. He has a Star of David tattoo on one leg and a “Never Again” tattoo on the other. He once signed a contract for $1,000,018 —…
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Art After the horrors of the Nazi invasion, a darkly gorgeous fairy tale emerges
The Polish artist Erna Rosenstein (1913-2004) often called herself a fairy or a witch. In letters to a friend, she would sign off as “Fairy Rosenstein.” Rosenstein had a long-running interest in fairy tales and wrote and illustrated her own, like the charmingly surreal, surreally charming “Tiny Tale of Snail and All His Friends.” And…
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They were the most important band of the 80s — even if they broke up a decade before
When I think of the 1980s, I think of The Velvet Underground. Sure, the band itself had ceased to exist in any meaningful way back in August 1970, when Lou Reed walked out and went home to Long Island following a legendary stand at Max’s Kansas City. And sure, there was little to no evidence…
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Why you never really saw the Velvet Underground — even if you think you did
I doubt I’m the only one who secretly loves it when a movie begins with a seizure warning. Fine, maybe I am, but hear me out. Most movies lack a single striking image. Visually overwhelming cinema, the kind you feel in your whole body and not just your head, is a rare thing. So when…
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Books ‘A hypocrite’: Israelis in publishing say Sally Rooney is turning her back on Hebrew readers
Like many Israelis, Shelley Goldman, a retired book and newspaper editor from Tel Aviv, was shocked when Irish author Sally Rooney said she will not sell the Hebrew-language rights to her latest book to a publishing house that doesn’t abide by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s guidelines. Rooney said in a statement Tuesday that…
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