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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Just as a Jewish humanist told us in ‘Foundation,’ our problems will be over in 10,000 years
No one can remember a time when we were more politically polarized. Discussions of immigration, foreign policy and COVID all generate, as they say, more heat than light. But as we cast around for ideas on how to handle difficult topics such as whether to mandate masks and vaccines, maybe we should look to Hari…
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How Bob Dylan’s greatest song changed music history — a deep-dive into an accidental masterpiece
'Like a Rolling Stone' is a religious experience
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The gorgeous desperation of Tony Curtis — an actor who never played it straight
Long after he became rich and famous, he had a lean and hungry look. This look was his greatest gift as a performer. Few matinee idols played so many desperate men, and none was better at conveying a trembling, clenched-jaw desperation. His nastiest characters are ruthless; even the nice ones have, as the kids say,…
The Latest
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William Shatner may be going to space (please alert space)
Rocket Man indeed. William Shatner, abusive Twitter gadfly and erstwhile Starfleet captain will go to space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin per a TMZ report. If true, Shatner, 90, some few decades older than the cast of “Space Cowboys,” would be the oldest man ever to go to space. (Unless we count the ancient David…
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Film & TV How Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Scenes From a Marriage’ converted to Judaism
Israeli director-writer Hagai Levi is the creative force behind such major international successes as “In Treatment” and “The Affair.” His latest project, currently airing on HBO, is a five-part reimagining of Ingmar Bergman’s “Scenes From a Marriage,” the seminal 1973 Swedish miniseries about the slow but inexorable disintegration of a marriage. Levi’s version is intense,…
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Uh-oh, there’s a new dating app for Jewish moms (and I asked my mom to help me with my profile)
There’s no shortage of Jewish dating apps and sites, but a new one is in the works, sure to be every Jewish mother’s dream — and every Jewish kid’s nightmare. JustKibbitz, which recently launched, allows parents to make the profile for their kids, do the swiping, choose matches and even pay for dates with gift…
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The antisemitic conspiracy behind the anti-porn movement
No one looks to porn for its great morals and upstanding behavior; even ethically-made porn, which ensures respect, safety and good pay for everyone on set, can depict BDSM scenes that (consensually!) hurt or humiliate the participants, which many people find troubling. Mainstream porn sites, meanwhile, struggle to regulate revenge porn and underage porn, and…
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Was this the greatest album ever made by a Jewish (or any) rock ‘n’ roll star?
Of the many memorable moments in Apple TV+’s eight-part documentary “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything,” there’s a particular segment in Episode 3 (“Changes”) that may be my favorite. On a drab-looking British TV chat show from 1971, adult pundits and teen guests argue over whether there should be sex education in UK schools…
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If it’s Sukkot, it’s rollercoaster time all over America — a pulse-pounding thrill ride of a photo essay
Sukkot is one of Judaism’s three pilgrimage festivals, when our ancestors trekked to the temples in Jerusalem to make sacrifices. Now, many Orthodox Jews in the New York area make a different sort of holiday pilgrimage — to amusement parks. During the week-long holiday’s intermediate days, known as chol hamoed, restrictions on work, driving and…
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Though it looked to the past, ‘Hester Street’ was way ahead of its time
Joan Micklin Silver's film was an indie long before the heyday of independent cinema
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How these intimate family photos helped to bridge a Trump-era divide
When Donald Trump was inaugurated, Gillian Laub was with her parents in Washington D.C. “Well, not with them,” Laub says. Her parents were Trump fans there to make America great again. Laub was there to photograph the Women’s March that took place the day after inauguration. But while she was in D.C., Laub also took…
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