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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I took Duolingo’s new Yiddish course for a test drive. Here’s what I found.
Read this article in Yiddish In nearly eight years of covering Yiddish events for the Forverts, I have never seen anything approaching the level of excitement accompanying the release of Duolingo’s Yiddish course, which will go live Tuesday, April 6. Ever since work began on the course five years ago, reddit, Twitter, Facebook and Duolingo’s…
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The Night We Lost The Messiah Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
The balcony curtains suddenly parted. The Rebbe sat motionless surrounded by his three trusted rabbinical aides. On cue, the singing and chanting began: “Long live our Master, Teacher and Rebbe, King Messiah, Forever and Ever!” Hundreds of men dressed in black suits stood shoulder to shoulder on the synagogue floor craning their necks towards the…
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Is the legend of Murray’s Cheese only a myth?
For the past two decades, Murray’s Cheese has been Manhattan’s cheese tastemaker. From a small Greenwich Village store, cheesemongers enlighten New Yorkers on terroirs and washed rinds and supply upscale restaurants with camembert and French triple crèmes. Since 2008, Murray’s influence has spread across the country. Now fully owned by Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket…
The Latest
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The New York Bagel Experience is not for hipsters
As recent transplants to this fair city of New York, we have plenty to learn about bagels. We haven’t had a chance to develop brand loyalties and identify establishments we love — or simply refuse to patronize. We don’t have firm feelings about the Montreal bagel. We can’t yet bring ourselves to speak unironically of…
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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…
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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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