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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The Forward’s 2021 Oscars Quiz
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Remembering Julian Koenig, the Jewish Ad Man Who Created Beetle-Mania
Editor’s Note: A version of this article was originally published in the Forward on June 14, 2014.. The renowned advertising copywriter Julian Koenig, who died at age 93 on June 12, 2014, baffled the 1960s hucksters on the hit TV series “Mad Men.” In the show’s first season, the fictional admen are puzzled by Koenig’s…
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Is it just me, or are the same actors in every Israeli show?
If you like to binge Israeli television or movies, you may have experienced a blurring phenomenon — not just because that’s a natural side effect of binge watching, but because all the characters look remarkably similar. In many cases, they are; it often feels like Israel has only a handful of actors. Israel is a…
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Walter Mondale’s keen understanding of Jewish history
Walter Mondale, who died April 19 at age 93, was celebrated for his contributions to The Camp David Accords, political agreements signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1978. At the time, Mondale, previously a longtime senator from Minnesota, was serving as US vice president during the presidency of…
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RIP to Jim Steinman, a wonderful, vampire-obsessed songwriter
Jim Steinman was the best kind of weird. The Grammy-winning songwriter, known for his epic rock compositions for Meat Loaf, Celine Dion and Bonnie Tyler, died Monday at the age of 73, TMZ was first to report. Steinman’s songs were unmistakable in their bravura, musical theater influence and vampiric subtext. Yes. “Total Eclipse of the…
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Police brutality is real and deadly — I saw it up close
JULY 1980 It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was carrying my sax as I headed for an audition at a theater company on the South Side of Chicago. I figured if I got off the el at 35th Street, I’d be just a few blocks from my Indiana Avenue destination. I was in a…
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Activist, Professor, Politician, Aesthete — the many contradictions of Edward Said
You could read any of Edward Said’s books, but you couldn’t take them home with you. Looking back, this was obviously a metaphor for something or other. At the time it seemed like a simple-enough fact—but then, I was only a freshman. The Edward Said Reading Room opened in the spring of 2011, eight years…
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How I became the Yankees’ Jewish star (and made friends with Thurman Munson along the way)
This essay has been excerpted from “The Captain & Me: On and Off The Field with Thurman Munson” by Ron Blomberg with Dan Epstein and is printed with the permission of Triumph Books.. I was lucky to get drafted when I did. If the Yankees hadn’t been so bad in 1966, they wouldn’t have had…
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Behind Tucker Carlson’s white replacement rhetoric, a frightening antisemitic history
Replacement theory is inextricably tied to a hatred of Jews.
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Is the Israeli soccer team cursed?
The Israeli national soccer team is over 70 years old, but has caused everybody a lot of aggravation – especially over the past 50 years. The current aggravation is the topic of “Common Goal,”a fascinating documentary by Shuki Guzik that had its U.S. premiere at the Other Israel Film Festival in 2020 and which came…
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Christians are enraged by this music video. Why aren’t Jews upset too?
Lil Nas X is an expert at generating controversy. His latest music video, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” features him twirling down to Hell on a stripper pole and giving Satan a lapdance before snapping his neck and stealing his crown. For an extra bump of publicity, he also launched 666 retrofitted Nike sneakers,…
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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 School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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News Why Zohran Mamdani believes he’ll win over Jewish voters, as Israel critic surges to second behind Cuomo in NYC mayoral race
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Fast Forward Campus encampments return one year later, and pro-Palestinian protests spark 15 arrests
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Fast Forward Israeli left-wing group suspended at University of Haifa after protesting the war in Gaza
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Fast Forward Jordanian national in Florida sentenced to 6 years for targeting businesses he believed supported Israel
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Fast Forward A ‘Golden Dome for America,’ inspired by Israel, is part of Trump’s 2026 budget request
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