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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Film & TV
I built the ‘Seinfeld’ apartment from Lego — it nearly broke me
I grew up in a house with a framed cocktail napkin signed by Jerry Seinfeld and every episode of his sitcom taped on VHS. All this is to say that I have a long history of welcoming the man into my home and am pretty familiar with the layout of the “Seinfeld” apartment. That said,…
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Will Spike Lee’s 9/11 series feature a conspiracy theorist who welcomes antisemitic canards?
Spike Lee’s searching curiosity makes him one of our best and most eclectic filmmakers. But sometimes he may be asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. As Jeremy Stahl reported Tuesday in Slate, in an advanced cut of the final episode of Lee’s new documentary miniseries on HBO, “NYC Epicenters 9/11–2021½,” the director devoted…
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In Thailand, a rich and complicated Jewish history
Thailand is usually mentioned in world media in terms of Jews when local students or rock performers use Nazi imagery frivolously, unaware of its meaning. Apologies are then duly rendered to the Embassy of Israel in Thailand, which are graciously accepted by the ambassador, and everyone moves on, although the major focus of Thai national…
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Music That time my dad, Leonard Bernstein, introduced us to The Beatles
Editor’s Note: Today, Aug. 25, 2021, would have been Leonard Bernstein’s 103rd birthday. In honor of that auspicious date, we are revisiting this excerpt from his daughter Jamie’s memoir. The following is an excerpt from “Famous Father Girl,” by Jamie Bernstein. Copyright © 2018 by Jamie Bernstein. Reprinted courtesy of Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins…
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It was the best of Streisand, it was the worst of Streisand
The idea of “outtakes” — songs recorded by an artist during sessions for an album, but which for whatever reason don’t make the final running order — has fascinated me ever since I dropped 15 bucks on “Still On the Edge,” a bootleg collection of Bruce Springsteen demos and studio outtakes, back in the early…
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The secret Jewish history of Charlie Watts
Thanks to some fine East End tailors, the Rolling Stones drummer was one of the best-dressed men in rock 'n' roll
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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…
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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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