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
-
The secret Jewish history of Liza Minnelli
Like her mother before her, Liza Minnelli is not Jewish. But her life and career has found her inextricably linked with Jewish partners and collaborators. Take, for example, her award-winning 1972 TV concert film, “Liza with a Z,” which is being broadcast on PBS-TV for the first time beginning this weekend (check your local listings)….
-
Film & TV Filmmakers constructed an acre-sized shtetl for a Ukrainian WWII film. Now they want to preserve it as a museum.
(JTA) — In the woods of northern Ukraine, construction workers have built an island in time: a shtetl. That’s the Yiddish word for the type of old-fashioned Jewish towns that existed throughout Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. This new shtetl, comprising 18 buildings on more than an acre of land near the lakeside town of…
-
Can Kabbalah explain the most mystifying new movie on Amazon?
I was in sixth grade when I first heard about “the greatest anime of all time,” an epic of teen angst and robot-on-monster violence called “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” I can’t remember the name of the kid who told me about it — only that he was a grade older and I very much wanted his…
The Latest
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The real reason for the US war with Iran may have nothing to do with Israel
- 2
Fast Forward Chabad on high alert after false Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens war claims
- 3
Culture Could my love of oysters actually be kosher?
- 4
News When observant Jews gathered to challenge Israel orthodoxy, verbal sparring and walkouts ensued
In Case You Missed It
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
