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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Three Zabar’s dreams, one American nightmare, and other dispatches from more than nine decades on earth
Now that I’ve lived more than 90 years, at times I wonder what it would be like to be 100, or if I would want to live to be 100. I guess it would depend on what quality of life would accompany that age. Olivia De Havilland, the actress, lived to 104 and Kirk Douglas…
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Musician Yoke Lore thrives as a pandemic hermit. Here’s what he’s gotten done
The last real concert I attended, before the pandemic hit, was at the Sinclair in Cambridge. I was seeing a band called Yoke Lore — really just one guy, who plays electronic-inflected, danceable banjo music. I’d just gotten into the band, and was listening to a few songs on repeat, but I didn’t know much…
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Israeli Eurovision contestant Eden Alene doesn’t have time for pandemic hobbies
I began the interview with a question I ask almost everybody these days: “Do you have a pandemic hobby?” Eden Alene looked at me, politely confused. “What is a pandemic hobby?” “You know,” I said, thinking of all my failed sourdough starters. “A lot of people learned to do new things because they had so…
The Latest
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A reply to Van Morrison’s totally sane song about media control
New antisemitic Van Morrison track dropped! At least it sure sounds like it. The Irish songster, after months of COVID denial and “Braveheart” talking points about the UK “taking our freedom” for wanting to curb the spread of a deadly virus, released the song “They Own the Media” on streaming platforms Thursday. And boy is…
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‘They Own The Media’: New Van Morrison song amplifies antisemitic trope
Legendary singer-songwriter Van Morrison released a new song on streaming platforms Thursday whose title espouses a classic antisemitic trope. The lyrics of the song, “They Own The Media,” never indicate who the pronoun in its title refers to. But Morrison, a two-time Grammy winner, was also accused of antisemitism for the 2005 track “They Sold…
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‘Jesus,’ ‘Jeffrey Epstein’ and more sign on to ‘Jewish Harper’s Letter’
Anyone who’s anyone, living or dead, vile criminal or ancient sage, can add their name to the “Jewish Harper’s Letter” — and they are. The initial letter from the newly-minted Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, which slammed “suppression of dissent” among Jews, was unveiled with such notable signatories as Bari Weiss, Bret Stephens and Rabbi…
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The Secret Jewish History Of U2
While U2 is still largely considered one of, if not the greatest rock band in the world, the group’s singer and frontman, Bono, is not quite the beloved figure he was when the band first exploded on the scene in the mid-1980s. His hobnobbing with world and corporate leaders is very un-rock ’n’ roll, and…
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How TikTok’s #MyJewishHeritage plan went horribly awry
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Tuesday, May 11 to include a statement from a TikTok spokesperson. Going viral overnight is the dream for most aspiring social media influencers. But for Jewish creators on TikTok, it can be a nightmare filled with antisemitism. For May, which is Jewish Heritage Month, TikTok created a #MyJewishHeritage…
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Books Her name is Ozick, look on her works, ye mighty, and despair
Antiquities By Cynthia Ozick Knopf, 192 pages, $21.00 Thornton Wilder’s classic play “Our Town” proposes a remarkable idea: That after death, we get to re-experience a single day from our lives — just one perfectly ordinary day. It’s a painful, startling scenario, a striking conclusion to a complicated existence. “I can’t look at everything hard…
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Books How Jewish New York got its very un-Jewish names
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro asked me to meet him on Frieda Zames Way, which is not an easy place to find on Google Maps. No street view photos, no subway wait times — nothing to feed our iPhone-era inclination to know exactly where we’re going, all the time. As any serious investigative journalist would, I immediately turned…
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Why Jews are key to Chinatown’s survival
My last indoor dining experience of 2020 was in early March. I had crispy roast duck, watercress and assorted dumplings at Wu’s Wonton King, at the junction of Chinatown and the historic Jewish Lower East Side. Located at the foot of the Forward Building, Wu’s occupies the site of the old Garden Cafeteria, what used…
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
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Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
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Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
In Case You Missed It
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Culture Rabbi, get your gun
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Opinion How I got AI to create fake Nazi memos — and what that means for the future of antisemitism
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Fast Forward How the Jewish commandment to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ could help a woman challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban in court
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: יוטוב־פּערזענלעכקייט רעדט אויף ייִדיש וועגן אַ משפּחה־טראַגעדיעVIDEO: Youtube personality speaks in Yiddish about a tragedy in the family
מאַטי מענדלאָוויטשעס ברודער, וואָס האָט יאָרן לאַנג געליטן פֿון דעפּרעסיע, האָט הײַיאָר זיך גענומען דאָס לעבן. .
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