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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What would Paul Celan think of Zoombombing?
Pierre Joris didn’t even get a chance to speak before the swastika appeared on the Zoom. A prolific poet, essayist and translator, Joris was slated to give a virtual lecture through Princeton University on the poet Paul Celan, whose work he has studied and translated for decades. He’d prepared to discuss his two newest translations…
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Meet the 27-year-old amplifying the sounds of the Borscht Belt (and listen to his favorite Yiddish songs)
(JTA) — (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Growing up, Aaron Bendich would spend lots of time with his grandfather Max in the North Bronx, in a house “filled to the brim” with records, videotapes and CDs. Among Max’s collection were recordings of Yiddish songs and other Jewish music. Fast forward a few years…
The Latest
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June 7: “Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin” Screening and Q&A
This screening and Q&A will take place on Monday, June 7 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. RSVP here for the free event screening. Check out the trailer here. Driven by a passion for his people, former Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, dedicated his life to the survival of his country and…
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WATCH NOW: October 4: Bintel Live!
Watch the recording here. To celebrate the Forward’s iconic Bintel Brief advice column becoming a brand-new podcast, join a discussion moderated by Jodi Rudoren with the Bintel Brief podcast’s co-hosts Ginna Green and Lynn Harris and the Forward’s archivist Chana Pollack. They’ll chat about the history of the Bintel Brief and upholding its legacy, followed…
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White Boy Summer is a bad idea — but are its shirts racist?
“White Boy Summer” is one more item in a line of Chet Hanks’ bad decisions — but does it also have a racist aesthetic? Son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, the 30-year-old actor-rapper, who is the recent subject of a protective order requested by his ex-girlfriend, went on Instagram last week to announce (or…
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The secret Jewish history of Peeps
Just as ironic as the fact that “White Christmas” was written by a Jewish composer named Irving Berlin, Peeps, those famously neon-colored marshmallow Easter treats, are also produced by Jews. Based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Just Born Quality Confections has been churning out these decidedly non-kosher sugary sweets since 1953 when it purchased the Rodda Candy…
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2 generations of Germans look to the past and future of the country’s Jews
Semon Shabaev and Anja Baron were born in two different Germanys. Baron, 55, grew up in a Berlin with no visible Jewish life; filling that absence was a profound sense of guilt. Shabaev, who turns 21 in April, is a member of a thriving Jewish community and part of a generation committed to thinking beyond…
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June 9: New Approaches to Boyle Heights: A Conversation
This conversation will take place on Wednesday, June 9 at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT. RSVP here. Join Caroline Luce (UCLA Leve Center for Jewish Studies), curator of “Jewish Histories in Multiethnic Boyle Heights,” and George J. Sánchez (USC Dept. of American Studies and Ethnicity and History), author of Boyle Heights: How a…
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In ‘The Third Man,’ a disturbing and cautionary tale for American politicians
At a press briefing on Monday, Mar. 29, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control, went off script. With the growing number of states now reopening for business, she warned this would lead to a growing number of deaths. Speaking not as the CDC director, but as a wife, mother and daughter—one who,…
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Mark Bittman is calling for a revolution
Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal By Mark Bittman Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 384 pages, $28 It’s fun to pee while walking in the ocean drinking a beer; it’s psychopathic to poop while sitting in the tub counting your money. Sadly, though, we humans are now essentially engaged in that sick…
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The WeWork documentary will keep you guessing how Adam Neumann got away with it
Adam Neumann is a sweaty, frazzled, farting mess. In the opening moments of “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,” we see the coworking visionary struggling through buzzwords and business speak. He rocks on his feet and paces as he reads from a prompter. It’s hard to see how anyone might…
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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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Books How Jews shaped the Western – and how the Western shaped Jews
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