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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When 250 Orthodox Jewish immigrants worked as extras for Cecil B. DeMille
Editor’s Note: On the occasion of Cecil B. DeMille’s 140th birthday, we’re revisiting this article from 2019. Among the thousands of extras Cecil B. DeMille hired for his original, silent version of “The Ten Commandments” were 250 Orthodox Jewish immigrants, newly arrived in Los Angeles from Eastern Europe The director hoped that they would lend…
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Oops! A Fox anchor said Karl Marx wrote ‘Mein Kampf’
There are moments in literary history that shape the world. Around 1445 B.C.E. unnamed sources composed the first books of the Bible. In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg perfected his printing press. Thomas Paine publishes “Common Sense” in 1776. And in 1848, Karl Marx wrote “Mein Kampf” — at least that’s what one Fox anchor said. On…
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In maskless Texas, a famed Jewish math whiz’s theories are playing out in real time — and it’s frightening to behold
Future historians of Texas might well puzzle over events now unfolding in our state. The fourth wave of the pandemic, whipped into a frenzy by the Delta variant, has crashed over Texans, filling emergency room beds and overwhelming medical personnel. Some hospitals, out of space, are transporting patients to others. Breakthrough cases among already vaccinated…
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Her Holocaust survival story was like something out of a Netflix movie — maybe too much so
Misha Defonseca had a secret. As she stood before the synagogue at Temple Beth Torah in Holliston, Massachusetts, she harbored a tale so remarkable that it would eventually catapult her to international notoriety. After a half century of silence, Misha began to share her story of escaping Nazi-occupied Belgium during the Holocaust. Her fellow congregants…
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We need to keep talking about the Sbarro bombing
Twenty years ago this week, I watched a bride have her wedding pictures taken along the water in Jaffa. As the photographer clicked and clicked, the radio blared from a nearby car with the doors open. I will always remember that white car, the two front doors open, the news of the Sbarro bombing, the…
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The Marx Brothers movie that matters right now
It’s August 14, 1971. “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” by the Bee Gees is enjoying its second of four straight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, “Klute” is the number one film at the U.S. box office, and tonight St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson will hurl the first and only no-hitter of…
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Why retire? Catching up with the most-watched Jew in television history
This isn’t a trick question. Who is the Jewish TV star who hosted the longest-running variety show in television history, airing for more than 50 years and watched by as many as 100 million viewers worldwide? If you answered Don Francisco, host of Univision’s “Sabado Gigante,” which signed off in 2015 after 53 years and…
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Why this was the right Jewish month for Cuomo to resign
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 20-minute statement, announcing his resignation following allegations of sexual harassment, vacillated between apologies, in which he reiterated that he was taking responsibility for his actions, and statements insisting he had “never crossed the line with anyone.” Addressing the people of New York. Watch LIVE: https://t.co/0DOItVsW23 — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August…
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A New Jersey tale of two Alfred Doblins — and one umlaut
Editor’s Note: Alfred Döblin, the Weimar-era author of ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz,’ was born on this day in 1878. To honor this occasion, we revisit this award-winning story about the writer’s connection to another Alfred Doblin. I was dozing in front of the TV when I lifted one eyelid to see Rachel Maddow interviewing a man with…
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Scrap the sermon? In the pandemic rabbis decide less is more
A time to learn, a time to feel, a time to snooze: the rabbi’s sermon. For centuries it has given Saturday morning prayer services their character and depth — and their length. But last summer, when Orthodox synagogues across the United States held abridged outdoor services to limit the spread of COVID-19, the sermon —…
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The ‘Fauda’ follow-up is a messy mystery that will probably be a runaway hit
“Who would you, Lior Raz, like to have as your love interest in our new series?” Avi Issacharoff, the co-creator of “Hit & Run,” probably asked one day early on in the show’s development. Raz’s response, one imagines, was probably: “A member of the Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv. And make her considerably younger….
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