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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November 16: You Will Not Play Wagner
We’re proud to partner with the Jewish Arts Collaborative Boston on JArts Theatreworks Group Presents: You Will Not Play Wagner. The filmed play will be screened on Tuesday, November 16 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Register here. Is it ok to play the music of a known anti-Semite? Richard Wagner’s music has…
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To New York, with love (and without Woody Allen)
It’s unclear how I caught such a high degree of this particular type of fever. For a girl born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1960, a life in Manhattan was just so damn far afield. But at some point, fairly early on, I truly believed that I belonged here — and the scene I imagined was…
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How a 17th century mathematician inspired a very modern novel
Rivka Galchen showed up to our Zoom interview wearing white headphones and a baseball t-shirt bearing the words “Brooklyn Poets.” “I don’t even live in Brooklyn,” she said apologetically, twisting around to show me that the back was emblazoned with W.H. Auden’s name and adding that it was “super soft.” It made sense that Galchen…
The Latest
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Haddish. Chomsky. Dershowitz. Who should be the next host of ‘Jeopardy?’
The nation’s favorite quiz show continues to have a host-shaped hole at its center with the sudden exit of Mike Richards. But who should fill it? For years, Ken Jennings seemed the heir apparent. But if we want to talk sordid remarks on podcasts (and Twitter), he’s not much better than Richards. The people want…
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How one powerful song helped to heal ‘Crown Heights’
My father was a reform rabbi in Mount Vernon, New York, a city that, in the 1950s, had a railroad line splitting it in half. On one side lived mostly white people including the Jews; on the other side were peoples of various minorities including African-American. In 2004, I was hired to make a movie…
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The glorious irrelevance of S. J. Perelman, the original remix artist
When I turned to a random page of the collected works of S.J. Perelman — newly available in a sleek, beetle-black edition, courtesy of the Library of America — here’s what I got: “Just in case anybody here missed me at the Mermaid Tavern this afternoon when the bowl of sack was being passed, I…
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September 2: The rise of antisemitism from the left and the right
This talk will take place on Thursday, September 2 at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT Register here. American Public Square at Jewell, JCRB | AJC Kansas City and Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City are pleased to present: “The Rise of Antisemitism From the Left and the Right” which will highlight the increasing…
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In Netflix’s latest, a Nazi salute sets off the season’s best comedy
Netflix’s best new comedy ends its first episode with a Nazi salute. In the fictional lower-tier Ivy, Pembroke University, a popular professor, Bill Dobson, strides into his packed classroom. He writes “Absurdism” on the board and, right above it, that artistic movement’s partial impetus, “Fascism.” His students seem engaged and he continues with the lecture….
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Nazis stole thousands of pieces of art — but that was only the beginning of the story
In most art exhibits, each piece has a plaque that identifies the title, artist, subject, and style. At The Jewish Museum’s newest exhibit, however, each plaque has two descriptions. The first is a standard explanation of the piece. The second explains who owned the painting before the Nazis stole it — and how it was…
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They saw the Afghanistan debacle coming long before everyone else
The world was shocked by images of desperate Afghans cramming into Kabul’s airport and hanging on to planes — but the world’s translators have been fearing this outcome for quite some time. In April, 22 translation organizations sent an open letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken outlining the danger they sensed. The email was…
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What Kushner pal Ken Kurson’s songwriting suggests about his latest charges
Author’s Note: After being pardoned by Trump for alleged cyberstalking, Jared Kushner’s longtime chum Ken Kurson is now facing similar charges. In light of this news, we are revisiting this article from October of last year, which plumbs Kurson’s musical oeuvre, a canon of paranoia and jealousy that gels quite well with the allegations. Ken…
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